U.S. family moved to Russia to escape liberal culture and got drawn into the war with Ukraine
As many as 1,500 “ideological immigrants,” including 127 Americans, have applied for temporary residence in Russia in the last year.
Two years ago, Derek and DeAnna Huffman were desperate to leave Humble, a suburb of Houston. Their three daughters, they believed, were being brainwashed by public school and mainstream media to support LGBTQ rights. American culture in general no longer offered white people the same opportunities as other races, they said.
The couple yearned to live in a place that shared their "Christian values" and where they "weren't going to be discriminated against" as white, politically-conservative Christians.
So in March, the Huffmans became the first family to move to a community planned for fellow English-speakers some 30 miles west of Moscow, a project they had been following online run by long-term American expat and former Kremlin-sponsored RT host Tim Kirby. The family is among a small but growing number of Americans who have moved to Russia because the United States, in their opinion, has become too “woke."
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/russia/american-family-moved-russia-seeking-better-life-got-drawn-war-ukraine-rcna220463Open linkView original on lemmy.world
Imagine leaving Texas because you think it's too liberal.
Humble is about 45 minutes from the center of Houston. It's definitely becoming a victim of urban sprawl.
Texas in general is a shithole though that only cares about personal freedom when it's convenient for business owners.
So funny Christians feel persecuted and like they don't have personal freedom. They want the Bible in the classroom, 10 commandments on the wall, drag queens to stop performances, and folks with brown skin deported but heaven forbid someone teaches their children they are free to love whomever they want or be whoever they want.
Yes, that's denying them the freedom to be ignorant, superstitious, greedy, sociopathic idiots and be rewarded for it.
Is there another version of IRL conservatism?
Yeah, the one where your forced to move to Russia because you don't have the capital be be an individualist where you spawned
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/09/16/how-religious-is-your-state/
There was a much easier and better choice than Russia if they wanted to up their "more Christian environment" game.
Too many black people in Mississippi. Even if they are religious. Highest amount of African Americans percentage wise in the US.
There's Utah.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_non-Hispanic_white_population
But that's the wrong kind of religious.
But Orthodox Christian is fine??
It doesn't matter to my perspective. The history of religion is for sub groups to spilt off over inconsequential differences, make up different doctrines and eventually go to war over them. It's an expression of Authoritarians and cult behavior, and what leads to some of the greatest suffering that mankind has ever inflicted upon itself.
These families wanted to filter themselves to a sub group that's a distinction without a difference.
If someone's opinions are entirely formed by Russian propaganda memes then yeah. This guy didn't pick Russia at random he chose it because he was influenced.
Gather ye by the cursed lake and wasteland.
Plus with Romney, I'm not positive on the whiteness of Mormons.
Meanwhile, only 13% of Russians go to church, mosque, etc. regularly. Religion is not their reason to go there.
Yeah, but the people in the article said the real reason explicitly: LGBT is illegal there.
In the US we still have a lot of first amendment rights and we (all) still have the protection of Lawrence v Texas.
Illinois being more religious than ohio kinda surprises me
I feel like that's because Chicago is all people hear of. The rest of Illinois is most definitely not that.
Meanwhile Ohio has the 3CS (Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus) and smaller cities like Akron, Toledo, Dayton, Youngstown, Athens, etc.
Illinois is funky because about a quarter of the state (by land area) is heavily influenced by Chicago but the rest of the state is just generic rural Midwest dotted with small railroad towns and farming communities
They also are the poorest state, they have the worst education, and last I checked the highest murder rate in the country, they also have probably the highest ratio of black to white because they brought in so many slaves.
They seem to be the nicest Americans though. At least at face value. America has this traditional image of being a very friendly people, and Mississippi might be at the top of the states for that.
The roads suck ass. People joke that if a woman in Mississippi has all of her teeth she is considered a princess.
Seeing groups hated by everyone else is always interesting to my morbid curious mind. Mississippi is the perfect example of an extremely poor state in the wealthiest nation in history. For the past 100 years pretty much every politician has hated Mississippians like most Americans and the neglect of the people there is astonishing. The ones who still have a little class are pure survivors.
