Gay Russia News & Reports 2007 January-May

by PinkNews.co.uk writer
A politician in a remote Russian republic is to introduce a bill recognising same-sex partnerships. Edward Murzin, a member of the Bashkir State Assembly, has introduced the bill. He told the Interfax news agency that he wanted to uphold the Russian constitution, which bars discrimination of any kind. It is unclear how other politicians in the federal republic of 4.1 million people will react to the law. Bashkortostan is a member of the Russian Federation, but is essentially autonomous from Moscow.

The country is in the south of Russia and partly encompasses the Ural mountains. "I intend to introduce this bill in the State Duma [upper house] as well, as it aims to guarantee real equality amongst citizens and further humanise relations in society," Murzin told Interfax. He went on to say his bill would protect human rights by legally recognising same-sex families. "It should be taken into account that, according to the World Health Organisation, 10% of people are inclined toward same-sex relationships. Whether we want it or not, such unions exist and sometimes those in them live together their whole lives and keep common households. There is a positive record of this in Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands," he said.

Despite a growing acceptance of gay partnerships in the Western World, Mr Murzin admitted there might be problems getting the legislation passed in Bashkortostan. The Turkic-speaking nation is renowned for its world-class Bashkir dancing school in the capital Ufa. It seems an unlikely place for gay rights to have gained a political champion. In Soviet times, homosexuality was often treated as a mental illness, and up until the 1980s gay men and lesbians were committed to mental hospitals and given invasive therapy, normally involving psychotropic drugs. Homosexuality was decriminalised in 1993, but there is still a very strong homophobic element in Russian society, encouraged and fed by Christian and Muslim clerics alike.

In May last year, Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov announced that the city government will not allow a gay parade "in any form" and any attempt to hold a gay event will be "resolutely quashed." The Mayor’s statements were followed by the Russian Chief Mufti threatening violence if the Pride parade went ahead. Chief Mufti of Russia’s Central Spiritual Governance for Muslims Talgat Tajuddin said: "The parade should not be allowed. If they still come out into the streets, then they should be bashed. Sexual minorities have no rights, because they have crossed the line. Alternative sexuality is a crime against God."

MosNews
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2007/01/29/satanisgay.shtml

January 29,2007

2
Moscow Mayor Calls Gay Pride Parade Satanic

Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov said Monday he would never allow a gay parade to take place in Moscow despite pressure from the West, Russia’s RIA-Novosti news agency reports.

“Last year, Moscow came under unprecedented pressure to sanction the gay parade, which can be described in no other way than as Satanic,” Luzhkov said at the 15th Christmas educational readings in the Kremlin Palace. We did not let the parade take place then, and we are not going to allow it in the future,” said Luzhkov who has been in office since 1992.

The conservative 70-year-old mayor of the Russian capital also banned Portuguese bullfights in Moscow in 2001 for their violence and did not let the St. Petersburg-based rock group Leningrad perform in the city because of their explicit lyrics. Luzhkov thanked the attending head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II, for his support at a time when, he said, the West is exerting considerable pressure on Moscow authorities and trying to promote gay relationships under the cover of creativity and freedom of expression.

“Religious thinkers throughout the world have said that the West has reached a crisis of faith. Some European nations bless single-sex marriages and introduce sexual guides in schools,” Luzhkov said. “Such things are a deadly moral poison for children.” This is the second time Moscow authorities have banned a gay parade in Moscow. On May 26, 2006, a Moscow district court upheld a Moscow government resolution prohibiting a gay march, which was scheduled for the next day, as opposition to the planned event was strong in Russia, especially from the Russian Orthodox Church and other religious leaders.

Despite the ban, about 200 people took to the streets May 27 in an unsanctioned demonstration to mark the 13th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality in Russia. The attempt resulted in violent clashes between sexual minorities and their opponents — representatives of a number of political parties, religious and radical movements — and the detention of some 120 people from both sides, most of whom were later released.

365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/02/020507moscow.htm

February 5, 2007

3
Russian Leader Slams Gay ‘Propaganda’

by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Moscow – A leader in the state Duma has accused LGBT rights leaders in Moscow of waging a propaganda campaign and says gays should stay in the closet. Alexander Chuyev, the deputy chair of the State Duma Committee for Public Associations and Religious Organizations made the remarks in a television interview on the weekend.

Chuyev said he supports Moscow mayor Juri Lushkov’s decision to ban gay pride parades in the city. "I think the Moscow Government was totally right to ban the event," said Chuyev. "I believe there should be a clear distinction between private rights and public rights. The individual’s rights end at the point where rights of the others begin." Chuyev said that homosexuality "leads to the destruction of families, atomization of society and breaking of normal and natural gender relations."

"If you have this sort of sexual orientation, well, please have it in your privacy," he said. "It’s your personal problem so deal with it as you like… But please do not bring it outdoor and do not attract other people to it." Last week pride organizers filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city of Moscow and mayor Lushkov at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. Chuyev called the suit a publicity stunt to encourage LGBT groups in the West to send money and activists to Russia.

"They will make money, they will have fame, and they will get funds for themselves and for further gay propaganda. This is one of their goals I think. But there will be much harm for all including gays because in reality there is no persecution," Chuyev said. After the suit was filed Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that gays were partly responsible for the country’s declining birth rate. Last May mayor Lushkov cited security concerns when he refused to give a permit for the parade.

Despite the ban, marchers attempted to hold a parade on May 27. Police quickly moved in arresting marchers and counter protestors. Most of the 200 people detained were gay. Alekseev was arrested as he was preparing to lead a group to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside the Kremlin. Police pushed the gays from the area, and into the hands of militant anti-gays who had gathered for a counter protest. As more than 1000 police attempted to clear the area at least one tear gas canister was set off by an anti-gay protestor.

Earlier in May police had to form a human chain to hold back more than 150 skinheads and Russian Orthodox Church supporters from rushing a gay event at a Moscow club. The club was to have held a party and rally in support of the pride celebrations. Skinheads hurled tomatoes and plastic bottles at the gays while members of the Church held religious icons and prayed. One gay man was reportedly beaten unconscious.

direland.typepad.com
http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2007/02/putins_conteste.html

February 12, 2007

4
Putin’s Contests Words on Gays An Interview with Russia’s Leading Gay Activist

I wrote the following article for this week’s issue of Gay City News, New York’s largest gay weekly newspaper:
Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) last Thursday spoke in public for the first time ever about gays – but interpretations diverge about the meaning of what he said. At his annual, nationally televised winter press conference February 1, before an audience of hundreds – mostly Russian, but including foreign correspondents as well – Putin was asked by a correspondent from Agence France Presse for his opinion about Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov’s condemnation of Gay Pride parades as "satanic."

"My approach towards gay parades and sexual minorities is very simple,’ Putin replied, according to Reuters. "It is directly linked to my responsibilities. One of the key problems of our country is the demographic problem." At that point, the Reuters report continued, "The auditorium exploded in laughter and applause. The Kremlin leader quickly added, ‘I respect the freedom of people in all respects. What was the other question?’"

Mayor Luzhkov – whose police broke up the 2006 attempt to hold a Moscow Gay Pride demonstration – had said the previous Monday, "Last year, Moscow came under unprecedented pressure to sanction the gay parade, which can be described in no other way than as satanic. We did not let the parade take place then, and we are not going to allow it in the future." On its English-language Web site, Russia’s Novosti press agency – considered to be under the Putin regime’s control – headlined its report on the president’s remarks: "Putin Signals Support For Luzhkov’s Gay Parade Ban," adding in the text of its report that Putin had "avoided a direct answer, but signaled his support for Yuri Luzhkov" – but without citing any specifics.

