Book: ‘Out of the Blue: Russia’s Hidden Gay Literature’
Edited by Kevin Moss, 1997
1 Muslim leader threatens violence against Russian gay pride parade 2/06
2 Moscow mayor refuses Gay Pride parade 2/06
3 Moscow Bans Gay Pride March, Religious Leaders Threaten Violence 3/06
4 Skinheads, Militants Disrupt Gay Night at Moscow Club 3/06
5 Gay Community of Russia Reaches Out to Europe 5/06
6 Press release: "Freedom of assembly belongs to all people" Statement 5/06
7 Moscow police arrest gay pride leader and 50-100 others at banned march 5/06
8 Gay Activists Beaten by Extremists, Jailed by Police 5/06
9 Gay March Overwhelmed by Violent Protests 5/06
10 Next year in Moscow, activists vow 5/06
11 ILGCN Cultural World Conference in Bloodied Moscow 6/06
12 It’s getting "hot" for Russia in the Council of Europe 6/06
13 Moscow Court Upholds Gay Pride Ban 8/06
14 Four people stabbed in Moscow gay attack 8/06
15 Russian Gays Take Homophobic Moscow Mayor to Strasbourg Court 9/06
16 Gay Russia Reacts to Elton John’s Desire for Moscow Pride Gig 11/06
17 Russian Gay Activist Tells London Audience He Will Fight On 11/06
18 Homosexuals were rare species in Russia some 10 years ago 12/06
16 February 2006
1
Muslim leader threatens violence against Russian gay pride parade
by Hassan Mirza
A Leading Russian Muslim leader has threatened a violent protest if a Gay Pride parade takes place in Moscow this spring. Chief Russian Mufti of Russia’s Central Spiritual Governance for Muslims Talgat Tajuddin told the Interfax news agecy, “Muslims’ protests can be even worse than these notorious rallies abroad over the scandalous cartoons".
“The parade should not be allowed, and 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.” Russian LGBT leader announced in July that they would try to hold pride celebrations in Moscow on May 27, 2006 — the anniversary of the abolition of Soviet laws against homosexuality in 1993.
The Russian capital has never had a pride parade before.
Nikolai Alekseev, one of the organisers of Moscow LGBT Festival and Pride, responded to the threats and said, “The position of Talgat Tajuddin is unacceptable". "What is terrible is that he used the current situation in the world connected with the publication of cartoons, to incite hatred towards those who have absolutely not connection to that." On Wednesday, Leading Russian Rabbi Berl Lazar suggested that a Gay Pride parade “would be a blow for morality”.
21 February 2006
2
Moscow mayor refuses Gay Pride parade
The mayor of Moscow has said his government will not approve of a Gay Pride parade in the city, citing "outrage" from influential religious leaders. Mayor Yuri Luzhkov’s refusal to even consider a Pride application drew criticism from gay rights groups, who had hoped to stage Russia’s first Pride event on May 27th.
According to the Independent newspaper, gay leaders have threatened to take the matter to the European Court of Human Rights.
The move by the government followed a public diatribe by a Russian Muslim leader, Chief Mufti Talgat Tadzhuddin, which called for violent protests if the Pride parade went ahead. "If they come out on to the streets anyway they should be flogged," he said. "Any normal person would do that – Muslims and Orthodox Christians alike… [The protests] might be even more intense than protests abroad against those controversial cartoons."
The Russian Orthodox Church called a possible Pride parade "the propaganda of sin".
"These attempts by the Russian state and religious leaders to suppress the right to protest are a throwback to the bad old days of czarist and communist totalitarianism," said veteran human rights activist Peter Tatchell. "No amount of threats and intimidation by the mayor of Moscow, the Chief Mufti or the Chief Rabbi will halt the gay freedom struggle in Russia." Homosexuality was decriminalised in Russia in 1993.
Commentaryby Doug Ireland
www/direland.com
March 02, 2006
3
Moscow Bans Gay Pride March, Religious Leaders Threaten Violence
Moscow’s authoritarian mayor, Yuri Lushkov — declaring that homosexuality is “an unnatural act” — has banned Moscow’s first-ever Gay Pride March, and the gay festival and conference that was to coincide with it. Lushkov (left) has said the Pride activities will be “severely repressed,” while some religious leaders have called for the use of violence to prevent the march. The official ban has created outrage in Europe’s gay community, and demonstrations in front of Russian embassies and consulates have been organized for today, March 2, right across the Continent by European gay groups — yet U.S. gay organizations have remained silent on the ban on Moscow Gay Pride, and no demonstrations against the ban have been organized here.
Plans for Moscow’s first Gay Pride March were announced last July, Nicolas Alexeyev, head of the group Gay Russia, told me via e-mail. Since then, he said, coverage in the print press has been extensive and positive. “ Over the last years, homosexuality was covered by tabloid papers. Gays were laughed at by journalists.,“ Alexeyev (right) told me in an e-mail. But, he said, “Since we have announced the Pride last, for the first time, daily papers started to be interested in the situations of gays. The radio Echo of Moscow held a talk show prime time, on the topic of the Pride.
Then, more recently, the homophobic statements from religious leaders increased the media interest to us. Kommersant, the paper of business and finance (a sort of local Wall Street Journal), wrote an article about gays, for the first time. The gay pride is almost in all papers. The coverage also is very balanced and quite positive for the image of gays. I think journalists understood well that if a Mayor can bypass the constitution and prevent us from our constitutional right of peaceful demonstration, then this is obviously a restriction of freedom. Who will be next tomorrow ?”
In the most extreme threat of violence against the Pride March and festival, the Supreme Mufti of the Central Spiritual Directorate of the Muslims of Russia, Talgat Tajuddin (left), told the Russian news agency InterFax on February 14 that, “Protests of Muslims [against the Pride March] can be even sharper than those abroad against scandalous cartoons.” He added, “The parade should be allowed in no circumstances, If they go into the streets, they should be thrashed. All normal people will do it, both Muslims and the Orthodox.”
The Mufti said that the Prophet Muhammad had ordered the killing of homosexuals because “their behavior leads to the end of human race. This is neither a democracy, nor an anarchy. This is the end of history. This is abhorrent to God and man’” Tajuddin underscored.
The chief rabbi of Russia, Rabbi Berl Lazar (right), also condemned the Pride March, telling InterFax that if the Gay Pride parade was allowed to go ahead it “would be a blow for morality,” adding that “sexual perversions“ do not have the right to exist. “I would like to assure you, that the parade of homosexuals it is not less offensive to the feelings of believers than any caricatures in newspapers,” Rabbi Lazar added, echoing the Mufti’s linking of the Pride parade with the current furor over the cartoons published in Denmark five months ago.
Pride organizers filed a criminal complaint against the Mufti for his comments with Russia’s General Prosecutor, asking that a criminal prosecution be started against him for “inciting hatred towards a social group,” which is prohibited by Article 282 of the Criminal Code of Russia, Alexeyev said.
