Gay Russia News & Reports 2009

A resolution from the Parliament calls for EU institutions to give practical support. Commentary from GayRussia.ru In a resolution on democracy and human rights adopted unanimously at the end of the Strasbourg plenary session last December, the European Parliament firmly condemned attacks on human rights defenders in Russia. The resolution stresses the importance of the continuous exchange of views on human rights with Russia as part of the EU-Russia human rights consultations, and calls for the format of such meetings to be improved so as to involve relevant ministries, the judiciary and representatives of Russian civil society.

Only by coming to terms with its tragic past can Russia establish a true democratic culture. “Human rights, the rule of law and democracy must remain core issues for the further development of EU-Russia relations,” reads the resolution. Last autumn, the Moscow Pride organising committee wrote to the President of the European Commission: “Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of association is breached every day by Russian authorities. Russian gays have no other rights than silence. We refuse this silence” said the letter.

The reply from the European Commission confirmed: “European Union held discussions regarding human rights with Russia in Paris on October 21st. It emphasised the necessity for Russia to keep the respect of its engagement on this matter”.

Further to the adoption of its December resolution, the European Parliament takes the view that respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law should be an integral part of the new framework agreement. Finally, Parliament strongly encourages the EU institutions to give practical expression to their support for human rights defenders by setting up a focal point for defenders in all three institutions, so as to better coordinate their actions with the other international and European organisations.

January 28, 2009 – ukgaynews.org.uk

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Russian Gay Activists Send Their Sixth Application to the European Court of Human Rights – Moscow Pride organisers seek 100,000 euros compensation for banned picketing

Moscow – Organisers of Moscow Gay Pride yesterday sent their sixth complaint to the European Court of Human Rights concerning the denial by the Moscow authorities of the right to demonstrate and freedom of assembly. This latest application to the Strasbourg-based court is over the ban of a picket that was scheduled to take place last year on May 17 – International Day Against Homophobia. The main aim of the banned picket was to demand the criminal prosecution of Moscow Mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, for systematic and unlawful bans of all public events staged by gays and lesbians in the Russian capital.

Notification for the picketing was sent to the Prefecture of the Central Administrative Area of Moscow in full accordance with the Russian law on May 13 2008. The same day, the then Deputy Prefect, Galina Boryatinskaya, banned the event saying that “the aims of the picketing provoke negative reaction of the society and the conduct of the picketing can lead to group violations of public order which create threat to the security of the participants.”

Despite the ban of the picket, International Day Against Homophobia was marked when Moscow Pride organiser Nikolai Alekseev staged a one-man picket in front of the General Prosecution Offices on Bolshaya Dmitrovka and Petrovka streets. He had a placard which read: “Article 149 of the Criminal Code was not repealed! Homophobia of Mayor Luzhkov should be prosecuted!” According to Russian law, a one-man picketing does not need prior notification and can not be banned. There were no protestors present at this picket.

Organisers of the banned picket appealed to the Taganskiy District Court of Moscow, despite, in a similar case the previous year, federal judge Yuliya Smolina had held that the ban imposed by the Prefecture was lawful. In their latest complaint to the European Court of Human Rights, the organisers claim that Russian authorities breached a number of Articles of the European Convention including Article 11 (right to freedom of peaceful assembly), Article 14 (ban on discrimination on any basis – together with Article 11), as well as Article 13 (right to court protection – together with Article 11).

They are asking European Court to judge that Russia breached the rights given by the European Convention – and are asking for compensation of 100,000 euros. The application sent to Strasbourg yesterday (January 27) and is the sixth complaint lodged with the Human Rights Court by Russian gay activists against the breach of the right to freedom of assembly for gays and lesbians in Russia. Of the five previously sent to the court, two concern the bans of Moscow Gay Pride events in May 2006 and May 2007, and the remaining three concern the bans of various pickets during 2007.

The Court has yet to hold preliminary hearing on any of the cases
“Our sixth complaint shows that the breaches of the right to freedom of assembly are now systematic in Russia,” principle organiser of Moscow Gay Pride, Nikolai Alekseev, said last night. He added that he hoped that the court will soon consider out first case when the inaugural Moscow Gay Pride was banned in 2006. “We are planning to fight for our rights until we win,” he insisted. This year, the first Slavic Gay Pride is planned for May 16, the same day as the finals of thee Eurovision Contest which is televised live throughout Europe and beyond.

February 16, 2009 – PinkNews

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Activists say registration of new LGBT group in Russia is "historic"

by Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk
Russian gays have for the first time registered an LGBT advocacy group with the government without the need for court intervention. Coming Out of St Petersburg was formed in April 2008 and is part of the Russian LGBT Network. "This is a truly historic moment," said Igor Petrov, chair of the Network. "This is the first time Russian officials made no attempt to hinder an LGBT organisation in its attempt to attain legal status. We believe it to be the first result of the campaign for freedom of association begun by the Russian LGBT Network in 2006."