However, Nikolai Alekseev (right) – the principal organizer of Moscow Gay Pride 2006- chose to put a positive spin on Putin’s remarks, issuing a press release hailing them as a "great breakthrough." Alekseev’s communiqué added, "The president made it clear that he respects the rights of sexual minorities- and another ban of the Gay Pride will contradict what the president said." Moreover, Alekseev’s press release said, "The words of the president have cost us two years of hard, everyday work. We were expecting slightly more from him, but we accomplished the main thing – because of the mere idea of Gay Pride [the] Russian president started to talk about sexual minorities." Most Western media put a neutral spin on Putin’s remarks, avoiding both Novosti’s interpretation that the president supports Luzhkov’s ban on Gay Pride and Alekseev’s claim that he had stated his respect for "the rights of sexual minorities."

And the Western press interpreted Putin’s remark about "demographics" as a joke at Russian gays’ expense – as did the audience at the president’s press conference. Alekseev is the courageous 29-year-old lawyer and gay activist who organized Moscow’s Gay Pride demonstration last May 27. Luzhkov’s police arrested dozens of gay men and lesbians that day, Alekseev included (right, police arrest Alekseev), and permitted gangs of fascist thugs to attack the gay crowd of some 200 with impunity. Among the many who were injured was Volker Beck (left), a gay member of Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag. (See this reporter’s article "Police, Fascists Crush Moscow Pride," Gay City News, June 1, 2006.)

Asked whether any Russian media had echoed his gay-positive interpretation of Putin’s remarks, Alekseev, speaking in English from Moscow, told Gay City News: "The headlines in the electronic media varied from ‘Putin linked gays to demography’ and ‘Gays responsible for low birth rate’ to ‘Putin respects gays,’ ‘Putin made gays happy,’ ‘Putin respects freedoms in all forms,’ etc. You can see that the reaction was mixed, but at least it was not massively negative, most of the time it was neutral or even positive. Though we must admit that we did not understand what Putin thinks on Gay Prides. One politician said to the Kommersant newspaper: ‘I did not understand whether Putin supports Gay Pride or not. I personally do not.’"

Alekseev went on to say that Putin’s remarks on gays were "the first-ever statement of Putin or of any Russian leader in all the history of the country. He admitted on the state level that gays exist, which was not admitted before. I talked to many people after this press conference and many gays are very happy that Putin talked on gays for the first time."

"The statements of Putin put new challenges for us," Alekseev continued. "It is like a two-year period of fight is over, and we now begin a new era from a new starting point. I think the comments of the media and politicians on gays will be more balanced now. This is politics, and whatever Putin thinks on gays he did not express any hatred like the mayor of Moscow is always doing. I think we have to wait for May 27 this year to see if Putin really respects gay liberties, when there will be a chance to demonstrate it in practice."

The events this coming May 27 – chosen again because it is the anniversary of the 1993 decriminalization of homosexuality in Russia – will, Alekseev promised, include a festival, conference, and cultural events beginning May 25 and culminating in a Gay Pride Parade on Sunday, the 27th. The theme of this year’s Moscow Pride, Alekseev said, will be "LGBT Rights Are Human Rights." He told Gay City News, "We want mainstream human rights organizations to start to work on LGBT issues as well, which they have previously ignored. And we are starting to get a good response from these mainstream human rights organizations, who are ready to support us in May this year."

On January 29, having exhausted appeals in the Russian court system against Mayor Luzhkov’s ban, Alekseev and Moscow Pride organizers filed an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, arguing that the Pride ban violated three separate human rights articles of the European Constitution, and asking that the Russian Federation be made to pay 20,000 Euros – some $26,000 – in compensation for its failure to protect the right of gays to demonstrate. "Not a single European legal expert we have spoken with doubts the success of our application to the European Court," Alekseev said.

As a result of the huge publicity around last year’s Moscow Pride and the violent repression of it, Alekseev explained, Russian media coverage of gays "is getting better. Two years ago we could not imagine media here talking so much about gays in Russia. And this is the most important. We got a lot of press for our court actions against the mayor, and for our protest at the Iranian Embassy last July. After that the wave went down, but since we launched the court application in Strasbourg, and since Luzhkov’s and Putin’s remarks, the coverage has started to increase again. I can already say that now at this point we have more than a year ago at the same time."

This has resulted in "More and more people in and around Moscow coming forward who want to help organize this year’s Pride," Alekseev said, pointing to one happy result of the new attention to gay issues. And, he said, there have even been signs of change in parts of Russia far from Moscow. "We had attempts by local activists to register their gay organizations in two regions-in Omsk and in Tumen," he said of two areas north of Kazakhstan, at the western end of Siberia. "All applications were denied on technical reasons and they are continuing to fight for that. It just proves that people in other cities are starting to wake up."

Yet life remains dire for gays outside Moscow. Two Russian gay men were granted asylum this week in France as sexual refugees because of police persecution, the French gay magazine TETU reported Tuesday in its daily e-bulletin. One, a 44-year-old man from Glazov – a city of 100,000 located on the Trans-Siberian Railway line in Russia’s far east – was severely beaten by police there because he is gay. The other, 25, from Kaliningrad, a seaport enclave on the Baltic between Poland and Lithuania, was arrested in a gay cruising area by police, who tortured him.

The two gay Russians were represented in their successful asylum claim by ARDHIS (Association pour la Reconnaissance des Droits des personnes Homosexuelles et transsexuelles à l’Immigration et au Séjour), an eight-year-old French organization that fights for political asylum for LGBT victims of persecution. Alekseev, invited as an honored guest to Pride celebrations in London, Paris, Turin, Berlin, and other foreign cities after the violent repression of last year’s Moscow Pride, underscored to Gay City News that "world solidarity in LGBT movements is vital. If we did not have this solidarity for Moscow Pride we would never have what we have now, with even the president beginning to speak about sexual minorities."

Alekseev explained he has traveled to 30 countries "trying to bring my knowledge and expertise to gays in other nations. Here, we joined solidarity actions on Iran which were very effective, and we are supporting similar actions in relation to other countries. Even in Russia we live in a much freer country and society than many others do, and we have to help progress LGBT equality in the world. Some people can only dream to have what we have here. But they are being prosecuted, executed, killed, harassed without any hope for the better life. It is our obligation to help them and to raise these issues all the time at all levels." The Russian activist was critical of U.S. gay groups.

"I know very well that American organizations are not much involved in the international struggle," he told Gay City News. "This is really a shame. We got many promises from the U.S. organizations but it has never materialized in real help." And, Alekseev added, "I will always be on the side of activists and people who try to change their situations radically, no matter where they live. Even here in Russia I am representing the radical wing of the LGBT movement. I am convinced that no one will bring us what we want, we have to take it ourselves."

Asked about his evolution as a gay activist, Alekseev said, "My coming out was relatively gradual and I can’t give an exact date. It was around the time of my scientific research on the rights of sexual minorities at Lomonosov Moscow State University, for which I was expelled. I started to be interested in the rights of sexual minorities professionally at the university because I was studying law. This sphere was not developed in Russia at all and I started to be very interested to work on it. Then I published two books on this, but I gradually started to realize that I would not change the situation in Russia in such a way. So, I started to think about launching an LGBT human rights organization, which we did in 2005."

Moscow Gay Pride is still struggling to pay off a massive debt of some $30,000 from last year’s events – and, said Alekseev, "We are still not sure how we will finance this year’s Pride because we have only promises but no money to do it."

For more information, or to find out how to help, visit the English-language Web site run by Alekseev and his comrades, http://www.gayrussia.ru/en/

gay.com
http://www.gay.com/news/article.html?date=2007/02/14/2&navpath=/channels/news/

February 14, 2007

5
Russian army accused of gay prostitution

Following recent news that Russia may reinvigorate Soviet law by jailing gays, a new report finds that young recruits in the Russian army are being forced into prostitution. The Gazeta newspaper reported that soldiers from an army base in St. Petersburg are routinely being pimped by senior officials, who then force them to turn over the earnings. Clients allegedly include a former general of FSB, Russia’s intelligence agency.