On February 16, Mayor Luskhov’s press secretary, Sergei Tsoi (left), reiterated the official ban, indicating that it would include the festival and conference planned to coincide with the Pride March. “Moscow government does not even consider the issue of allowing a gay parade,” Tsoi said. He added that the plans for the conferences which formed part of the gay festival were “nothing else than a cloak for the [Gay Pride] march.”
“ The Mayor of Moscow said firmly that Moscow government will not allow the conduct of the gay parade in any form – neither open, nor indirect, and all attempts to organize non-sanctioned action will be severely suppressed,” Tsoi told InterFax.
Mayor Lushkov’s ban has been accompanied by anti-homosexual propaganda on the main Moscow television station, TWC (logo right), which the mayor controls, Gay Russia’s Andreyev said. “This proves that we are obliged to conduct this parade not to allow such people to portray us as perverts and people who only need pity. They lie, they do everything to destroy our reputation, and the people are watching it and live under the influence of such low quality reports. Our aims is to stop it and to give objective information on homosexuality to the society,” Alexeyev told GCN.
A particularly repulsive anti-gay propaganda broadcast on the TWC channel’s “Postscriptum” program at the beginning of February was denounced by Oscar Wilde’s grandson, Merlin Holland in a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Holland wrote Putin that the program — re-run numerous times on the Moscow TV channel — “was apparently of an overtly homophobic nature and quite clearly intended to convince the Russian public that homosexuality is the affliction of a depraved and decadent minority in Western Europe, a minority whose aim is to cause trouble in Eastern Europe by marching for its human rights.,” UK Gay News reported.
Holland reminded President Putin (right) that Russia had a number of world-famous people in the arts who were gay , like the composer Tchaikovsky. “It is nothing of which to be ashamed; it is not decadent and depraved; it is a part of human nature and has been since the dawn of civilization,” he wrote. Holland went on to say that while he was not gay himself, he was happy to add his voice to those raised in protest against homophobia. “My grandfather was imprisoned in 1895 simply for being a homosexual and our family was almost destroyed as a result.”
“ It is an honor for us that the grandson of Oscar Wilde, who is not gay, is trying to help us,” Gay Russia’s Alexeyev told me.
Mayor Lushkov’s intention to “severely repress” the Pride March and its attendant conference and festival has received a chorus of support from other Russian politicians. Ekaterina Lahova, who chairs the committee of the Duma (Russia’s parliament) on women, family and youth issues, entered the fray by saying it was not “safe for the state to propagate homosexuality” and that the action by the Moscow authorities in banning a gay parade was a “perfectly correct decision.”
Lubov Sliska (left), the First Vice-Speaker of the State Duma said that some people “equated ‘human rights’ with ‘permissiveness.’” “Therefore, Moscow city authorities made a right decision by banning this procession,” she said, adding, “Some say that the ban to hold Gay Parade does not correspond to human rights but one person asked me: ‘Who is going to protect my rights, if I don’t want to see this Parade?’ There are several million people in Moscow who do not want homosexuals to have this procession. Who is going to protect their rights?”
Alexander Chuev (right), the deputy leader of the Rodina (motherland) group in the Duma and the head of the Christian and Democratic Perspectives alliance, claimed that, “if Moscow city authorities were to allow this Gay Parade, we would witness horrible consequences of clashes between this campaign’s followers and opponents.” Chuev said that he is currently in the process of preparing amendments to the Penal Code to impose sanctions for “propagating” homosexuality.
Reactions denouncing the ban on the Moscow Pride March were swift in coming. Louis-Georges Tin (left), the president of the Paris-based International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO), (logo right) which is scheduled for May 17), called for world-wide demonstrations against the ban on March 2. Tin — a rising star of France’s movement for racial equality who also heads the Representative Council of French Black Associations — pointed out that the Mayor of Moscow was wrong in his statement that the majority of Muscovites were against gays and the proposed Pride. “A recent poll found that 51% of Russians thought that gays and lesbians should have the same rights as all other people,” Tin noted. “These political and religious statements are clearly threatening human rights and diffusing hatred in the whole country.”
Gay groups in many European countries have responded to IDAHO’s call, and major demonstrations have been scheduled for March 2 in support of the Moscow Pride events in London, Paris, Stockholm, Vienna, Warsaw, and other cities. But in the United States, no demonstrations have been organized, and none of the national gay groups here have issued even a word of protest — neither the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) , the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), nor even the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) have bothered to issue so much as a press release in protest against the ban of Moscow Pride, let alone call for or organize public actions in support of the repression of Moscow’s gay rights advocates.
In this, these groups are continuing the ostrich-like, isolationist attitude they’ve maintained in public toward the lethal anti-gay pogrom in the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has already claimed the lives of a dozen young gay men who have been executed by the religiously fanatic regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
By contrast, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has vigorously denounced the ban. “Mayor Luzhkov is giving prejudice a veto over the rights to peaceful expression and assembly,” said Scott Long, director of HRW’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program. “Human rights are not a popularity contest,” said Long. “Letting this march proceed is an international obligation. If prejudice is allowed to trump the rights that all citizens should enjoy, then everyone’s freedoms are endangered.”
On February 28, officers of the European Parliament Gay and Lesbian Rights Intergroup have this afternoon (February 28) issued a statement expressing their “serious concern” about the anti-gay proclamations coming from Moscow and its Mayor. “We condemn this attitude,” said Michael Cashman, president of the Intergroup and a British Labour Party MEP (Member of the European Parliament). Alexander Stubb, an MEP from Finland (where the president of the country is the former head of Finland’s gay rights group) said that the steering committee of the Intergroup has sent written questions to the both the European Commission and the Council of Europe about the Moscow gay repressions. “We are asking for action,” he said.
4
Skinheads, Militants Disrupt Gay Night at Moscow Club
Moscow – A group of skinheads and elderly Russian women holding religious icons disrupted a gay night at a Moscow nightclub, forcing clubbers to be evacuated by bus, media reported Monday. Over 150 far-right activists and Orthodox Christian militants blocked the entrance to the La Guardia nightclub on Sunday evening, the Interfax news agency reported, citing an unidentified police official. Police had to form a human chain to separate the protesters from people inside the club and the party did not take place because most of its guests could not enter the club.
Some of the young people started to throw eggs, tomatoes and plastic bottles when the guests began leaving the club by bus, according to footage shown by NTV television. "We know this is a sin and we can’t allow it to flourish here, these lesbians and sodomites, their souls will die, they will go to hell," said one elderly Orthodox woman.
The protesters yelled homophobic insults, the Ekho Moskvy radio station reported. Moscow’s mayor earlier this year refused to allow the Russian capital’s first gay parade because the proposed May 27 event had "evoked outrage in society, in particular, among religious leaders." Human rights groups criticized the decision as a violation of civil rights. Police declined to comment on the nightclub incident. But the leftist Radical Party, accused the police officers at the scene of failing to protect the clubbers from the protesters. " If the police chiefs cannot force their subordinates, among whom there are significant numbers of homophobes, to obey orders, these chiefs should be fired," the party said in a statement.
