Editor’s Note: Reports of Chechnya’s gay concentration camps have spread over the last few months. While the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic continue to deny the existence of these brutal sites, that didn’t stop Charlotte Gaines, an intrepid reporter from Christian Home Design Magazine, from posing as a Chechen nurse to get a first-hand look at the atrocities happening on sight. We’re proud to present this exclusive report at the inhumane conditions of the gay concentration camps.
For a place that’s designed to house a lot of gay people, it’s obvious that none of them were consulted during the creation of this barbed wire and concrete monstrosity. This drab, monochromatic design scheme could only have been conceived by a straight man.
I wandered the campgrounds, desperate to find some evidence of a woman’s touch or a gay man’s fabulous aesthetic sensibilities. No such luck – everywhere I turned there were colorless canvas tents, dirt covered troughs, and tin shower stalls crying out for a tasteful pastel coating – literally, I heard the crying coming from inside.
All the inmates wore tattered, matching outfits as lifeless and colorless as the unfertilized dirt that lodged uncomfortably in my Manolo Blahnik kitten heels. No accessorizing, no belts – nothing to add a bit of a flair to such dull ensembles.
Even the guard outfits are uninspired! At least the Germans knew how to razzle-dazzle. A little metal skull here, an eagle there, would add so much depth to the drab Chechen ensembles.
At one point, I found some strange splashes of red paint on the concrete. Some of the red was smeared into trails like something was dragged through it. I’m not a big fan of Jackson Pollock or “modern” art in general, but at least someone is trying to do something different in this style-free nightmare.
Still, the visit wasn’t a total loss: I got a first-hand glimpse into some hard and fast design no-nos. I’m sure once we finish constructing our camps in America, they’ll look a LOT more elegant and tasteful. For one thing, (or I guess three): pattern, pattern, pattern! And a few fragrant flower bushes, too – they can do wonders for dampening that rank corpse-pit smell.