Anonymous soldiers told Gazeta that they were violently tortured and beaten by senior officers as a means to force them into prostitution. Last year, a 19-year-old recruit was reportedly beaten so badly that his genitals and legs had to be amputated. The Union of the Committees of Soldiers’ Mothers of Russia, a rights group speaking on behalf of soldiers, said that clients arrived at the base late at night to avoid recognition. Soldiers were forced into cars and often would be gone all night.

"The officers would beat us on the arms and legs. We were sent out to the park to earn money," one solider told the newspaper. "I was tortured with electric shocks." The officers allegedly pasted a client list to successors, suggesting that the practice was long-held tradition. Soldiers were paid about $50 on average for each client, most of which went back to the officers. Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, rumored as a potential successor to President Vladimir Putin, has pledged an investigation. (Hassan Mirza, Gay.com U.K.)

gcn.ie
http://www.gcn.ie/content/templates/newsupdate.aspx?articleid=1901&zoneid=9

16 February 2007

6
Moscow Bans Gay Prider March – Again

Moscow will not allow a gay rights parade this spring, a senior city has official said. He equated homosexuality with alcoholism, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported. The city’s mayor had previously said the event would not be held. “There is the hard line of the city authorities and the position of our main faith, the Russian Orthodox Church … of the inadmissibility of such an event in Moscow,” RIA-Novosti quoted the head of the city’s international relations department, Georgy Muradov, as saying.

Mayor Yuri Luzhkov (pictured) and city authorities barred gay-rights activists from staging a parade last year, citing the threat of violence, but activists ignored the ban and were attacked by right-wing protesters and detained by police. Last month, Luzhkov vowed never to allow a gay rights parade, calling such events “satanic.” Russian gay activists pledged to hold a march in May. London Mayor Ken Livingstone said last month that he strongly opposed a ban, and RIA-Novosti quoted Muradov as saying Luzhkov expects to face criticism over the issue at a Feb. 27-28 meeting with the mayors of London, Paris and Berlin.

In an attack on what he said was criticism from the Swedish ambassador, Muradov equated homosexuality with alcoholism and drew a comparison meant to suggest the ban was aimed to protect the health and well-being of society.

247gay.com
http://www.247gay.com/article.cfm?section=66&id=13194

February 18, 2007

7
No Berlin ‘Teddy’, But Moscow Gay Pride Film Feted at Awards Ceremony

The organizers of Moscow Gay Pride wanted an “objective chronicle” of the first-ever Pride in Moscow last year. Director Vladimir Ivanov duly fulfilled the task set. Nikolai Alekseev, one of the Pride organizers, said last November that the film Mockba Pride 06 was an historic document for future generations. And then came the invitation to screen the film at the Berlin Film Festival.

Last night (February 16), after three sold-out public screenings, “Mockba Pride 06” along with co-organizer Evgenia Debryanskaya and Alekseev was feted at the Teddy Awards, a ceremony for gay and lesbian films screened during the festival. The fact that the documentary did not win an award was not the point. “We are very happy that we were invited and took part in this prestigious film festival,” Alekseev told reporters after the awards. “The warm welcome that we got today is higher than any awards.”

The first accolade came from the openly gay Mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit who told the audience in a packed hall that Teddy Award ceremonies are not only to celebrate happiness but they also give an opportunity to raise the issue of violations of the rights of homosexual people in other countries. “Courageous organizers of the pride from Moscow, risking their lives, conducted the event in Russian capital which was banned by city authorities,” Mayor Wowereit said as he introduced Alekseev and Debryanskaya.

Later, Volker Beck, a deputy in the German Bundestag, shared with the audience the difficulties which are faced by gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people in Poland and Russia, before turning to Iran and his recent trip in a parliamentary delegation. On a big screen, images of the attack on Volker Beck during gay pride in Moscow were shown as the MP spoke about his trip to Moscow in May last year. Again, Alekseev and Debryanskaya rose to acknowledge the applause.

Beck concluded by suggesting that everyone should show their solidarity with Russian gays and book their tickets to Moscow for May this year to take part in the celebrations of the second Pride on May 27. “We reached the main thing–we attracted huge attention of the international community to the breaches of the rights of homosexual people in Russia,” Alekseev told reporters.

“From the artistic point of view, there were many interesting films here, which were being shot for several years. That is why today’s results are legitimate. “We could not even dream that [Mockba Pride 06] would be shown in full cinemas in one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world.”

gayrussia.ru
http://www.gayrussia.ru/en/news/detail.php?ID=8720&PHPSESSID=14779830a22837dac24d4d1624cb4cf2

March 03, 2007

8
Russian Media Gives “Massive Coverage” of London Protest of Moscow Gay Pride Ban

Russian gay leader threatened: “we will get you” Russian gay leader Nikolai Alekseev spoke last night of his “delight” at the “massive coverage in the Russian media” of Wednesday’s London protest against Moscow’s notoriously homophobic mayor, Yuri Luzhkov. And he also revealed that while in London he had received threatening and anonymous phone calls. Mr. Alekseev joined the protest outside City Hall, alongside the openly gay Green Party member of the London Assembly, Darren Johnson, and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.

The Mayor of Moscow was in London for a summit with the mayors of Paris, London, Berlin and Beijing. Mr. Luzhkov recently denounced gay pride celebrations as “satanic.” He has also condemned same-sex relationships as “unnatural”, “licentiousness”, deviations”, “blasphemy” and “deadly moral poison.” “Russian media reporting of the protest has been very beneficial. It has put gay rights on the political agenda in Moscow,” said Mr Alekseev. “The TV and press coverage has generated a big public debate. It is helping to break down homophobic attitudes.

“The demonstration was very important and effective. It helped keep the pressure on the Moscow Mayor. The protest was widely shown on Russian TV [and] the issue of gay rights got through to millions of Russians. This is a very positive achievement. The protests are working,” he continued. “We saw Luzhkov’s position change for the better during his visit to London. Contrary to his usually strident homophobic outbursts, he did not condemn homosexuality as unnatural, satanic or against religion. His criticisms were relatively mild. This time he said only that homosexuality is ‘wrong and unusual.’ Very significantly, Luzhkov told the post-summit press conference at City Hall that if the courts decide a gay pride march should be allowed in Moscow then he will not block it. But I wonder whether this was just said to satisfy a western audience. Will he say the same thing back in Russia? I am not sure,” added Mr Alekseev.

Peter Tatchell of Outrage!, which organised the City Hall protest, echoed a similar view. "The fact that Mayor Luzhkov is now saying less vicious things about gay people shows he is feeling the heat. He seems less confident in his homophobic stance,” said Mr Tatchell. “He has been unnerved by the criticisms and protests. He seems to realise that his extreme homophobia is creating problems. “Mr Luzhkov is concerned about his negative public image in the West and how this might affect western investment, tourism and cultural relations with Moscow. He is vulnerable to pressure,” concluded Mr Tatchell.

Immediately after the press conference at City Hall ended, Mr Alekseev incurred the wrath of Luzhkov’s minders. He unfurled a rainbow flag with the Moscow Gay Pride logo, as Mr Luzhkov was giving an interview to the Russian media.

“I was about two or three metres behind Luzhkov,” recalled Mr Alekseev. “This infuriated his staff. Luzhkov’s press secretary, Sergei Tsoi, who is well-known for his homophobic remarks, ordered me to put away the flag. When I refused, he tried to grab it from me by force. Tsoi threatened me. He said they will not leave it like that. I interpreted this as an implied threat. I later received two phone calls that seem to have been from someone in Mayor Luzhkov’s entourage. The calls threatened that ‘we will get you.’ It is quite worrying,” confided Mr Alekseev.