It was named after a native American tribe or word like many places down here, it was one that one of my ancestors was part of or that same general group. She was actually royalty in the tribe. The tribes from that area were pretty cool. One of the few examples of a truly matriarchal, and somewhat polyamorous and very peaceful societies in history. You can still see those genes floating around in the friendliness and general respect for women in the south, and also the often suppressed somewhat gender fluidity of many in the south.
One of the great ironies of history is in the past, these parts of the world where there was fertile farmland used to be the most desirable and best spots. Now they are some of the worst because of industrialization and high global temperatures making the south nearly unbearable to live in.
Well anyways I'm done with my little bit of history you didn't ask for.
Does this include experiences from living there? Not that you can’t be trusted if it’s just from history books. I just find all this to be so interesting, and would be nice to hear it’s from both.
I've never lived there but a few miles away and my mother is from there with her family. I knew a few people who lived in the state.
They could try Syria next!
Aren't these the kind of people who'd get mad at immigrants in the US if they don't speak English? Why don't they learn proper Russian and integrate?
Because it wasn't ever actually about that, of course.
Cause Jesus spoke English, duh.
/s
I feel sorry for the children.
They will either be brainwashed into being good little Russian breeders, or end up on pornhub.
Both is possible.
Or dead in a ditch in Donetsk.
For people who didn't read the whole article, you really should. It touches on the fact that Derek Huffman ended up sent to the front lines in the war against Ukraine, and for a while there were rumors he'd died there.
It also talks about another family that did the same thing and immediately got swindled out of everything, with Russia's famously corrupt law enforcement doing nothing to help them against the swindler.
I feel horrible for the kids, they get forced to follow their parents mind-boggling stupidity.
Derek and DeAnna on the other hand are adults who thought out, planned, and followed through with their idiocy.
Politics aside; how could you possibly think moving your family to a country that's actively at war with its immediate neighbor, and struggling to find bodies to throw on the front lines, is even remotely a good idea.
I would genuinely be more surprised to hear they were left to live peacefully.
Also what that he gets his news from Xitter and Alex Jones.
Good. Fuck them hope he dies in the meat grinder with the rest of the Russian military dipshits. Christian fascists dont deserve a peaceful life; they bring such persistent suffering to LGBTQ people for the past 2000 years, that I hope no religious group including these types of Christians never sees peace.
I agree, but the kids didn't deserve this, they will forever have their lives ruined thanks to their piece of shit parents. Even more if they turn out to be LGBTQ themselves.
Yeah can't imagine a bunch of girls having a great time there, especially once he ends up dying for his ideals (if not now then later). Leaving a mother and daughters. Pretty sure this is the guy who didn't even know the language while getting training before he was pushed up to the front. Can't imagine thinking any probable outcome is better for anyone involved, but the kids definitely don't deserve whatever happens.
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2018/06/13/how-religious-commitment-varies-by-country-among-people-of-all-ages/
https://lemmy.today/pictrs/image/e6f791bf-9311-421e-b2c4-6856c7922b77.webp
https://lemmy.today/pictrs/image/5914b607-bdf5-4238-883e-46fd51f4c52a.webp
Clearly Poland needs to start advertising, because Russia probably isn't where you want to go if you're on the hunt for a particularly religious environment, especially if your starting point is the US. Now, Poland's gonna have a more-specifically-Catholic environment, which I bet isn't what they are, but I bet that they aren't Russian Orthodox either, so...
They could have moved to Ethiopia and been rocking that 82%, if it werent for that pesky racism point theyre standing on
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_appearance_of_Jesus
Unfortunately, Christ was the "wrong sort" of Christian.
It annoys me that the title in the first graphic is expressed the opposite way to what the legends mean and you have the actual meaning just below. Seems like a very bad choice of wording.
So, I agree that it's not the best presentation, but they're trying to put the summary of findings up top. The actual "title" of the chart is the subtitle beneath.