May 16, 2006
5
Gay Community of Russia Reaches Out to Europe
Secretary General of the Council of Europe Terry Davis called on Russia’s authorities Monday seeking the punishment for any enforcement activities against gay and lesbian community in Moscow. At the same time, members of that community filed an application to the City Hall to get the sanction for staging a parade May 27, 2006, which aim is “to back up the tolerant attitude and observance of rights and freedom of homosexual persons in Russia,” and sent a letter to President Putin urging him “to prevent violation of their rights to peaceful demonstration.”
The matter at stake is the intention of gay community of Russia to hold a parade on May 27 in Moscow, timing it to the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO). The parade was first announced by project managers of Gayrussia.ru nearly a year ago. “If I get such letter, I’ll reply in the negative,” Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov rebuffed then.
“ Moscow Government will prevent any gay parade irrespective of the form. Any and all attempts of its unauthorized holding will be rigorously terminated,” Sergey Tsoy, briefer of the Moscow authorities, echoed Luzhkov’s words in February. Nevertheless, the gay community submitted its application yesterday, emphasizing the purpose of the event is advocating the rights and representatives of the European Parliament, Bundestag and the Communist Party of France have been duly invited to attend.
“ If the City Hall doesn’t sanction the event, we will stand for our rights in the court,” Nikolay Alexeev, project manager at Gayrussia.ru made clear yesterday and added “the event will be held in any case, even if the Moscow government declines official holding.”
by www.kommersant.com All the Article in Russian as of May 16, 2006
May 26, 2006
6
Press release 26 May 2006 "Freedom of assembly belongs to all people" Statement
by Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights regarding the ban of March of solidarity in Chisinau and Gay Parade in Moscow Thomas Hammarberg declared in his statement – "Recently, there have been calls for banning gay prides – events organized to celebrate diversity and equality – in a number of Council of Europe member states.
A recent example is from Moscow, where the first ever gay pride scheduled for 27 May, was not given permission by the Mayor of Moscow. The case is pending in local courts and final outcome is not yet known. Regrettably, this is not the only case. There are also reports that the Mayor of Chisinau, Moldova has decided to ban a similar manifestation. The rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly are fundamental rights in a democratic society and belong to all people, not just the majority.
A demonstration may annoy or give offence to persons opposed to the ideas or claims expressed, but this cannot be a reason to ban a peaceful gathering. If the authorities have grounds to fear for the security of the demonstrators they should provide protection or, at least, suggest alternative venues for such a manifestation. A general ban of a peaceful demonstration can only be justified if there is a real danger of disorder which cannot be prevented by reasonable and appropriate measures.
Solutions should be found which guarantee both security and freedom of assembly. This is particularly important in a context of increasing racism and xenophobia, including homophobia. Violent incidents against those who are different or perceived to be different are taking place with alarming frequency, and all too often with impunity. This is unacceptable and has to be stopped. Authorities at all levels must strongly respond to such individual acts of violence and actively promote tolerance and respect in their communities."
Boris Balanetkii, Executive Director Information Center GenderDoc-M C.P. 317, MD 2001 Chisinau, Republic of Moldova Phone: /37322/ 544420, 544054 Fax: /37322/ 220201 E-mail: director@gay.md Internet: www.gay.md GenderDoc-M vision is a world in which the LGBT community is visible and integral part of with equal rights.
May 27, 2006
7
Moscow police arrest gay pride leader and 50-100 others at banned march–Gay German MP Volker Beck, Oscar Wilde’s Grandson, and Paris Mayor’s Rep All Injured
Moscow’s police –1000 of whom were deployed to enforce Mayor Yuri Luzhkov’s ban on a Gay Pride March scheduled for today — have arrested Nicolas Alexeyev, principal organizer of the banned, first-ever Pride March in Russia’s capitol, the Russian news agency Interfax has reported. Alexeyev was arrested while attempting to lay flowers at Russia’s World War II-era Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (right) in Alexander’s Garden, one of the city’s largest parks, which runs the entire length of the Kremlin’s west wall. The choice of the Tomb for the wreath-laying was designed to emphasize the links between the struggle against Nazi Germany and the fight for the rights of gay people. Ten other Gay Pride participants were also arrested at that time. Reuters later reported that Alexeyev was "dragged, bent almost double, away from the gates [of the Tomb] by two policemen."
Yevgenia Debryanskaya, a prominent lesbian movement activist, was also later arrested by police today near Moscow’s city hall, at the monument to Yuri Dolgoruky (a 12th century ruler also known as George I of Russia, photo left), along with some dozen other Gay Pride marchers, after the demonstrators moved to the monument, police told Interfax.
"OMON anti-riot task force servicemen have now cordoned-off the square in front of the monument to Yuri Dolgoruky and are shoving those protesting the gay parade from the square," Interfax reported at 3:40 PM Moscow time. The OMON (insignia at right), frequently accused of abuses of power and repressive violence, was created as an anti-terrorist cum riot militia for the Moscow Summer Olympics in 1980, and continues to exist since the fall of the Communist regime.
A crowd of anti-gay protesters — many from fascist groups like the Russian All-National Union and the Union of Orthodox Gonfalon-Carriers, and the ultra-right and xenophobic Movement Against Illegal Immigration, and including many skinheads — which police estimated at 150, had been shouting "Sodom Won’t Pass Here" at the gay marchers as they approached the Dolgoruky monument, Interfax said.
In a separate dispatch, Interfax reported that police put at 50 the number of those arrested so far in connection with today’s Gay Pride events. Not only the Pride march, but gay meetings in connection with it, were banned by Mayor Luzhkov, while major Russian religious leaders called for violence against the gay demonstrators. There is as yet no word on whether any of the foreign delegates to the Pride events — including a number of European political figures — had been arrested.
However, the news agency Deutsche Press-Agentur reports that an openly gay member of the German Bundestag (Parliament), Volker Beck was injured by the fascist anti-gay protesters in a scuffle. "There was no aggression from our side, we were simply there,” Herr Beck told the DPA press agency. “It is unacceptable that the police offer no protection to gays on the streets.” Later, CNN reported on its website via an Associated Press dispatch that, "as Beck was giving an interview before TV cameras, 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." CNN International aired a report by its Matthew Chance showing the arrest of Alexeyev and footage of the attacks by the anti-gay goons–a link to that footage can be found on the CNN website.
(The BBC later carried video footage of the attack on Beck and showed him afterward, dazed and shaken with blood streaming down his face. (Photo of Beck after the attack, at left, via Toronto Globe and Mail.). A link to the BBC’s video segment can be found on their website by clicking here.) Beck is considered the father of Germany’s domestic partnership law. The German news agency puts the number of arrests at 100.