Mayor Luzhkov had only recently announced that he was banning the 2007 Moscow Gay Pride parade, scheduled for 27 May. Last year’s march was also banned and some marchers were beaten, tear-gassed and arrested by the Moscow riot police, the OMON. Mr Alekseev is currently appealing to the European Court of Human Rights against Mayor Luzhkov’s ban on last year’s Moscow Gay Pride. He is also suing the Mayor of Moscow for libel after the Mayor in January this year labeled Moscow Gay Pride as “satanic”.

“Whatever the stance of the Moscow Mayor, we are going ahead with plans for a second Moscow Gay Pride on 27 May,” said Mr Alekseev. On behalf of Russian gays and lesbians, I would like to thank OutRage!, particularly Peter Tatchell and Brett Lock, for organising the protest. My thanks also to everyone who attended, despite the appalling weather and transport problems,” said Mr Alekseev.

365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/03/032107moscow.htm

March 21, 2007

9
Orthodox Church Leaders Join Moscow Mayor In Opposing Gay Pride Parade

by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Moscow – The hierarchy of the powerful Russian Orthodox Church threw their support Wednesday behind Moscow Mayor Juri Lushkov in banning any gay pride celebrations in the Russian capital. In an interview with the Novosti news agency Vsevolod Chaplin, head of the church’s department of external relations, said that gays and lesbians can live as they please in Russia. But he said that they should not be free "to expose children to their way of living."

"Society has rejected homosexual propaganda, which triggers resentment and protest," Chaplin said. Last month two Russian LGBT civil rights groups fighting to hold a gay pride parade filed a libel suit against Lushkov over remarks he made in a broadcast speech in January. In a Kremlin meeting before leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church Lushkov said that gay rights marches were "satanic,"

He then went on to blast gay unions. "Some European nations bless single-sex marriages and introduce sexual guides in schools," Lushkov said in the speech broadcast on Moscow television. "Such things are a deadly moral poison for children." Nikolai Alexeyev of GayRussia.ru one of the groups that filed the lawsuit called Lushkov’s remarks a "smear campaign" against gays and lesbians. The two groups have applied for a parade permit for a gay pride march this May. Lushkov has vowed to veto the permit. Last year Lushkov refused to give a permit for the parade citing security concerns.

Despite the ban, marchers attempted to hold a parade on May 27. Police quickly moved in arresting marchers and counter protestors. (story) Most of the 200 people detained were gay. Alekseev was arrested as he was preparing to lead a group to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside the Kremlin. Police pushed the gays from the area, and into the hands of militant anti-gays who had gathered for a counter protest. As more than 1000 police attempted to clear the area at least one tear gas canister was set off by an anti-gay protestor.

Earlier in May police had to form a human chain to hold back more than 150 skinheads and Russian Orthodox Church supporters from rushing a gay event at a Moscow club. The club was to have held a party and rally in support of the pride celebrations Skinheads hurled tomatoes and plastic bottles at the gays while members of the Church held religious icons and prayed. One gay man was reportedly beaten unconscious.

Lushkov was criticized by his counterparts from London, Paris and Berlin at a summit of European mayors in February.

www.gayrussia.ru
http://www.gayrussia.ru/en/news/detail.php?ID=8858

March 20, 2007

10
Two Heterosexuals From Politics on Moscow Gay Pride 2007 Organising Committee

Second Moscow Gay Pride march date confirmed for Sunday, May, 27

The organising committee for this year’s Moscow Gay Pride, to be held in the Russian capital between May 25 and 27, includes two heterosexuals from the political arena. The committee members, announced yesterday, include politicians Edward Murzin, a parliamentarian from the Bashkortostan region of Russia, and Nikolai Khramov, leader of the democratic political movement Russian Radicals, among the seven-strong group, the other five are from the Russian gay community.

Also serving on the organising committee are Vlad Ortanov, publisher of one of the first Russian gay magazines ARGO; Alexey Davydov, the coordinator of the Russian LGBT Rights group; Evgenia Debryanskaya, leader of the Russian lesbian movement; and Nikolai Baev and Nikolai Alekseev of GayRussia.Ru.

“Last year there were only three of us, this year the organising committee includes seven people, and not only homosexuals but also heterosexuals which underlines the importance of our event for the society as a whole and development of democracy in Russia,” said Mr. Alekseev. He added that the official notification of the proposed Pride march on Sunday May 27 – the14th Anniversary of the decriminalisation of male homosexuality in Russia – will be sent to the Moscow Mayor within the laid-down time frame of 10 to 15 days prior to the event.

“If the Moscow authorities ban Gay Pride again, then we will appeal against this decision in court and again take the case up to the European Court of Human Rights, if needed,” Mr. Alekseev underlined. “The case of the first pride ban was sent to Strasbourg at the end of January,” he pointed out. “Any ban of our march will be against the law and we do not intend to drop our plans for our rights to go on the streets.”

As was the case last year at Moscow’s first-ever Gay Pride, the committee is expecting a number of foreign politicians and gay activists from other countries to take part. The actual Gay Pride March is only one of the events in the three-day Pride. As was the case last year, there will be a conference on LGBT rights prior to the planned “March for Tolerance”.

pinknews.co.uk
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-4353.html

11th May 2007

11
Russian MPs speak in favour of Moscow Pride

by PinkNews.co.uk writer
A senior member of the Duma, the parliament of the Russian Federation, has condemned the ban on a gay Pride march in Moscow later this month. Alexei Mitrofanov, who represents the Liberal Democratic party, said the ban leads to very negative consequences for Russia. The homophobic mayor of Moscow has pledged he will never allow a gay march in his city, calling gay people "Satanic." Gay activists pressed on with Moscow Pride on 27th May last year, despite a ban, police arrests, and violence from neo-fascists, right-wing nationalists and Orthodox Christian fundamentalists.

Over 120 people including a German MP were arrested during the chaotic scenes at Moscow Pride as gay campaigners from all over the world converged in the Russian capital. They were met by religious and nationalist protesters chanting anti-gay slogans and 1000 riot police aiming to stop demonstrations in Red Square. The organiser of Moscow Pride, Nicolas Alexeyev, has vowed to hold the event in 2007, and has formally started proceedings at the European Court of Human Rights concerning last year’s Pride. The 20-page application to the European Court concerns two separate issues: the ban by Moscow authorities of the gay pride march and the banning of the alternative Pride picket, both scheduled for May 27, 2006.

In the application, Pride organisers claim that in denying permission to stage both the march and the picket, the Russian Federation breached Article 11 (right to freedom of peaceful assembly), Article 13 (right to effective court protection) and Article 14 (discrimination ban) in conjunction with Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Russia is a signatory.

In the Duma today Mr Mitrofanov commented:

"We will lose all Strasbourg cases on this issue and then we will be surprised that some persons or deputies will not get entry visas to the European countries."

Nicolas Alexeyev welcomed the statement of deputy Mitrofanov:

"Unfortunately we very rarely hear such balanced and politically responsible statements concerning homosexual people from Russian politicians. Today’s statement of Mr Mitrofanov is a statement of the politician who is looking into the future and who sees Russia as a democratic and free state where the rights of all citizens irrespective of personal characteristics are respected. Alexei Mitrofanov knows very well that LGBT community is a big electoral resource which has not be used by any political power in our country. I want to believe that the time has come when the situation will start to change and the views of gays and lesbians who are equal citizens of Russia will finally be heard in the political process."

Moscow Pride 2007 will take place on Sunday May 27th, marking the day in 1993 when homosexuality was decriminalised in Russia

gayrussia.ru
http://www.gayrussia.ru/en/news/detail.php?ID=9164

May 14, 2007

12
Moscow Gay Pride Officially Notifies Mayor and Russian President of May 27 March

Deputy Alexey Mitrofanov to attend Pride press conference Organisers of Moscow Gay Pride have this morning submitted the official documents in relation to the Pride march scheduled for Sunday May 27. And yesterday the Russian State Duma deputy Alexey Mitrofanov, who last week sensationally said that the Gay Pride march should be permitted, will be attending a press conference tomorrow where Moscow Pride organisers will reveal the plans for the event to speak in support of the event. Official notification of the proposed march in the city centre was delivered this morning to the office of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov.

