On May 8, 1998, the GenderDoc-M Information Center was registered as a non-governmental organization without a membership structure. The founders were: Alexei Marchkov (Chairman and Director of the Center), Sofia Marchkova, Nadezhda Mityeva, and Ivan Zverev (auditor). Accounting was handled on a voluntary basis by Elena Mityeva.
In October 1998, the first issue of the journal Zerkalo (“Mirror”) was published, as indicated on the cover page. The print run was not specified; however, this issue became the largest in the journal’s entire history — 2,500 copies. At that time, the journal had not yet been officially registered.
On November 6, 1998, Zerkalo was registered as the company “Zerkalo” LLC. Alexei Marchkov became Editor-in-Chief and Director, and Elena Mityeva served as Accountant.
Breaking the Silence: The First Media Responses
The first issue of the journal published an “Appeal to the Public of the Republic, to the Gays and Lesbians of Moldova.” This text became the catalyst for numerous media reactions — a genuine breakthrough in overcoming the silence that had surrounded the topic of homosexuality in the country.
At the end of 1998, Arguments and Facts — Moldova published an interview with Alexei Marchkov, Director of the GenderDoc-M Information Center (“The Law Tolerates, but the Crowd Beats,” No. 50 (133), December 1998). The newspaper Yunost wrote about gender-related work in the article “We Believe, We Hope, We Wait” (No. 12, October 23, 1998). The publication of the first issue of the journal was noted by Novoe Vremya (“In ‘Zerkalo,’ Gays Saw Only Themselves,” No. 3, December 25, 1998). These publications were benevolent in tone, demonstrating understanding and professional integrity.
However, openly xenophobic reactions also emerged. The newspapers Flux and Communist responded harshly, publishing respective commentaries: the article by St. Stoian “The Wave of Homosexuality Has Reached Chișinău” and a piece by K. Voloshin titled “Either One of Them, or Money Has No Smell,” published in the column “Free Press of the Regime.”
The authors of such materials portrayed LGBT people as a “social threat,” asserting that “homosexuality” leads to societal degradation and the destruction of the family. Their logic ultimately suggested that the only way to “save society” was to isolate homosexuals, including placing them in psychiatric institutions.
In the second issue of Zerkalo (already officially registered), published in early 1999, Vlad Negru, Co-Chair of the Senate of the “Curcubeu/Raduga” (“Rainbow”) Movement, rightly observed:
“It is unclear what fuels the homophobic impulses of moralists from both the far right and the far left… Of course, it would be easier for them to live if all those who do not meet their standards were locked away in special clinics — but how would they explain, for example, to a familiar child why that seemingly ordinary man over there is being dragged into a vehicle by orderlies?.. Doesn’t this remind you of anything?”
In essence, the article published in the same issue, “Fortunately, Not Everyone Picked Up a Stone,” became the first political statement of the Public Movement “Curcubeu/Raduga.” It “awakened” the community and provided a powerful impetus for new publications in the press, on radio, and on television.