The BBC, in its first report on the events filed at 4 PM U.K. time, put the number of arrests at 70, adding that "Eyewitnesses said several foreign gay rights activists were beaten by [anti-gay] protesters." That seems to have been an understatement — late this afternoon, noted British gay and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell (left) filed a first-hand account from Moscow for U.K.Gay News of the violent attacks on the gay activists by the counter-protesters.
" We were immediately set-upon by about 100 fascist thugs," Tatchell said, "and religious fanatics who began pushing, punching and kicking us. They snatched flowers out of our hands and abused us with chants of ‘No sodomy in Moscow’ and ‘Put the pederasts on the iron’ and ‘Russia is not Sodom’. We were pushed and carried like corks on a sea of fascist pushing and shoving."
And an e-mail I received from veteran Austrian gay activist Kurt Krickler (right), co-founder and Secretary-general of Homosexuelle Initiative (HOSI) in Vienna, and editor of its magazine, LAMBDA-Nachrichten, reports from Moscow: "Pierre from France [Pierre Serne, left, a member of the City Council in the Paris suburb of Vincennes and a staffer for openly gay Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë, whom he represented in Moscow] suffered so severe injuries in an attack of skinheads that he had to be hospitalized. "
Krickler added that, "When leaving the site of the demonstration across the City Hall, I myself was attacked by four youth kicking me with their feet and beating me with their fists. I got a blow on my eye and could escape, and the aggressors ran away. I had a bad bruise at the eye, and a friend took me to a clinic where the doctor ordered an x-ray as he suspected the sinus could be damaged, too. Fortunately, no severe injury, besides a huge hematome on the eye."
A Le Monde report from Moscow says that also injured was Oscar Wilde’s grandson, Merlin Holland who gave the opening address at the international conference organized by Moscow Pride in conjunction with the Paris-based International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO). Holland was repeatedly kicked by the fascist goons, the paper said. Le Monde quoted Jean-Luc Romero –an openly gay elected member of the Regional Council in the Ile-de-France region (which includes Paris) who is from Jacques Chirac’s conservative UMP Party, and who witnessed the beatings — as saying, "The situation of the homosexuals in Russia is even worse than I imagined." Le Monde added that another member of Paris Mayor Delanoë’s personal staff, Philippe Lasnier, was briefly arrested by police.
The French daily quoted a Delanoe deputy mayor also representing the mayor in Moscow, Clémentine Autain, as saying she was shocked at how little the Moscow police did to protect the gay demonstrators from physical attacks by the hundreds of counter-protesters (whom Le Monde described as "ranging from groups of skinheads and Cossacks, to Russian Orthodox extremist priests and old ladies who threw eggs at the gay demonstrators.")
MosNews.com reports today that Mayor Luzhkov, in radio comments on Friday, cited "moral" reasons for banning the Gay Pride march and meetings. ”I believe that such a parade is inadmissible in our country above all for moral considerations. People should not make public their deviations,“ Mayor Luzhkov said.
May 28, 2006
8
Gay Activists Beaten by Extremists, Jailed by Police
Moscow – 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 M. Luzhkov had warned Friday that gay parades were "absolutely unacceptable for Moscow, for Russia…. As long as I am mayor, we will not permit these parades." Police detained the rally’s main organizer, Nikolai Alexeev, 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," Alexeev had said at 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, and the first half a dozen activists who arrived 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 stood by. "We were expecting this. It’s the authorities that are allowing this to happen," said a woman who identified herself only as Anna.
Riot police rushed in to separate the assailants from the activists but detained Alexeev "as the ringleader," said British gay rights activist Peter Tatchell, who was in the group. Police later said they had detained 120 anti-gay protesters and gay activists. Saturday was the 13th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality in Russia, and a number of foreign activists traveled to Moscow 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!" A member of Germany’s Bundestag, Volker Beck, was giving an interview before TV cameras when about 20 youths beat him, bloodying his nose. Volker Eichler, a gay activist from Berlin who witnessed the beating, said police did not intervene.
9
Gay March Overwhelmed by Violent Protests
by Anastasiya Lebedev
Activists attempting to hold the city’s first-ever gay rights march Saturday were overwhelmed by militant Orthodox Christians and ultranationalists throwing smoke bombs. A handful of activists were injured, including a German lawmaker. The Bundestag member, his face streaked with blood, was detained by police.
Pedestrian movement was blocked for a few hours as riot police cordoned off the square around the monument to Prince Yury Dolgoruky. And traffic on Tverskaya Ulitsa was briefly stopped when smoke bombs — resembling flares and emitting large plumes of smoke — were thrown at the intersection at the base of the street, across from the Kremlin. More than 100 gay rights activists and some of their most vocal foes were arrested by police. Mayor Yury Luzhkov had banned the parade, and on Friday a city court upheld the ban.
Among the first to be arrested were Nikolai Alexeyev, the march’s chief organizer, and Philippe Lasnier, an aide to the mayor of Paris. Alexeyev spent the day in custody; Lasnier was briefly detained. Alexeyev said Sunday that the event had been a great success, despite the low turnout. "A hundred people were not afraid to go out and protest homophobia and fascism," he said. One French observer at Saturday’s event said police had detained the German lawmaker, Green Party member Volker Beck, to prevent him from being further pummeled.
Several hundred ultranationalists descended on central Moscow to protest the march. Some of them wore camouflage. Others sported facemasks or hid their faces in their shirt collars. Organizers had hoped the parade would be the capstone of a two-day conference bringing together gays and lesbians from Russia, Europe and the United States.
The conference, called Moscow Pride ’06, was described as disorganized by gay web sites not affiliated with the event, which included a lecture given by Merlin Holland, grandson of Oscar Wilde. The British author, widely known to have been gay, was convicted of gross indecency in 1895 and sentenced to two years of hard labor. Organizers of Saturday’s march had called for gays and lesbians to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and then walk up Tverskaya and gather at the monument to Prince Yury Dolgoruky, which faces City Hall, to picket the ban. The time and place of the march were announced just hours before the event. But police blocked the entrance to the Alexander Gardens, where the tomb is located.
When the marchers arrived at the gated entranceway to the garden, they were met by women holding icons and wearing long skirts and headscarves. A small group of men in Cossack dress was on hand to protest the march, among others. As the activists laid their flowers at the gate, protesters stomped on them and threw eggs and tomatoes at the activists. And as the protesters’ chants — "Death to fags!" and "Fags out of Russia!" — grew louder, and as the tenor of the confrontation grew uglier, OMON riot police formed a chain to pry the crowd away from the gate. The icon-bearing women added to the chorus, chanting "Moscow is not Sodom." Many sang psalms, mostly from the traditional Easter service.
One woman protesting the march accused police officers who were attempting to contain the mob of siding with homosexuals, prompting one officer to point to the cross around his neck. Conference participants, most of them foreigners, observed the goings-on with concern and confusion. A couple stood under rainbow-colored umbrellas. The six-color rainbow is an international gay and lesbian symbol that apparently was not recognized by protesters, who did not attack people holding the umbrellas.