In 2006 Rainbow House, an LGBT group in the Russian city of Tyumen, was refused registration by the government. It claimed Rainbow House would endanger the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation. The same year the Russian LGBT Network and human rights organisation Agora provided aid in the judicial defense of the Rainbow House. In 2008, the case of the Rainbow House reached the European Court of Human Rights. The issue of the observance of rights of LGBT people’s freedom of association was raised by the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg.

The director of Coming Out, Valery Sozaev, said: "Our registration would not have been possible without the support of the Russian LGBT Network and constant consultations with legal experts from the Human Rights Resource Centre of St Petersburg. This is a very important event for us. It opens up more opportunities for reaching our goals, including the opportunity of regular contacts with the government."

In May last year Coming Out organised the Day of Silence, as part of the International Day of Silence, dedicated to the problem of silencing discrimination, physical and emotional abuse, hate crimes, and intolerance towards LGBT people. On October 2008 it organised the first Coming Out Day in Russia. The group said its monitoring of human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity will continue in St Petersburg and it will continue to develop its education and information work. Activists in Moscow have been denied permission to conduct a gay Pride march, demanding equal rights for sexual minorities, every year since May 2006.

Last weekend a group of fifty activists from France and eastern Europe demonstrated in Strasbourg outside the Council of Europe, the institution that oversees the Europe-wide human rights convention. They called on the European institutions to force the authorities in Russia and Belarus to respect their commitment to the European Convention of Human Rights and let LGBT people enjoy the rights that others have. "Every year, Russian authorities ban [Moscow Pride]," Nikolai Baev from the Pride organising committee said in a radio interview. "Council of Europe officials write wonderful letters to Russian authorities about the necessity to respect the rights of LGBT people, nevertheless, year after year, we see the same violence, same aggressions and same breach of human rights."

February 26, 2009 – ukgaynews.org.uk

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US State Department Criticises Russia, Serbia for Breaches of Human Rights of Gays – Human Rights Report praised by Moscow Gay Pride Organisers

Washington – Russia is condemned for breaches of human rights in the US State Department’s annual Human Rights Report, published yesterday. And human rights for gay men and women are highlights by the cases of continued bans on Moscow Gay Pride. The report also criticises other countries, like Serbia and Nigeria, for their attitudes towards gays. In the section on Russia, a large part of the report is given over to the human rights situation in the North Caucasus, highlighting cases of kidnapping, tortures, and killings of civilians. And the report points out that quite often the Russian special services are involved in these crimes.

On gay rights issues, the report says:
On June 1, after a number of gay rights activists were repeatedly denied permission to hold parades, gay pride organizers held two demonstrations in Moscow. Organizers had announced that the demonstration would take place across the street from the mayor’s office, and police and counter-protesters gathered there to confront them. However, the organizers secretly notified participants of a different location and, in contrast to the banned parade in 2007, a short march took place largely free of violence. The human rights ombudsman criticized the mayor’s policy of denying permission for gay parades. In October, the Moscow City Court upheld a ruling by the Tverskoy District Court banning 10 marches that were part of the gay parade.

While homosexuality is not illegal, the gay community continued to suffer societal stigma and discrimination. Medical practitioners reportedly continued to limit or refuse their access to health services due to intolerance and prejudice. According to recent studies, male homosexuals were refused work due to their sexuality. Openly gay men were targets for skinhead aggression, which was often met with police indifference. A few gay rights organizations operated out of public view. The law does not provide for increased penalties for violence motivated by sexual orientation. In March, two youths killed a man in Sverdlovsk Oblast whom they perceived to be a homosexual. Both individuals were arrested and remained under investigation. There was no update in the case at year’s end.

On June 1, gay pride activist Alexey Davydov was assaulted while addressing reporters at the Moscow Gay Pride event. Members of the National Slavonic Union pushed to the ground and severely beat Davydov. The police managed to arrest the attackers, although police also detained Davydov and sent him to the same police station along with the attackers. There were reportedly no charges filed against the perpetrators. The report also cites the 2007 Moscow Gay Pride: “In May 2007, participants in a Moscow gay rights demonstration were assaulted by counter demonstrators. Security forces did not protect the demonstrators and arrested approximately 25 gay rights activists”

It is not the first time that the US State Department has highlighted the violation of Freedom of Assembly for the LGBT community in Russia, and in particular the bans of the Moscow Pride events. But Nikolai Alekseev pointed out that the issue of Freedom of Assembly for gays and lesbians was not only in Moscow: “Whether in Moscow, Tambov, Liski, or anywhere, freedom of assembly does not exist in Russia for LGBT people,” he said this evening. “It’s already a turnaround that a report on human rights dedicates a large part to LGBT issues. This is a great reward for our fight of freedom of assembly that GayRussia and Moscow Pride have started in 2005 already. In 2009, we keep fighting,” he added.

Elsewhere in the Human Rights Report, there is criticism of Serbia and Nigeria for continued problems suffered by gay men and women. But the report recognises improvements in Latvia and Poland.