The march, from 3 to 5pm, is planned to start close to Moscow’s main Post Office and pass along Myasnitskaya Street to Lubyanka Square. A separate application has been sent to the office of Russian President Vladimir Putin, in accordance with the law and President’s decree of 1992 concerning the conduct of public event of the territory of Kremlin. President Putin is being asked to permit a small-scale event between 1 and 2pm in Alexandrovsky Garden next to Kremlin Walls. According to the law, the President of Russia is the only official responsible for permitting public events in Alexandrovsky Garden.

The application to the President sets a limit of 200 participants, due to limited space in the Garden. However, notification to the Mayor says that up to 5,000 are expected on the main march. “Our public events are planned exclusively as a human rights action and not a carnival,” Nikolai Alekseev, Moscow Pride organiser, emphasized. “This year it will be attended not only by foreign but also Russian politicians and famous mainstream human rights activists. We welcome the participation not only of homosexual people but also of heterosexuals who share the principles of respect for the rights and liberties of all people irrespective of their personal characteristics”. At the same time Mr. Alekseev stressed that “all details concerning the plans for the second Gay Pride in Moscow will be voiced during tomorrow’s press conference”.

The press-conference is scheduled for 1 pm at the offices of Moscow Helsinki Group. It will be attended by Mr. Alekseev and State Duma Deputy Mitrofanov, along with the leader of Russian lesbian movement Evgenia Debryanskaya, executive director of Moscow Helsinki Group Nina Tagankina, Bashkortostan deputy Edward Murzin, the head of the Movement for Human Rights Lev Ponomarev, the coordinator of LGBT Rights movement Alexey Davydov, gay activist, representative of the Project GayRussia.Ru Nikolai Baev and Nikolai Khramov, leader of the “Russian Radicals” group. Last year, Mayor Luzhkov banned the Moscow Gay Pride March – his action is currently the subject of a case submitted to the European Court of Human Rights.

The Mayor has already indicated that he will not permit this month’s march

gayrussia.ru
http://www.gayrussia.ru/en/news/detail.php?ID=9182

May 16,2007

13
Fatal Mistake Of Leftist Activists

by Nikolai Baev, GayRussia.Ru
Gay march opponents dislike LDPR deputy Few gay organizations belonging to the scanty so called LGBTnet published yesterday a statement against the deputy of State Duma Alexey Mitrofanov from Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) who recently supported the idea of the gay pride march in Moscow. This statement signed also by some leftist groups condemns any cooperation with Mr. Mitrofanov and blames Moscow gay pride organizers for this.

The statement says Mr. Mitrofanov doesn’t care about gay march and intends only to “have a permission for visits to Europe”. Mr. Mitrofanov is called also “nationalist” in the statement. In fact Mitrofanov’s opponents dislike not his political believes but rather his support of Moscow gay march – a unique attitude among Russian politicians and deputies. Authors of the odious statement from LGBTnet are the same persons who wrote last year a shameful “declaration of gay activists” which called for the ban of any gay pride march. Now they criticize the gay pride movement from other side.

Deputy Mitrofanov’s support of gay march in Moscow is a really big success for the whole gay community of Russia. A federal politician, deputy of State Duma, one of the leaders of a prominent political party openly calls the authorities to maintain civil rights of gays and lesbians. This is a real gift for a discriminated and stigmatized minority like gays and lesbians in Russia whose political elite is totally homophobic. But ambitions of some activists seem to be higher than goals of LGBT community. And it is not a matter of “leftist” persuasions of LGBTnet activists supported by some left groups. It is rather a matter of their political misunderstanding and inability to develop a clear program for gay rights defense and achievement of LGBT civil and social rights. It is still a matter of their fatal opposition to any gay manifestation.

Thanks to the Moscow gay pride movement Russian LGBT community saw two political events of a significant importance this year: president Putin’s statement about his point of view on gay parade and support of gay march by deputy Mitrofanov. The importance of both events is really enormous for gays and lesbians rights movement in Russia. In fact we could break a huge wall of homophobic misunderstanding and ignoring of homosexuals by Russian politicians. As result president Putin made a very correct statement that he respected the individual freedom in all its forms. And now deputy Mitrofanov who is one of leaders of a party represented in parliament supports civil rights of gays and lesbians. All this happened just during few last months. It means how effective the gay pride campaign was in Russia and over the world. The actual opponents of deputy Mitrofanov protested exactly against this campaign.

I understand that some left activists may have objections toward Mitrofanov’s political program. As libertarian I also have objections toward president Putin’s policy. This is not a matter of someone’s political persuasions or ambitions. At stake is the future of civil rights for sexual minorities in Russia which have been too long ignored by politicians and human rights activists. Deputy Mitrofanov’s support is extremely important because it is rarely correct toward LGBT community. The politician says what some “democratic” and human rights activists haven’t said yet: that law and human rights are indivisible and universal, and gays and lesbians are not exception.

Gay pride opponents keep talking about “political benefit” Mr. Mitrofanov tries to get supporting a gay march. The question is only: why no one from democratic and liberal parties like “Yabloko” or SPS has got such “political benefit” before? Why didn’t they condemn violence of the police and crowds of fascists toward gays and lesbians on May 27, 2006 in Moscow? In fact “Yabloko” and SPS parties just understand that gays can not bring any “political benefit” nowadays in Russia, in contrary – only political discredit. I would like to remind all gay march opponents that this event will be held in order to unite different groups supporting civil and social rights of gays and lesbians. People of absolutely different political point of views may take part in it. And frankly speaking, liberal democrat Mitrofanov gave recently a perfect lesson of tolerance and human rights understanding to all homophobes who still strangely call themselves “liberals” or “democrats”.

gayrussia.ru
http://www.gayrussia.ru/en/news/detail.php?ID=9174

May 16, 2007

14
Russian Gays to Ignore Parade Ban

Moscow City authorities insist they already banned second pride march in Russia’s capital. Russian gay rights activists vowed on Tuesday to ignore an imminent ban by Moscow city authorities on a gay pride parade later this month. Police arrived shortly before the start of a news conference saying they wanted to stay and listen, parade organiser Nikolai Alexeyev said. The meeting was also disrupted by a homophobic tirade by a journalist who compared homosexuals to paedophiles and a second who quoted the Bible and said Russia shouldn’t imitate Western values.

"Why should we? There has always been the Russian empire with its own …," he bellowed at the end of a long and loud exchange with the speakers. A Moscow city representative told Reuters that the gay pride parade would not be allowed, adding that the decision would be officially announced on Wednesday. A similar march was banned last year. Gay activists told reporters the march would take place as planned on May 27 regardless of the authorities’ decision.

"The movement of gay pride is a very important rights campaign across the whole of Russia," said Nikolai Bayev, one of the parade’s organisers. "It’s an unavoidable, natural way for the development of civil society." Parliamentary deputy Alexei Mitrofanov told the meeting that blocking the gay pride parade set a dangerous precedent for bans on demonstrations by other minorities and opposition groups that the authorities dislike.

"There are no reasons, none, for refusing to allow such a peaceful march. It’s not extremist activity, it’s not prohibited in the constitution," he said. Mitrofanov added that Russian pop duo Tatu — who shot to world fame in 2003 partly thanks to their teen lesbian image — would attend the parade or preceding gay pride events. "It’d be great to hold the parade as it is done everywhere: a colourful march with feathers, as is customary, but in fact we’ll manage simply a march of tolerance," said regional deputy Edvard Murzin, who added he was not homosexual.