After the confrontation at the entrance to the Alexander Gardens, some parade organizers began moving up Tverskaya toward the monument. The parade’s protesters walked in that direction, too.
The steps of the monument had been occupied by a large swarm of ultranationalists, including Alexander Belov, head of the Movement Against Illegal Immigrants, and Konstantin Krylov, head of the Russian Public Movement. State Duma Deputy Nikolai Kuryanovich, of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party, in a speech at the foot of the monument lashed out at the "gay mafia" for promoting ideals he called suited for "rotting America and dying Europe." Kuryanovich also recalled that homosexuality was once a crime in Russia and defended the neo-Nazi salute. He then led the crowd in a chant of "Gays and lesbians to Kolyma," the notorious Soviet-era labor camp. Riot police tried to block more people from gathering near the monument but did not make an attempt to interrupt Kuryanovich’s speech.
Kuryanovich’s web site offers condolences to the family and friends of Dmitry Borovikov, a founder of a violent extremist group killed by police in St. Petersburg earlier this month while resisting arrest. A few gay rights activists eventually arrived at the monument but were unable to hold their rally. Yevgenia Debryanskaya, a leader of the lesbian rights movement in Russia since the 1990s, tried to give a speech but was doused with water as protesters laughed at her. She was dragged away by police. Alexeyev said participation would have been greater if the event had been permitted by authorities.
Organizers did not want to put a large number of people at risk by inviting them to take part, he said, so no notices were posted on gay-themed web sites and no mass mailings were conducted. Beck, the German legislator, said he had hoped his presence and that of European Parliament member Sophie int Veld would force authorities to provide participants with protection. On Friday, the Council of Europe issued a statement telling gay rights activists in Moscow that the council supported their struggle against homophobia and calling on local authorities to protect marchers.
Other gay rights activists present Saturday included Eduard Murzin, a deputy in Bashkortostan’s regional legislature who tried unsuccessfully to register a gay marriage last year, and Paris Vice Mayor Clementine Autain. Murzin is straight. A number of activists had opposed the parade and labeled Alexeyev a self-promoter who sought to use the event to build his own reputation at home and abroad. On June 22nd, in the morning a specially organized meeting of gay activists with the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression Mr. Ambeyi Ligabo of Kenya took place in Geneva. It was dedicated to the number of recent homophobic events both in Europe and in Africa. John Fisher of ARC International and head of the Project GayRussia.Ru, Nikolai Alekseev who also organized the first ever gay pride in Moscow, took part in the meeting.
Most of the time during the meeting was devoted to the events around the first Moscow gay pride march on 27 May this year. Special Rapporteur was handed the documents concerning the facts of the breaches of the right of homosexuals to peaceful demonstrations and gatherings by Russian authorities. Mr. Ligabo was also given the reports concerning the events in Moscow compiled by Human Rights Watch as well as ILGA-Europe. Both of the documents contain huge evidence of violence directed at gays and lesbians in Moscow and witnesses evidence of those who was illegally arrested of violently abused on that day in the very centre of Russian capital.
Nikolai Alekseev gave to Mr. Ligabo the DVD with the short movie about the events on 27 May in Moscow released by Project GayRussia.Ru. The movie gives full scope of mass human rights violations of the rights of homosexuals in Moscow. The movie was already shown during the national Italian pride last Saturday in Turin and will be shown this Saturday in Paris and then during Europride in London. The full two hours version is currently being produced and will be released in early August.
During the meeting in Geneva a special stress was made on the fact that Moscow authorities denied to conduct not only gay pride march but also a picket which was planned as a small event with just under 100 participants. This is another proof of the readiness of the organizers of the event to reach compromises and also the proof that Moscow government are ready to ban any forms of homosexual’s realization of their rights to freedom of expression.
The Special Rapporteur was also given the copies of the documents dated March of this year and signed by Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov in which he launched the campaign of discreditation of sexual minorities and tried to prevent any public gatherings of homosexuals in Moscow. This is another proof that the ban on the march and the picket on 27 May was issued not because of worries for security but due to the negative attitudes of the Mayor himself to this event.
The Special Rapporteur said during the meeting that all people have the right to public expression and noone has the right to deprive homosexual people of the freedom to such expression. In the nearest future Mr. Ligabo is going to raise the question of the breach of homosexual’s rights to peaceful marches in Moscow with the Russian authorities. During the meeting on Thursday also similar bans on peaceful gay marches in Poland, Moldova and other countries were discussed. Separately, John Fisher raised the issue of the new bill against all public displays of homosexuality in Nigeria which can be passed at any time.
John Fisher who was also one of the participants of Moscow pride festival last May and Nikolai Alekseev were glad about the meeting and expressed their hope that the Special Rapporteur will raise the issues discussed with the authorities of the relevant states. The meeting took place at the time when the newly created Human Rights Council started its first session in Geneva. It replaced the UN Human Rights Commission which was abolished in April.
31 May, 2006
10
Next year in Moscow, activists vow
Though police and protesters thwarted Moscow’s first Gay Pride march on Saturday, gay community leaders are already planning to hold another rally on the same date next year. Nikolai Alexeyev, the main organiser of Saturday’s rally, told the Interfax news service that the recent controversies over a Pride parade in Moscow are making May 27th a date needs to be commemorated annually. "The 27th of May has been for us so far an anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1993 in Russia," he said. "But the gay parade in 2006 in Moscow and the situation in which it was held has given much more weight to this date."
Police in riot gear and religious and nationalist protesters prevented gay rights activists from marching Saturday, and more than 120 people were detained during violent clashes in the city. The activists — from Moscow and cities across Europe — planned to rally in defiance of the city’s ban on the Pride parade. Activists accused the police of cooperating with the protesters, some of whom punched and kicked gay men and lesbians who were intending to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a symbol of Russia’s victory over fascism in World War II.
Volker Beck, a gay German parliamentarian, was hit in the face with a stone and a fist, the Deutsche Welle newspaper reported, prompting outrage across Germany’s political spectrum and demands that the government censure Moscow’s response. "This first Moscow Pride took place, but not as we had planned it — thanks to the combined opposition of Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and the neo-Nazis," said Peter Tatchell, who participated in the rally. "The mayor’s homophobia created the atmosphere which gave a green light to the fascists to attack the Moscow Pride participants."
The mayors of London and Paris also condemned the Moscow violence. "To see open fascists and Nazis parading in Moscow, and assaulting gay and lesbian people, is to trample on the memory of all those who fought against Nazism and particularly the 27 million Soviet citizens who died in the fight against fascism," London Mayor Ken Livingstone said. While many religious leaders in Moscow denounce homosexuality, Alexeyev stressed that Russia is a secular state. "Even if 99 percent of Russians are against gay parades," he told Interfax, "it does not matter at all, as there is a minority whose rights are to be respected just as the rights of the rest."
