Masha Gessen (born Maria Alexandrovna Gessen (Russian: Мари́я Алекса́ндровна Ге́ссен, IPA: [maˈrʲijə ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvnəˈɡʲesən]) 13 January 1967) is a Russian-American journalist, author, translator and activist who has been an outspoken critic of the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin and the President of the United States, Donald Trump.Gessen has written extensively on LGBT rights. Described as "Russia's leading LGBT rights activist," she has said that for many years she was "probably the only publicly out gay person in the whole country."Gessen writes primarily in English but also in her native Russian. In addition to being the author of several non-fiction books, she has been a prolific contributor to such publications as The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, New Statesman, Granta, Slate, Vanity Fair, Harper's Magazine, The New Yorker, and U.S. News & World Report. Since 2017, she has been a staff writer for The New Yorker.
Gessen worked as a translator on the FX period drama The Americans.