Serbia
Violence and discrimination against homosexuals was a problem. A comprehensive survey of societal perceptions of homosexuality and attitudes towards the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population, conducted in February and March, showed that the dominant opinion was that homosexuality is a disease and represents a threat to society. Several Serbia-based Neo-Nazi web sites and Facebook pages hosted anti-LGBT forums and groups. During the Eurovision song contest in May, the right-wing youth group Obraz organized squads that patrolled Belgrade to protest against the “street conference of gay-lesbian groups”. The group stated it would not tolerate any public promotion of “evil”, but there were no reported incidents. On September 19, a group of approximately 20 youths wearing surgical masks and hoods attacked participants in a gay rights festival in Belgrade. Several participants suffered minor injuries, while an U.S. citizen suffered a broken arm and concussion. According to press reports, the police reacted swiftly, arresting two of the attackers and filing criminal charges. There was no further information available at year’s end.

Latvia
After denying a permit in 2006, authorities issued, for a second year, a permit for a gay pride parade in Riga. While the parade was held on May 31, its organizers questioned the extremely high level of security measures taken by authorities, which organizers believed discouraged participation and limited visibility of the event.

Poland
During the year there were some reports of skinhead violence and societal discrimination against persons based on their sexual orientation. On April 25, an estimated 1,000 persons took part in Krakows annual gay March for Tolerance to call for an end to prejudice against homosexuals. The event took place without major incident; organizers noted that, for the first time, they were not forced to change their route and could march through the city’s main square. A small counter-demonstration was organized by the All Youth and National Rebirth of Poland activists. Some hooligans threw eggs, stones and bottles at march participants; six people were detained by police. In May 2007 the UN Committee Against Torture raised concerns over violence and hatred against homosexuals in the country. On June 7, Warsaw authorities allowed the annual Equality Parade to take place in the city center for the third consecutive year. Approximately 2,000 local and international gay rights advocates participated in the march without serious incident. Some 100 members of the All Poland’s Youth and National Radical Camp staged a counterdemonstration, but there was no direct confrontation between the two groups due to police protection.

Nigeria
Homosexuality is illegal under federal law; homosexual practices are punishable by prison sentences of up to 14 years. In the 12 northern states that have adopted Shari’a law, adults convicted of engaging in homosexual intercourse are subject to execution by stoning, although no such sentences were imposed during the year. Because of widespread taboos against homosexuality, very few persons were openly homosexual. On September 12, local newspapers Nation, Vanguard, PM News and the Sunday Sun published photos, names, and addresses of members of the House of Rainbow Metropolitan Community Church, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered-friendly church in Lagos. Following publication, persons started harassing the 12 members. One woman was attacked by 11 men, while others were threatened, stoned, and beaten. No investigation was initiated by year’s end.

The full US State Department’s Human Rights Report can be read HERE

March 23, 2009 – UK Gay News

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Find Solution for Gay Pride in Moscow, Euro MPs Insist

European parliamentarians urge Russia to find compromise with Pride organisers

Brussels – A group of MEPs have sent a letter to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe raising the issue of the systematic bans of public events organised by gays in Russia. In the letter to the Spanish Ambassador Ms. Marta Vilardell Coma (Spain currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of Europe), 22 MEPs stress that “since May 2006, the Russian Federation officials have banned 167 public events planned by the local LGBT community in Moscow and other cities across the country.

“Several Members of the European Parliament were present during attempts to stage marches in support of freedom and rights for sexual minorities in May 2006 and May 2007, marches which lead to the beating of LGBT activists in the streets of Moscow. In May 2007, those Members were prevented from delivering a letter to the Moscow City hall,” the letter points out.

The signatories of the letter emphasised that “seven cases are already pending at the European Court of Human Rights on this specific issue. The oldest case was received by the Court in February 2007. The next Moscow Pride is planned to take place in Moscow on May 16th, the day of the Eurovision Song Contest final.” The MEPs are asking the Committee of Ministers what action it plans to take to ensure that the Russian Federation stops the systematic breach of the right to freedom of assembly for the Russian LGBT community. And they are also asking the Committee to urge the Russian Federation to accept a dialogue with the organisers of Moscow Pride in order to ensure that they can conduct their event in accordance with both the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the European Convention.

The letter to the Committee of Ministers is signed by MEPs Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert (Netherlands), Sophie In’t Veld (Netherlands), Graham Watson (United Kingdom), Marco Cappato (Italy), Alexander Alvaro (Germany), Chris Davies (United Kingdom), Johannes Lebech (Denmark), Maria Robsahm (Sweden), Ignasi Guardans (Spain), Jules Maaten (Netherlands), Daniel Cohn-Bendit (France), Kathalijne Buitenweg (Netherlands), Satu Hassi (Finland), Milan Horacek (Germany), Raul Romeva (Spain), Anne van Lancker (Belgium), Lissy Grôner (Germany), Marie-Arlette Carlotti (France), