A protest over LGBT rights in Chechnya, outside the Russian Embassy on June 2, 2017 in London, England. Credit: Dan Kitwood / Getty

A protest over LGBT rights in Chechnya, outside the Russian Embassy on June 2, 2017 in London, England.

A protest over LGBT rights in Chechnya, outside the Russian Embassy on June 2, 2017 in London, England. Dan Kitwood / Getty

Dmitri had a secret.

He is 27 years old and from a republic in the Russian North Caucasus, not far from Chechnya. His secret was so big and so overwhelming that only a few people knew. It was the kind of secret that, if it were revealed, could get him arrested, tortured, or even killed.

Dmitri is bisexual.

Katie Herzog is a former staff writer at The Stranger.