I L G C N – The International Lesbian & Gay Cultural Network
June 12, 2006
11
ILGCN Cultural World Conference in Bloodied Moscow
" When the small Nordic nations join together, we can be a sizable addition to any rainbow barricade" said Bill Schiller
Moscow/Stockholm – The first stage of this year’s ILGCN World Conference on Lesbian & Gay Culture took place in the Russian capital on May 25th – right after the Nordic Rainbow Festival and before the 1st IDAHO (International Day Against Homophobia) World Conference and Moscow Pride – an event sparking violent attacks, an army of blue-and-white riot police running through tear-gas soaked streets, arrested gays and neo Nazis, cursing churchmen and angry, old women making the sign of the cross before hurling their tomatoes and eggs.
Pride participants had tried to place flowers at a Red Square memorial – but the brutality of the police and shouting, punching and kicking homophobes broke up the event – denounced by the city’s mayor who ignored international appeals to refused to retract his ban on Pride.
Nordic ‘Troops" on the Barricades
The Nordic rainbow cultural festival was made possible by a grant from the Nordic Culture Fund of the Nordic Council – with presentations by Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Latvian, Estonian and Lithuanian cultural delegates – with music, films and art work also from Iceland and Finland. "When the small Nordic nations join together, we can be a sizable addition to any rainbow barricade, and we’re proud that the Nordic fund supported this event in a city where LGBT people are openly condemned by politicians and where religious leaders tell their followers to beat up homosexuals on the street," says Bill Schiller of the ILGCN Information Secretariat in Stockholm.
" And we’re especially glad that the Norwegian Embassy in Moscow gave us a grant to help cover the conference locale rent for the Nordic cultural festival and the ILGCN conference – also giving a psychological boost for the hard-pressed and courageous Russian organizers desperately searching for allies," Schiller concludes.
Rainbow History over the Centuries
A special presentation was made by delegates from the ILGCN History Secretariat in Minneapolis, with the highly impressive historical exhibition immediately booked for Warsaw Pride in June and Riga Pride in July. Another crucial presentation came from the ILGCN co-ordinator – Belarus, discussing whether the 3rd stage of this year’s world ILGCN conference can be held in this the last dictatorship of Eastern Europe — or if it once again has to be held in exile – perhaps in Poland or Lithuania.
The ILGCN Grizzly Bear 2006 honoring outstanding and courageous efforts in the face of unusually fierce homophobia was awarded to the organizers of the 1st World IDAHO conference and the first Moscow Pride.
New ILGCN cultural ambassadors and co-ordinators were approved from Algeria, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden (see website for details).
The next stage of the 2006 ILGCN world conference will be in Jerusalem as part of World Pride August 6-12 .
Tupilak – Lesbian and gay cultural workers in the nordic area
I L G C N – The International Lesbian & Gay Cultural Network
N H C – Nordic Homo Council
GayRussia.Ru, from Geneva
http://www.gayrussia.ru/en/news/detail.php?ID=5984
June 28, 2006
12
It’s getting "hot" for Russia in the Council of Europe
PACE Claims Russia Fails to Meet Obligations to Council of Europe
Russia is not fulfilling its obligations to the Council of Europe, said on monday the leader of a liberal group of delegates to the council’s Parliamentary Assembly. Matyas Eorsi mentioned the breaking-up of a gay pride parade in Moscow on May 27th during which one hundred and twenty people were detained when police broke up a gay pride parade in the Russian capital, sparking critical comments from the West. __Eorsi said he did not intend to compare attitudes towards sexual minorities in Russia with countries like the Netherlands, but highlighted the importance of freedom of assembly and urged Moscow to fulfill its obligations.
On tuesday, Jean Huss, another delegate from Luxembourg adressed a written question to teh head of the Committee of Ministers in which he asked for the reasons on the ban of teh peacefull demonstration for tolerance organized by sexual minorities in Moscow. He also asked the head of the Committee, Russia’s foriegn affairs minister, wether he thinks that the decision of Moscow contradicts the European Convention on Human Rights. A speech of the deputy head of the Ministry of foreign affairs is scheduled to take place on thursday but there is very little chance that he decides to answer this question.
August 22, 2006
13
Moscow Court Upholds Gay Pride Ban
A Moscow court on Tuesday ruled that the city government had not acted illegally when it banned a gay parade in May. The court said that the city had the right to bar events out of concerns for security. Dmitry Bartenev, the attorney for two LGBT groups which held the march despite the city’s ban, said he will appeal the ruling.
"As, to my mind, the ban on the parade amounts to the infringements of the sex minorities’ rights,” he told the Tass news agency. Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov told a Moscow radio station on Tuesday that the ban was also justified on moral grounds. "Such functions may be acceptable in European countries, more ‘advanced‘ in such matters than Russia … I believe this parade is impermissible in our country, above all, on moral and ethical grounds,” Luzhkov said. 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. Organizer Nikolai Alekseyev 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.
23 August 2006
14
Four people stabbed in Moscow gay attack
Moscow – Four people sustained stab wounds in a hate crime attack on gays in southeast Moscow, a police spokesperson said Wednesday. A group of young people broke into a flat on Novokuzminskaya Street, where sexual minorities live, and attacked them. "Four people were hospitalized with stab wounds, one of them in a coma and another also in grave condition," the source said. Police are searching for the attackers.
Gay Russia,ru/UkGayNews.Org.Uk
http://www.gayrussia.ru/en/news/detail.php?ID=7178
September 19, 2006
15
Russian Gays Take Homophobic Moscow Mayor Luzhkov to Strasbourg Court — Moscow Court throws-out appeal against Pride Parade ban amid accusations of “fixing” Organisers of last May’s Moscow Pride have vowed to take the capital’s homophobic mayor to the European Human Rights Court in Strasbourg following today’s decision in a Russian Court. The Moscow City Court today heard the appeal against the decision of a lower court which backed Luzhkov’s ban of the Pride Parade on May 27. And even before the decision of the City Court was known, there were accusations that the result was probably “fixed” as there were no representatives from either City Hall or Luzhkov’s office in the office to put their side of the case.
After short consideration of the arguments of the Gay Pride organisers, the Moscow Court announced that it found for the decision of the Tverskoi district court on May 26, which backed Luzhkov’s ban. The City Court announced that the full version of the decision would be published within two weeks. Dmitri Bartenev, the lawyer representing the Gay Pride organisers, said after the hearing that a complaint against the Russian Federation would be sent immediately to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
In addition, an appeal is going to be lodged with the Presidium of Moscow City Court. But the Presidium is not, in this instance, obliged to consider the case which the European Court does not consider a legal remedy. “ I am, of course, disappointed at today’s decision,” commented Nikolai Alekseev, one of the organisers of Moscow Pride. “The case is not over and we will win it in Strasbourg. But I feel pity for those judges who considered the case both in first instance and in the appeal,” he said. “Those people totally lost all their independency in what they judge and give the decisions according to the political pressure. They completely forgot what is the application of the law.”