Last year the march went ahead despite the ban. Activists were detained by police, abused by militant Christians and attacked by neo-Nazis. Russia decriminalised homosexuality in 1993. Tolerance is slowly rising, with a handful of gay clubs opening in large cities since the Soviet Union collapsed. But the country has no high-profile openly gay politicians or business leaders.

gay365.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/05/051707petpride.htm

May 17, 2007

15
St. Petersburg Joins Moscow Banning Gay Pride

by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
St. Petersburg, Russia – St Petersburg on Thursday became the second major Russian city to bar gay pride celebrations. Pride organizers had applied for a parade permit for May 26, saying they expected about 2,000 people to take part. "The holding of a gay parade was not permitted, because the announced place and time clash with City Day events," a city spokesperson told the Novosti news service. It is the second year that a pride march has been banned in the city. Despite the refusal of the city to grant a permit organizers said they would hold the parade anyway, as they did last year. The march is scheduled to take place along the historic Nevsky Prospekt.

Earlier this week Moscow refused a pride parade permit for May 27. A spokesperson for Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said that a gay parade would would violate the rights of the majority of Muscovites who are not gay. It is the second year in a row that Luzhkov has banned the march but organizers said they intended to hold the parade anyway. Despite last year’s ban marchers attempted to hold a parade. Police quickly moved in arresting marchers and counter protestors.

Most of the 200 people detained were gay. Charges against them also have been dropped. Pride organizer Nikolai Alekseev was arrested as he was preparing to lead a group to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside the Kremlin. Police pushed the gays from the area, and into the hands of militant anti-gays who had gathered for a counter protest. As more than 1000 police attempted to clear the area at least one tear gas canister was set off by an anti-gay protestor.

Alekseev was charged with violating the order denying Moscow Pride the right to "gather, meet, demonstrate, march or picket. The charges were later dropped. Last month a Moscow court tossed out a lawsuit accusing Mayor Lushkov of libel over claims he made that gay rights marches were "satanic." The court ruled that Moscow Pride leaders had failed to prove that the remarks were incendiary or intended to vilify gays in general.

gayrussia.ru
http://www.gayrussia.ru/en/news/detail.php?ID=9191

May 17, 2007

16
World Famous t.A.T.u. To Take Part in Moscow Gay Pride

Girls are ready to return to Moscow from Los Angeles to support Moscow Pride – The popular female singing group t.A.T.u have indicated that they will try an be in Moscow for the city’s Gay Pride. Today, Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova who are currently recording and album in Hollywood, posted on their website a brief message of support for Russian gays and Gay Pride:

“Dear friends!

“We are addressing gay community in Russia and in the rest of the world in relation to Gay Parade being organized in Moscow on May, 26-27. We’re now in Los Angeles recording the new album. As always, our music will be about people and standing for people, about love and standing for love. We think that every person should express his or her love to another person in the way these two people wish, and no third parties may interfere with their dogmas. We are supporting people disregarding their sexual orientation or any other differences. When t.A.T.u.’s second album came out, many of our fans of alternative sexual orientation thought that we lied and betrayed them. This is not true! We’ve never done that and we’ve always advocated love without boundaries. We will really try to take a time-out in recording and come to Moscow to support you,” the message concludes.

While there is still some doubt if the controversial singing duo – arguably the best-known Russian pop group internationally – will actually be able to make it to Moscow, Gay Pride organiser Nikolai Alekseev said he was delighted at the news. “It would be a big success for all who are fighting for equality for LGBT people and those who for many months tries to realize one’s constitutional rights,” he said. According to Mr Alekseev, “such a huge support for our Gay Pride this year shows that we are being trusted and that society starts to change.

“We are convinced that the participation of t.A.T.u. would attract many more people who value freedom and democracy in Russia to our civil action.”

sptimes.ru
http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=21679

May 18, 2007

17
Gay Parade Denied Permission, But Activists Fight On

by Galina Stolyarova, Staff Writer
City Hall has refused to give permission for a gay pride parade to be held on Nevsky Prospekt in downtown St. Petersburg on May 26, citing the tight schedule of already confirmed events in the city center that day. Russian gay rights activists have previously made two attempts to organize a gay parade in Moscow but Mayor Yury Luzhkov fiercely opposed the idea, condemning the parade as “satanic” and swearing he would never allow them to take place in the Russian capital. Alexandra Polyanskaya, a spokesman of the St. Petersburg parade’s organizing committee, said it is planning to reapply for permission to hold the parade on another day.

“Misconceptions about sexual minorities are widespread here,” Polyanskaya said. “Gay people feel they need to show they are normal human beings. Their sexual orientation does not make them monsters.” Igor Petrov, coordinator of the Russian gay and lesbian network, said outdoor festivals of gay culture are essential to resist homophobic attitudes which he said reign in the country. Earlier this year the network polled 3.500 gay people nationwide to reveal discouraging statistics on discrimination towards sexual minorities. Ninety percent of respondents, regardless of their age, gender, occupation or place of residence said they had been subject to various forms of discrimination including physical abuse because they are homosexual.

“When attacked for homophobic reasons, gay people rarely get any police assistance,” he said. “Homophobic attacks, if registered at all, are qualified as a theft or robbery attempt, or plain hooliganism. It shows that the state turns a blind eye on the problem.” The idea of thousands of gay people on the streets of St. Petersburg has caused strong outrage in the Russian Orthodox Church.

Metropolitan Vladimir of St. Petersburg and Ladoga denounced the plan.

“The Russian Orthodox Church confronts and fights the vicious tendency to present homesexuality as the norm,” he said on Thursday, asking Governor Valentina Matviyenko “to ban the parade, in the context of the growing need to consolidate Russian society and protect children and young people from propaganda of sin.” A motley crew of local religious, cultural and non-governmental organizations — including the St. Petersburg Noble Assembly, the city’s submariners’ club and an NGO called Christian-Democratic Perspective — sent a letter this week to City Hall to voice anger over the suggested march.

“This city survived 900 days of the Siege of Leningrad and paid millions of lives for the victory in the Second World War; it would be a tremendous blasphemy to let a bunch of perverts march along its streets,” the letter reads. According to a nationwide survey published this week by the Moscow-based Levada Sociological Research Center, 81 percent of the poll’s participants were against allowing gay demonstrations in Russian towns. Seventy percent of respondents were convinced that gay organizations do not even have the right to organize such events in principle.

“I just do not understand this: why go public about bedroom habits and expose one’s sexual preferences?” said political columnist Dmitry Motrich. “If the city continues in the same way, we can easily end up with marches of oral sex enthusiasts or public meetings of practitioners of spanking.” While Motrich criticized the parade’s organizers for choosing an already busy weekend — St. Petersburg celebrates City Day on May 27, the date of its founding in 1703 — gay activists stressed that the end of May is equally dear to the Russian gay community. Russia’s late ex-president Boris Yeltsin put an end to criminal prosecution for male homosexual relations when the law that he signed in April 1993 came into force on 27 May 1993. Most gay festivities in Russia are typically held around the anniversary of that date.

Edvard Murzin, a human rights advocate and member of the Bashkiria State Council, said he joined the parade’s organizing committee seeking to raise public awareness of what he calls “a gay stigma and widespread homophobic attitude in Russian society.” “I am a heterosexual and a Muslim but I conform to the fact that Russia is a secular state, where the rights of all minorities, be it political, ethnic or sexual, are declared to be equally protected,” Murzin said. Polyanskaya said gay activists from Moscow and St. Petersburg are planning an informal get-together on Palace Square on May 26.

pinknews.co.uk
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-4450.html

22nd May 2007

18
Euro MPs speak up for Moscow Pride

by Tony Grew
Members of the European Parliament have written to the Mayor of Moscow urging him to respect human rights and allow a gay Pride parade this weekend to go ahead. Marco Cappato, an Italian MEP and Dutch parliamentarian Sophie In’t Veld’s open letter to Yuri Luzhkov asks him to authorise Sunday’s "March in support for tolerance and respect for the rights and freedoms of homosexual people in Russia." Organisers of the Pride event in Moscow have applied to the city for permission to march. Mayor Luzhkov banned the Moscow Pride event planned for May last year. Gay rights activist defied the ban, despite large numbers of vigilantes, tear gas and riot police.

