Written by Emily Yi
In May 2019, Sergey fled Russia for the United States after enduring years of threats and physical violence because of his sexual orientation.
“I was beaten up so many times,” Sergey recalls. From childhood, Sergey knew he was different from his peers. By age 12 or 13, the accusations of “acting” or “looking” gay had already begun — as had the slurs, harassment, and violence that would shadow him through university, graduation, and into adulthood.
Despite the hostile atmosphere for LGBTQ+ people in Russia, Sergey was able to build friendships with other young, queer Russians and find a community.
In 2014, he became active in an LGBTQ+ resource organization in Yekaterinburg, which worked to organize events and promote solidarity among Yekaterinburg’s LGBTQ+ community.
After being diagnosed with HIV in 2017, Sergey also became an advocate for HIV awareness. He was featured in a Russian article about HIV, in which he spoke out about living with his HIV diagnosis: “[I wanted others to know that] it’s not a death sentence. There are things worse than HIV. There is life after [the diagnosis].”
In 2019, Sergey attended a lecture on gender identity and transgender acceptance hosted by the LGBTQ+ organization. The event was mobbed by an aggressive anti-LGBTQ crowd and interrupted by a bomb threat. As Sergey left, people shouted from the crowd that they would photograph him, find his home, and report him to his employer.
That moment was the breaking point; the culmination of years of violence and marginalization. Sergey realized that if he stayed in Russia, he could be killed.
With only a U.S. tourist visa in his passport, Sergey flew to New York on May 13, 2019.
Adjusting to life in the United States was disorienting. Sergey struggled with the idea of his new identity as an “asylum seeker.” Though he had been an activist in Russia, he hadn’t planned to seek political asylum abroad. “I didn’t intend to come [to the United States] for political asylum; I wasn’t even sure if I should apply,” he remembers. He just knew that he could no longer stay in Russia.
Then, in late 2019, Sergey’s life was turned upside down again when his husband left him.
“Those months were horrible,” Sergey says. “My husband left me, I ran out of money, and I lost my friends.” To make matters worse, the immigration attorney who had been representing the couple withdrew from Sergey’s case.
A friend helped Sergey draft a short message describing his situation. He spent November and December sending it to every organization on a twenty-page list of pro bono immigration services, hoping for a response. One of those organizations was Immigration Law and Justice NY.
Finally, in January 2020, ILJNY reached out and let Sergey know that they could take his case.
ILJNY asylum attorney Alexis Duecker began working with Sergey immediately. Each week, he traveled from Queens to Manhattan on his only day off to meet with Alexis, bringing a friend to help translate. Each week, Sergey and Alexis went through Sergey’s experiences living as an HIV-positive gay man in Russia, starting from his childhood to the present. Alexis explained which of Sergey’s experiences would be included in the case, and what evidence that he would need to obtain, including letters of support from friends in Russia.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck New York in March 2020, Alexis drove to Sergey’s home in Queens to finalize and submit his asylum application. She later helped him apply for a work permit, which he received in October 2020.
However, the staggering backlog of asylum cases meant that Sergey might not receive an asylum interview for over ten years. “We applied and nothing happened,” Sergey recalls. “The interview was never scheduled. Alexis called and told me she didn’t know how long it would take.”
Determined not to put his life on hold, Sergey resolved to forge ahead and make a life for himself in the United States. He took whatever odd jobs he could find—restaurants, construction, cleaning, babysitting, dog walking, cat sitting.
In 2021, he saw a job posting for massage therapists. “I don’t like touching people for no reason,” he joked, “but I realized it was decent work, with flexibility and good pay.” In 2023, he graduated from the Swedish Institute with an associate’s degree in massage therapy.
Then, in March 2025, Sergey checked his application status online. For the first time in five years, there was movement: his asylum interview had been scheduled. “I didn’t expect it for another five years,” he says.
He immediately contacted ILJNY accredited representative Charlie Rotunno, and together they prepared for the interview.
In April 2025, Sergey attended his interview with Charlie and ILJNY Managing Attorney TJ Mills at his side.
Four months later, in early August, TJ emailed Sergey about an online case status update. Then, after a few more days of anxious waiting, Sergey received his official asylum approval notice in the mail on August 8, 2025.
“It’s like having a stone lifted off your shoulders,” Sergey says. “I didn’t even realize how much it weighed on me until it was gone. When I got the notice, I felt so much lighter. I haven’t felt that unburdened in a very long time.”
Now that his asylum application has been granted, Sergey is making more plans for his future.
In the short term, Sergey plans to apply for a temporary travel card and visit Paris—a city he fell in love with on a visit years ago, and for which he has spent years learning French.
He is studying at Hunter College, and plans to double major in cultural anthropology and either statistics or math.
“I found out I’m actually a good student,” he jokes. “I wasn’t twenty years ago, but I am now.” After graduating, he hopes to pursue graduate school or law school.
“[ILJNY’s assistance] saved my life,” Sergey says. “[Alexis] is like Mother Teresa, or some holy spirit. I’m very grateful to Charlie, Alexis, Nneka, TJ, and everyone who was involved.”
Article image via Sand Crain on Unsplash