You might want to recheck Poland. The article’s from 2018, and from what I’ve heard, thanks to the aura of Catholic child abuse scandals, they’re speedrunning Ireland’s post-independence history.
Could they please not? We have enough issues with local idiots and bigots without importing additional ones.
Also a massive part of supposed Polish religiousness is absolutly bullshit performative stunt for the older part of the family or the neighbors is a small town. Most religious indicators are (finally) rapidly declining.
reactionaries like the two families in the article do not read.
I find it interesting that a surprisingly large number if my fellow countrymen (Norwegians) say that religion is very important to them, yet our turnout numbers for weekly organized worship is among the lowest.
I obviously can't say with any degree of certainty, but I wonder if where you're at, it's more common to hold personal faith without necessarily belonging to an organization.
As a Christian Anarchist in the USA, this is where I'm at. I struggle to find a church that is just about Jesus, community, study, and worship, without the "evangelical" right-wing sociopolitical under/overtones the US has been infected with. (Or more rarely the opposite reaction: A hyper-left political organization that happens to be church flavored.)
But my faith is still very important to me.
Possibly. I'm agnostic myself, and I don't know enough religious people for that stat to match my impression.
However, it's worth noting that there's a lot of immigrants here, and it wouldn't surprise me if they affect the stats. We do have mosques, synagogues, and buddhists temples, but you pretty much only find those in the major cities. Immigrants are found all over the country, so I find it plausible that lack of a nearby relevant house of worship could be the cause. In rural norway it's mostly churches of the Lutheran kind.
UU might be what you are looking for? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism?wprov=sfla1
19 % and 7 % seem to fit?
Service guarantees citizenship!
He is doing his part!
He's losing his parts!
This all sounds like Starship Troopers propaganda lol
Other way around, actually.
to ukraines sunflower fields.
So they moved to a redneck colony run by a notorious professional Russian propagandist in an autocratic nation. Yikes.
Poor, poor white conservative Christians. Really sucks how every once in a while, they don't get to have their balls sucked by everyone. Once in a while.
I feel bad for their kids.
The amount of idiocy demonstrated by the adults in that article is fucking mind-boggling.
One family moved to Russia with only $50K to their name, for their family of 5, and didn't research the public education requirements for their sons ahead of time.
It tracks that people this fucking stupid would have this level of hate for "non-traditional" relationships.
No way Russia is so uncivilized they don't speak English, right?
I guess that was their thought process, if there was any at all
Hey, straight up: good fucking riddance. We’ve got enough problems with malignantly idiotic conservatives and racists and fascists. I won’t shed a single tear if they want to move to a (more) authoritarian country.
lmfao what is this. i want to know what harm LGBTQ people cause day to day that they were scared and had to leave.
It caused so much trauma that they had to flee their country!
You, maybe or maybe not doing something that you may not talk about, hurt them so badly they gave up their family, life, work, friends, everything to get away from what you might do even if you don't talk about it.
Welcome to fascism, the next stages get bumpy.
the man who did this, and for his wife to just be ok with it, means they both have batshit insane views of the LGBTQ community. its like when i see the people complain about drag storytime and think they are pedophiles. im sorry but i don't see the connection. a man, dressed up as a women becuase he feels more comfortable dressing as a women, is somehow a pedophile. i think i missed the nexus event where pedophilia and drag became the same thing, but you know, i dont watch enough fox news or turning point media to get the "truth"
Projection. The answer is always projection.
you know, i was reading about the stonewall riots, and its interesting that there's a repeat of what's going on back then with gay/lesbian/trans views and now.
Interesting. I have heard of them in passing but I admit I know nothing of them. I’ll have to check it out!
This belongs to leopardsatemyface, no?
More like "I ate my own face."
Leopards weren't that interested in my face, so I moved to a country with hungrier leopards.
in russia, face eats you.
Go to Russia because you can’t stand gay people.
Don’t learn the language.
Apparently don’t inform yourself at all about the country.
I can’t make fun of this whole thing. I can’t even wrap my head around what they were thinking.