27th May marks the 14th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Russia and the march is planned to start close to Moscow’s main Post Office at 3pm. President Putin is being asked to permit a small-scale event in Alexandrovsky Garden next to Kremlin Walls. Pride organiser Nicolas Alexeyev said he expected an answer from the President early this week. Reports last week that the Moscow city authorities had already decided to ban this year’s Pride proved to be unfounded and Mr Alexeyev is still awaiting a response. The MEPs wrote to the Mayor of Moscow:

"Freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom from discrimination are enshrined in international and Russian human rights law, on which democracies and the Rule of Law are based. Russian authorities are also bound by the Council of Europe and by the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), as well as by the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. We draw Russian authorities’ attention to the fact that the Court of Strasbourg has recently and unanimously condemned in the case "Baczkowski and others v. Poland" an identical ban imposed by the Mayor of Warsaw on the 2005 Equality March in Poland as contrary to the ECHR, notably of its articles 11 (freedom of association and assembly), 13 (right to an effective remedy) and 14 (prohibition of discrimination)."

This year’s Moscow event on 27th May is widely expected to be banned by the city authorities, though no official decision has been relayed to the organisers. Last week city authorities in St Petersburg banned a gay parade from taking place. Organisers said they will defy the ban and go ahead with a parade down the city’s main street, Nevsky Prospekt on May 26th. Around 2,000 people are expected to take part. Last week Russian pop duo t.A.T.u. released a statement on their official website announcing they want to attend Moscow Pride.

The Moscow Times
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/05/28/002.html

May 28, 2007

19
Riot Police Detain Gay Rights Activists

by Natalya Krainova , Staff Writer
OMON riot police detained gay rights activists, including three European lawmakers, on Sunday as they tried to deliver a letter to City Hall appealing a banned gay march. A crowd of gay opponents, meanwhile, shouted "Moscow is not Sodom!" and pelted the activists with eggs and stones. Activists spoke of seeing knives and a gun as well. Organizers had promised that 100 to 200 activists would show up at noon at City Hall on Tverskaya Ulitsa. But police and reporters far outnumbered the 50 who gathered with a letter signed by 40 European lawmakers asking Mayor Yury Luzhkov to allow the activists to march. City Hall rejected a request to march this month; Luzhkov has called gay marches "satanic." Outside City Hall, riot police quickly detained a dozen activists, including leading gay rights campaigner Nikolai Alexeyev, and pushed them into vans.

"I tried to protect him, but I was roughly shoved away," Vladimir Luxuria, a transgender Italian lawmaker, said of Alexeyev on Italian Radio Capital. "After that someone started throwing eggs. They said, ‘Moscow is not Sodom.’ I then saw someone with a knife, and people started to throw stones at us," said Luxuria, who was detained briefly. One Orthodox protester had a real gun on him. I wonder what he was going to do with that?" said Alexei Davydov, an organizer of the protest who was briefly detained. Police also detained German lawmaker Volker Beck and Marco Cappato, a European Parliament lawmaker from Italy. An egg struck Beck in the face as he was being led away. Cappato was detained after a man kicked him and he started to shout: "Where are the police? Why don’t you protect us?"

Also detained was Peter Tatchell, a British human rights activist. A woman threw water at him from a bottle as he tried to speak with reporters. A young man then punched him in the head, and the police stepped in. A total of 31 people were detained, and most of them later released, Moscow police spokesman Yevgeny Gildeyev told The Associated Press. He indicated that the man who had punched Tatchell was among the detainees. But Davydov said 15 gay activists were still being held in custody late Sunday.

"Police are trying to hold them until morning, but [State Duma Deputy Alexei] Mitrofanov is asking for their release, and maybe they will be let go earlier," Davydov said. Mitrofanov, who attended the protest, is a member of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party who recently started to voice his support for gay rights. Davydov accused police of mistreating detained activists, including Alexei Kiselyov, who he said had suffered a concussion outside City Hall and was being refused medical assistance. Western observers at the protest denounced what they called a heavy-handed police response.

"It was a big mess, a lot of violence. Police arrested peaceful demonstrators," Sophie Int’Veld, a Dutch lawmaker in the European Parliament, said by telephone. They were hitting and kicking gay people, and police didn’t protect them," said Boris Dittrich, who oversees gay rights for Human Rights Watch. Dittrich criticized Moscow authorities for not giving permission for a "peaceful demonstration." "It’s a shame that this happens," Dittrich said. "I think it’s important that gay people have the same rights as other people."

Dino Renvert, an aide to Beck, said the German lawmaker was detained for about an hour and released on condition he "leaves the area immediately." He returned to his hotel. Beck was beaten by gay opponents and detained by police when he attended an unsanctioned gay rally last May. That rally and Sunday’s protest coincided with the anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1993. Renvert accused Russian authorities of trying to prevent Beck from returning this year by making it unnecessarily difficult for him to obtain a visa. "It took us two months to get a visa," he said. Int’Veld expressed her regret over what she called "a travesty to democracy." She said the issue was not only gay rights but the right of free assembly.

"I’d like to take home a political message that the European Union can’t turn a blind eye on this any more," she said. "I am very sad." Davydov said For Human Rights leader Lev Ponomaryov and Moscow Helsinki Group head Lyudmila Alexeyeva were gathering information about Sunday’s detentions in order to appeal them in court. Moscow Helsinki Group helped organize a city-sanctioned rally against homophobia on Pushkin Square on Saturday. Yulia Volkova and Lena Katina of the faux-lesbian pop duo t.A.T.u. made a brief appearance at Sunday’s protest, but left quickly as their car was pelted with eggs.

news.scotsman.com
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=826402007

20
Gay rights activists beaten and detained in Moscow protest

by Conor Sweeney in Moscow
Gay rights activists were attacked and beaten by anti-gay protesters in Moscow yesterday when they attempted to oppose the city’s ban on a pride march. Around 30 activists, including two MEPs, were detained by Russian police and eight were later charged for holding an unauthorised rally. Riot police said they were forced to move in and defuse the situation to protect the activists from attack by a large crowd opposed to them. In chaotic scenes in central Moscow, a number of other prominent protesters, including Richard Fairbrass, the British pop singer, were punched by counter-protesters as they tried to speak with the media.

"These are dirty homosexuals, I am an orthodox believer and that is my belief," said one man involved in the scuffles. A group of thick-set young men turned up wearing surgeon’s masks, which they said would protect them from the "gay disease". Other men and women screamed abuse such as "death to homosexuals" at the activists. Both Peter Tatchell, the British gay rights activist, and Fairbrass, the singer from pop band Right Said Fred, were punched in the face as they tried to talk to camera crews.

Police last night said they had charged one man for assault on Mr Tatchell, who was detained following the assault. For the second year in a row, Moscow’s mayor banned a gay parade through the city. Yury Luzhkov has previously described gay people as "satanic". Although activists didn’t attempt to stage a full-scale pride march, they sought to deliver a letter of protest to the mayor’s office in central Moscow. However, the police moved in, pulling some of the foreign attendees, like Marco Cappato, the radical Italian MEP, into a police bus when he complained they weren’t protecting them from the counter-demonstrators.

Mr Cappato was in Moscow with Sophie IntVeld, the Dutch Liberal MEP, to hand in a petition signed by 50 MEPs to protest that the decision to prevent the gay parade going ahead was in contravention of the Council of Europe’s commitments, which Russia has signed. Although homosexual activity was legalised in Russia in 1993, it remains a taboo issue. However, there are a handful of gay bars in Moscow – one of the largest is around the corner from the Mayor’s office. The resurgent Russian Orthodox Church has also taken a vehemently anti-gay stance and city officials claim the disturbances provoked by a gay parade don’t justify the protection such a march would require. Moscow’s gay community has also been split about the merits of staging a protest, with some activists querying if there is any point even trying to stage a gay rights parade.