Alekseev added that “the last barriers on the way to real justice are eliminated and we are glad that now the case can finally go to the European Court”. Representatives of the Council of Europe including its General Secretary Terry Davis and Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg have both said on several occasions that the ban on Moscow Pride Parade was a violation of Russia’s international obligations to the European convention. Currently the European court has already accepted a ‘gay pride ban’ case from Warsaw for consideration. The complaint concerns the pride banned by the then Warsaw Mayor (now Polish President) in June 2005. Luzhkov is also facing a further court appeal over his refusal to allow a protest picket in Lubyanka Square, also scheduled for May 27.
Despite ban, about a hundred gay activists went took to the streets of Moscow on May 27 to protest homophobia and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Some foreign participants, including German Bundestag deputy Volker Beck, were attacked by extremists. Organizers of the Pride were arrested by militia but later released. In August Taganski district court supported the decision of the prefecture of the Central Administrative Area of Moscow. Organizers appealed the decision to Moscow City Court and the claim is expected to be considered this autumn
Gay Russia
http://www.gayrussia.ru/en/news/detail.php?ID=7811
November 13, 2006
16
Gay Russia Reacts to Elton John’s Desire for Moscow Pride Gig
“We should, en masse, go to Moscow next year if they’ll have us,” declared Elton John in yesterday’s Observer. “We want you,” chanted Russian Gay activists last night
While Nikolai Alekseev, the organiser of the first Moscow Pride last May, was in London to receive an award for his courage in challenging homophobia in Russia and beyond from the British Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association, the British newspaper, The Observer choose to reveal yesterday morning that Elton John and Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears plan to take part in a gay pride concert next year in Moscow. “The idea for a ‘Gay Pride’ concert in Moscow would be a brilliant idea” said Elton John in The Observer.
Sir Elton John sees in the concert a good way of working against the “huge anti gay movement” that exists in Russia. Jake Shears would like The Pet Shop Boys to join him and Elton John. On their side, organisers of the Moscow Pride said last night that they would like to include Georges Michael to the event as well as some gay friendly Russian artists.
“You can trust Elton to speak out against homophobia,” British gay human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell of Outrage! said on Sunday night. “He doesn’t put up with bigoted nonsense. It is great to see him becoming increasingly committed to defending gay human rights worldwide. “I would love Elton to one day write a catchy, popular gay anthem that hits number one around the globe.
“Perhaps he could premiere it at Moscow Pride 2007,” Mr. Tatchell suggested. “Elton’s music has the potential to be a powerful force for gay emancipation." “(Such a concert) would have a huge and positive impact on Russian public opinion; helping to breakdown ignorance and prejudice. “For beleaguered Russian gays and lesbians it would be a great morale booster. Such a concert could help put gay rights centre stage in Russia,” Mr. Tatchell concluded..
Sir Elton John’s support to Eastern European gay activists is not new. In July 2005, he signed an article in the Guardian about growing homophobia in Europe. A year later, he was the patron of the London EuroPride that put on the spotlight the organizers of LGBT events in Eastern Europe. Then, when he appeared at the Sopot Festival in Poland in September he said during the concert: “I’m just a performer who plays people some music. I hope that my music helps people to forget about their problems for few hours. But I’m also a gay man and I’ve heard that gay people face violence in Poland. Leave us [gays] alone. We don’t want to harm anybody. We just want to love and be loved.”
Earlier, in May, Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov banned a march that was scheduled to be the first-ever Moscow Gay Pride. Despite the official ban, backed by local court, the organisers took the streets in Moscow where they were bashed by groups of fascist, skinheads, orthodox priests before being arrested by the police. In addition, Member of the German Bundestag, Volker Beck, was injured before to be briefly detained by the police. Next year, the organisers plan a different approach to combat homophobia in the Russian society.
“A big concert in which international stars will ‘party’ with Muscovites, regardless of their sexual orientations … we will see how many people will attend such an event in Moscow which will become a real barometer of tolerance in Russian society” said Mr. Alekseev. He said the interest of Elton John for a Gay Pride concert in Moscow has already generated the interest of several sponsors.
Sir Elton’s desire to come to Moscow to promote gay rights contrasts with the recent venue of gay icon Madonna in the Russian capital. The diva generated mitigated reactions within the gay community after she publicly thanked the mayor of Moscow for his support in organizing her concert and did not use the opportunity to say a word of support in favour of gay rights. “What we should be doing as musicians is trying to bring people together. The idea for a ‘Gay Pride’ concert in Moscow is a brilliant idea” said Elton John in the interview with “The Observer”.
“This event is not about making a good deal” emphasized Alekseev. “We just want to create a popular event to invite straight people to come to party with us and see that we are, in fact, not different,” he added. Asked whether the concert might take place in Red Square, Nikolai Alekseev said: “I know they would like to sing in this symbolical place. But it’s really not that big. Luzhniki stadium would be more appropriate for such party.
Gay Russia/ Ukgaynews.Org.Uk
http://www.gayrussia.ru/en/news/detail.php?ID=7805
November 13, 2006
17
Russian Gay Activist Tells London Audience He Will Fight On
Nikolai Alekseev given award by GALHA
Russian gay activist Nikolai Alekseev has vowed to fight on after Moscow Pride 2006 was officially banned by Moscow’s mayor and the resulting protest was disrupted. A lawyer who lives and works in Moscow, Alekseev is the founder and head of Project Gay Russia and the executive secretary of the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO).
He has been actively challenging homophobia in Russia for the last four years and took a leading role in the planning of Moscow Pride. He has also has been very active in campaigns in other Eastern European countries, notably Latvia. The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) flew him in from Moscow to speak at its public meeting concerning homophobia in Eastern Europe on Friday and for its annual lunch as guest-of-honour and keynote speaker on the following day. At the meeting which was held at London’s Conway Hall, he was joined on the panel of speakers by journalist Andy Harley, GALHA’s Derek Lennard who is also the UK co-ordinator for the International Day Against Homophobia, and Peter Tatchell of OutRage! They all attended Moscow Pride last May. Jason Pollock, the executive director of Pride London was also on the panel.
In a moving speech to his audience at the GALHA lunch, which was held at Chez Gerard in London’s Southbank on Saturday, Mr. Alekseev described the hostility which participants in Moscow Pride 2006 had to face from a coalition of fascist thugs and Orthodox Christian religionsts. He said they had been “bloodied but unbowed” and would certainly be back with a vengeance in 2007. Given time, he predicted, the situation for LGBT people in Russia would be as favourable as it is now in Western European countries.
His speech was received with an ecstatic ovation and he was presented with an award by GALHA’s acting chair Andrew Copson in recognition of “his courage in challenging homophobia in Russia and beyond”. Mr. Thompson described Nikolai Alekseev as “a very courageous man”, while Mr. Lennard commented that “we don’t need lessons in morality from the Mayor of Moscow and his cronies”.