They weren't thinking. They were gulping down the propaganda and gorging themselves on the fear-mongering. And now their kids are fucked over because of it.
Vote for trump to get rid of immigrants cause "“They don’t talk no English, and dey terk err jerbs!” and then immigrate to Russia and complain that they want you to speak Russian. Also don't research any of these before you make a completely life changing decision for your kids. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ They clearly look capable of self education so no probs.
Atleast maybe this dramatic idiocy is a wake-up call for their kids who otherwise might have turned into your run of the mill red necks.
It's kind of crazy the number of people that go to other countries and don't intend to learn the local language
Thinking wasn't part of this.
is liberal culture really a threat to anybody? like seriously how
I'm in the socialist hellhole Canada and my day is spent chasing away genderfluid canvassers trying to convert me and my kids to they/them and then when my kids get to school they're forced to have group sex led by cross dressers!
/s and really sad the state of the world I have to put that
Fellow Canadian, got my mandatory estrogen injection yesterday.
Also /s just in case.
You got mandatory estrogen? Why for me the government (yes the entire government) came to castrate me because of forced genital mutilation! Wokeism strikes again
I saw a trans woman walking on the street the other day and it traumatized me. I have nightmares to this day and my psychiatrist says no drugs will ever help me get over it.
Wokism ruined my life
I have felt the same way since I saw first Trans Am
It's the reason my son won't talk to me.
sons
MAH KRISSHAN VALUWS!!!
HAHAHAHAHA. That's it, I have no more words to say about this peaceful and Christ-loving family that would kill people if they could.
Addition though subtraction.
To the complete surprise of absolutely nobody.
It's funny how often I see a headline like this, then think to myself "now, now, let's be reasonable and give them the benefit of the doubt because crazy situations happen every day..."
aside: You see, growing up in white conservative christian america, my brain has this old deep conditioning to see people who are different looking or who have different priorities in life than me and think of how stupid/worthless that makes them. I have those neural pathways pretty safely contained, but it's important to do maintenance.
Anyways, I often think to myself oh hey they aren't just mind numbingly stupid and surely there's something else going on. Then I read the details and it's like every sentence pushes my face closer to my silly optimistic assumptions bellowing "search your feelings, you know it to be true" like some really heavy-handed metaphor about feeling the call of the dark side.
Nah, I guess I do know how stupid they are. But their stupidity isn't gonna frustrate me into being like them again.
It's so interesting to see how other people's experiences of white conservative Christian America can be so different from mine. I have this deep conditioning to see people who are different looking or have different priorities and be curious about their choices and experiences, specifically because of my upbringing in a little country church.
In fact, I remember being cautioned to pull back on the reins a bit when I was in my "angry conservative" stage in college—back during W's first term, when I was super far right for the time but still had beliefs that would make me a "radical lib'rul" today. Some of the people I went to church with were like, "yeah, I can see that your heart is in the right place, but you're kinda over the top about this and this." Most of what brought me out of that phase was meeting people who were different from me, but another part was Christian people I trusted saying, "that's too much."
That's part of why I had so much cognitive dissonance when Christians started supporting Trump; it felt out of step with everything we had ever been taught as children, and even as young adults.
I've come to terms with the fact that I (and my parents, more recently) just aren't going to be welcomed back into that community again, because it has gone so deeply maga. But it wasn't like that when I was a kid.
That's a really great way to say it. I feel that way myself, though I couldn't put it into words.
I agree. It's interesting and enriching to hear about the different starting points in life that led us to similar places.
It looks like you had one of those pockets of "true"
scotsmanchristians!/sMy family was catholic. I was surrounded by miserable conservatives before it was cool! :D
Deep take. Thanks for sharing.
I appreciate the comment. Thanks!
FYI, this is the same family as the article from the summer. I was uncertain as I had expected they had last been in Russian longer than a few months.
A snopes article. https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/07/22/derek-huffman-russia-war/
Yeah I thought it was weird it happened twice. But not really
Congratulations, you guys got the illiberal society you dreamed of. Enjoy.