"There is nothing to celebrate in this country," said Alex Khordorkovsky of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender network yesterday. Last night, the Green Party in Germany demanded Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, raise the issue at the earliest opportunity with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, during next month’s G8 summit. Ms Merkel clashed with Mr Putin over human rights issues just over a week ago, when she complained about the obstructions being used to prevent anti-Kremlin protesters from staging rallies in Russia. Mr Putin was asked earlier this year for his views on gay rights and first made a joke that they would be better off trying to improve the country’s falling population before declaring all citizens were entitled to their rights, regardless of their sexuality.

The Washington Blade
http://www.washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=12865

May 29, 2007

21
Cops, protesters prevent Moscow gay parade draft, Activists pummeled by protesters, detained by police

Moscow (AP) – Gay rights activists were pummeled by right-wing protesters and detained by police Saturday, preventing them from putting on a display of gay pride in defiance of a city ban. Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said in a radio interview Friday gay parades "may be acceptable for some kind of progressive, in some sense, countries in the West, but it is absolutely unacceptable for Moscow, for Russia. As long as I am mayor, we will not permit these parades," he said.

Police detained the rally’s main organizer, Nikolai Alexeyev, as he attempted to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a symbol of Russia’s victory against fascism in World War II, just outside the Kremlin wall. "We are conducting a peaceful action. We want to show that we have the same rights as other citizens," Alexeyev had told a news conference a few hours before the rally was to have begun. But police closed the entrance to the garden where the tomb is located, and the first half-dozen activists arrived carrying flowers were set upon by about 100 religious and nationalist extremists who kicked and punched them.

"Moscow is not Sodom!" they shouted. Women wearing head scarves held up religious icons while men in Cossack white sheepskin hats and black-and-red tunics stood by. We were expecting this. It’s the authorities that are allowing this to happen," said a woman holding a limp red carnation who identified herself only as Anna, a lesbian. Riot police rushed in to separate the assailants from the activists but detained Alexeyev "as the ringleader," said British gay rights activist Peter Tatchell, who was in the group. Police said later they had detained 120 anti-gay protesters and gay activists.

"Both the authorities and the fascists had the same objective _ to suppress the Moscow gay pride," Tatchell told The Associated Pres. Saturday was the 13th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality in Russia, and a number of foreign activists traveled to Moscow this week for an unprecedented forum on gay rights in Russia and the Russian capital’s first gay and lesbian pride parade. By the time of the start of the rally, more than 100 youths were standing in the square opposite the mayor’s office, chanting: "Glory to Russia!" Several trampled on a rainbow-colored ribbon _ a symbol of gay rights _ into the ground.

"This is a perverts’ parade," said one protester holding an icon of the Madonna. "This is filth, which is forbidden by God. We have to cleanse the world of this filth," said the woman who gave only her first name, Irina. A member of Germany’s Bundestag, Volker Beck, was giving an interview before TV cameras when about 20 nationalist youths surrounded him and pummeled him, bloodying his nose. Volker Eichler, a gay activist from Berlin who witnessed the beating, said police did not intervene.

City authorities cited the potential for violence as the primary reason for banning the parade. But they also voiced disapproval of the very idea of gay rights. Russian religious leaders, Orthodox Christian, Muslim and Jewish, have all vocally opposed the parade. The issue has split Moscow’s gay community, many of whom say that Russian society is still too conservative and a parade would only provoke more violence from skinheads and radical groups. Gay rights activists estimate that 5-8 percent of Russia’s 143 million people are gay and lesbian.

pinknews.co.uk
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-4522.html

30th May 2007

22
Swedes invite Moscow mayor to a gay day out

by PinkNews.co.uk writer
City councillors in Stockholm have invited the Mayor of Moscow to the city’s gay Pride festival in August. Their tongue-in-cheek invite comes in the wake of the Russian’s ban on similar public displays by LGBT people in his city. Stockholm city council Green Party leader Yvonne Ruwaida hit upon the idea of showing Mayor Yuri Luzhkov how Pride is celebrated on the other side of the Baltic Sea, and she was backed by councillors from other parties. "We have invited the mayor to visit our festival and to see how we work with homo, bi and transsexual issues here. It is important to deal with homophobia," she told AFP.

The Muscovite leader will receive his invite on next week. On Sunday police in the Russian capital beat and detained gay activists who tried to deliver a letter to his office protesting the ban on Moscow Pride for the second year running. Outspoken human rights activist Peter Tatchell and Right Said Fred singer Richard Fairbrass were among those assaulted. German MP Volker Beck was also there, and claimed he was also the target of violent homophobes. Today the president of the lower house of the German parliament, Norbert Lammert, wrote to his Russian counterpart to express concern at Mr Beck’s treatment.

Russian gay activists have vowed to hold a Pride march in 2008 and have asked for Western support for the event.

According to figures released later by Moscow officials, 18 Russian demonstrators for LGBT rights were arrested, along with twelve skinheads. Police also detained Volker Beck, a member of the German Bundestag, and Marco Cappatto, a member of the European Parliament, along with a European Parliament staffer. Most of those arrested were released that night. Three co-organizers of Moscow Pride—Nikolay Alexeyev, Nikolay Khramov, and Sergey Konstantinov—were charged with disobeying police orders as well as with walking on the street (as opposed to the sidewalk).

At hearings for Alexeyev and Khramov on June 8 and 9, the judge refused to admit defense evidence, and called previous testimony on the defendants’ behalf by Volker Beck and Marco Cappatto “frivolous.” Both Khramov and Alexeyev were convicted and given 1000 ruble (about US$40) fines. Konstaninov’s hearing will take place on June 22.

Link to photos: http://hrw.org/photos/2007/russia06/

Three times as many people were arrested this year compared with last year’s attempt to hold Gay Pride in Moscow. On both occasions, the city administration denied permits for a proposed Pride parade. In February 2007, Mayor Luzhkov declared, “Last year, Moscow came under unprecedented pressure to sanction the gay parade, which can be described in no other way than as Satanic. We did not let the parade take place then, and we are not going to allow it in the future.”

Human Rights Watch and ILGA-Europe also documented increasing legal restrictions on LGBT people’s freedoms over the past year including attempts to criminalize so-called “propaganda for homosexuality.” In recent months, peaceful demonstrations by Another Russia, a political opposition movement, have been regularly broken up by riot police, and organizers have been harassed and detained.

pinknews.co.uk
http://pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-5479.html

18th September 2007

23
Gay blood donor activists arrested in Russia

by Georgina Roberts
Activists in Moscow have been arrested for protesting against Russia’s ban on gay men donating blood. Seven of the ten protesters were detained by police last Friday following a reportedly peaceful protest outside the Russian Health Ministry. Although all donations are screened, Russian law prevents gay men from donating much needed blood as they are considered to be most at risk of sexually transmitted diseases, listing them alongside prostitutes and drug dealers. Moscow Gay Pride organiser Nicolas Alexeyev led the protest last week. He claims the law is discriminatory and told Russia Today that the health service was "stopping people giving blood for reasons that are incomprehensible."

Gay men are still prevented from giving blood in the UK and in other parts of Europe, despite recent campaigns by students and young people. A petition presented to the Prime Minister by James J Walsh, a former LGBT officer for the National Union of Students, earlier this year contained 5,236 signatures against the ban. Portugal began accepting donations from people regardless of their sexual orientation last year and France has lifted its ban.

Donations from gay men are under review in Sweden and banned in the USA, despite recent Red Cross campaigns. There is no ban in Spain and Italy and in Australia donations are accepted from gay men who have not had sex in the last year. In South Africa this is reduced to six months. Nicolas Alexeyev is currently the focus of a criminal investigation after he outed a Russian MP on live television. The charges arise from comments he made in June, when he said politician Alexander Cheuv as a closet homosexual.

Gay Russia News & Reports 2007 January-May

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