Pravda
http://english.pravda.ru/society/sex/04-12-2006/85760-gay-0
December 4, 2006
18
Homosexuals were rare species in Russia some 10 years ago.
Homosexual males met one another in secrecy, they might be sent to prison because sodomy was a punishable practice under the penal code effective at the time. But things have changed dramatically. These days it is faddish to be a gay in Russia. The lavender invasion has reached the scale of an epidemic. Nowadays Russia’s gays launch they own web sites, open cafes and clubs.
Family man with a boyfriend on the side
I did not have to talk Sergei and Pavel into coming for an interview. I just asked them, and they agreed on the spot. Sergei is 21 and Pavel is 23. Both of them look like real lady killers. They are tall and full of muscles. They are stylishly dressed too. There is nothing feminine about them. Why aren’t you interested in dating girls? Both of you look so handsome, I could not help asking them the question. Have you ever dreamed of having sex with a woman? Sergei fired back without missing a beat.
"No, I haven?t. I’m into men."
"We’re into men too. A man can always understand another man as best as he can," says Sergei.Sergei is a resident of the city of Novosibirsk. He moved to Krasnoyarsk to live with Pavel. They have been together for three months now. They share an apartment with Pavel’s parents. Pavel says he used to date with a TV journalist in Krasnoyarsk. According to Pavel, the journalist was courting him in style. "Homosexuals are like heterosexuals when it comes to dating, falling in love or falling apart," says Pavel. "Well, we can come to blows sometimes during an argument, that’s the only difference. We mind our business, we never impose our ways on anybody," added he.
According to Pavel and Sergei, 10% of all males in Krasnoyarsk are gay. The local gay community comprises not only men involved in fashion industry or show biz. Some gay parties in the city are often attended by officials of the Krasnoyarsk regional government, deputies of the local parliament, well-known journalists, businessmen, and even deans of the city?s universities. It would be pretty hard for a commoner to estimate the scale of a ?lavender epidemic.? Just a handful of gays live like married pairs. Some of them have wives and children who apparently know nothing about the other side of life of their husbands and daddies.
Boys got beaten up and girls were raped
The majority of homosexuals prefer to keep their sexual orientation undercover. One of the officials of the Krasnoyarsk regional government is rumored to be frequently flying to Moscow to hang out at gay parties out there because he does not want to be “sighted” at the local gay scene. Krasnoyarsk gays and lesbians used to hang out at Neon, one of the city’s clandestine gay clubs. The partygoers would invariably get a pretty sour welcome from local youths after the party. "Locals would confront us near the club’s exit late at night. The thugs would beat up the boys and rape the girls," said Ivan.
"I remember the night when the authorities shut down the club. It’s just a panic. The party was in full swing when a group of camouflaged and masked men with submachine guns came running into the center of the dance floor. Everybody thought it was part of the show and began to clap hands. Fun was cut short when those ‘strippers’ told us to lie face down and keep hands above our heads. Then they started knocking glasses off the tables, they smashed the tables too. By the way, they videotaped the havoc and all the patrons of the club that night. Apparently, they wanted to make a database of those who have nontraditional sexual orientation. What a bunch of idiots," concluded Ivan.
"The authorities in Novosibirsk show more tolerance toward gays," says Sergei. "There’re two members-only gay clubs in the city. There’s also a square in the center where we usually hang out. The police don’t bother us; they don’t shut down the clubs. Well, there were several incidents when the gays were taken into custody and spent some time in a holding cell. But all the cases were investigated and the homophobic cops were brought to justice. I believe the situation is different in Novosibirsk because a lot more gays are among the high-ranking officials out there than over here," adds Sergei.
However, the homosexuals in Krasnoyarsk can still enjoy themselves despite all the persecutions. There is a web site to help those who are on the make. According to Ivan, the city’s numerous escort agencies have plenty of “call boys” to choose from. The male prostitutes are said to belong to the widest age group imaginable. In terms of call boys, Krasnoyarsk is on a par with Moscow, said Ivan.
Being gay is faddish
The number of those who practice same-sex relationships has grown dramatically over the last several years in Russia, Krasnoyarsk inclusive. Needless to say, no official statistics are available. Members of the local gay community put it like this: "We’re all over Krasnoyarsk." Propaganda of homosexuality via the media is one of the reasons behind the current popularity of “men’s love.” By and large, it is pretty trendy to be a gay these days.
Pavel is strongly opposed to such a statement. He says that he started showing interest in men when he turned 13. He calls his homosexuality a "natural thing." I asked him what sort of thing or person influenced him into trying it out for the first time. "You know, I was watching a series called Faculty on MTV. Two of the characters ended up being gay. So I decided to give it a try too," said he. At 23 years of age, he has slept with more than a dozen men. He never had sex with a woman.
"Homosexuality is not a disease, it has to do some peculiarities of a person’s upbringing," said Dr. Irina Upatova, a psychotherapist. "A child forms his behavioral stereotypes before reaching the age of 7. Growing up in a single-parent family, without a father or father figure, a child may later feel the need to experience this kind of love. Sometimes men become homosexuals after being raped. No doubts about it, the Russian media actively sparks enthusiasm for homosexual relationships. You may rest assured that a pubescent boy will try it out if he’s being told all the time that gay love is fun. And he’s likely to favor men over women if his first sexual experience with a woman is a failure. Having said that, I believe that treating homosexuality is pointless if it’s not related to some kind a mental deviation, and an individual feels comfortable about the way his sex life is arranged. On the other hand, the media should take a more careful approach and stop popularizing the lifestyle," said Dr. Upatova.
Russian government officials at all levels are now holding a lively debate about steps that should be taken to encourage population growth in this country. Meanwhile, some of them at times practice homosexual relationships instead of taking action to curb the spread of the lifestyle. Besides, in Krasnoyarsk some “pretty grown-up guys” look for the green boys and seduce them on purpose, according to accounts by some of the gays in that city. Where does the future hold for a nation where being abnormal is faddish? How on earth will the Russian women conceive in some 20 years if 10% of today’s males are gay and the number keeps growing? "I feel sorry for you girls. There’s only 6 men for 10 women in this country. One out of those six is a gay, another one is a drug addict, two more are alcoholics, and the last but one is a waste of space, an impotent. I guess you can figure out the rest," said Pavel before bidding his good-byes.
Reference information courtesy of Argumenty i Fakty
Under the Soviet criminal code, sodomy had been a crime since 1934. In accordance with Article 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic, men found guilty of committing acts of sodomy were to be sentenced to 5 years in prison. In 1993, the Russian Supreme Soviet repealed the article to meet the requirements for the admission of Russia to the Council of Europe. In 2002, the State Duma faction called People’s Deputy came up with a motion to reintroduce criminal prosecution for sodomy. Yet the motion was rejected by a majority of 294 votes against 54 votes. Russians reportedly show the least amount of tolerance toward the following social groups: HIV-patients, transsexuals, gays.
Source: Argumenty i Fakt