Poor kids, though.
Wow, trained to believe every dumb shit presented to them, huh
Unless they are a closet homosexual who struggles with their sexuality then LGBTQ shouldn't really impact them at all.
Oh, they are ....
I'm so fuckin tired of this trope that the people who hate gays and are outright dangerous to us are just in the closet. The number of people this actually applies to is a small minority and yet it's brung up every time anyone remotely homophobic makes the news. Like it can be explained away that the root cause someone wishes to enact violence is he fantasizes about taking it up the butt, as if there's something wrong or perverted about that, and not just a way of life for millions of people.
The trash takes out itself, a self cleaning oven, survival of the fittest brains :D Fantastic to see it live in action
I wish I could believe this but the reality is fascism drives away competence so we have an executive regime that can't figure out how to have a top secret meeting on discord without accidentally inviting random journalists
Good. Bye Felicia. It’s going to be funny when they realize Russia isn’t all white.
I wish all of the Christians would go to russia
I wish they would all leave. Make Russia Atheist Again.
Some of em are cool, but a lot yeah
This is a hilariously small number for a big country, why are they even touting this?
We're getting the same reporting on South African refugees to the states. A lot of it is local propaganda, playing up how horrible it is in foreign countries by comparison
The leopards have a feast tonight.
Oh boy everybody, he used AI, lets all get irrationally angry over a meme!
It's pretty clear, that collectively, we don't like AI. Getting down voted for violating a well established social norm seems pretty tame as far as consequences go.
I only post my AI from Russian lemmy instances
Yeah I think this is an OK usage for AI. Just illustrates a meme that normally exists in verbal form. This isn't replacing an artist or anything. It's good for a quick chuckle.
Nah. Shitty memes are great. If all you can do is some shitty mspaint, that's better than any llm art just by virtue of it having thought behind it
Oh I agree. But if you're on your phone and think of something, even shitty memes are hard to make. On the computer it's different.
I didn't actually generate it with AI myself. I stole it from someone else's reply on IMGUR forever ago.
But... but...but....AI took our jerbs!
Spoiler alert: he lives:(
The tard was lied into joining the military. Where bro has no understanding of the language. I’m surprised he isn’t dead yet.
You really don't need much language to be efficient drone fodder.
Genuinely dogs have the capacity to learn the vocabulary needed to be a frontline soldier.
Next Up: 2026; American Tankie simps for CCP, moves to PRC and get drafted into PLA to invade Taiwan
It's gonna happen
I like to load up their channel and call them traitors and talk about drone strikes.
Americans who moved to Russia, dislike guns, war and getting shot at? Sounds pretty woke to me!
Is this the same shit stain who got recruited and then got blown up?
Unfortunately he is still alive. They talk about that misinformation campaign in the article.
What a couple of idiots.
Now that is ironic.
So?
High-larious.
Feenstra family much?
...Isn't Putin's Russia ostensibly authoritarian leftist?
EG they are philosophically against individualism, materialism and such, kinda like Soviet Russia?
Uh, no....? You are aware the USSR collapsed in '91 and the modern Russia is very much not left wing in any sense? Ostensibly or otherwise. There was that whole Shock Therapy thing where they went capitalist in the most destructive way possible.
They aren't even pretending to be left, where did you get this?
Somewhere there's a line in propaganda playbook that says to blame everything on the left. Has to be. At this point so there's been many random comments attempting to "ackshually the left". Probably the the cover of such a thing is titled Flooding the Zone or something.
I tried to look up Putanism and the associated ideology. Shrug.
I'm not saying it's authentic, but a lot of stuff seems to be cloaked in Soviet nostalgia and collectivist, anti-capitalist ideals. Hence, tankies.
They use the "Russia deserves to rule the world" part of the Soviet Union's ideology, not the "communism" part.
It's okay. Reading seems like a difficult thing for you. You tried at least.
"ostensible" can only stretch so far...
Well, at least they got that correct that Russia is very fucking far from liberalism.
Russia is a far-right dictatorial authoritarian fascist state.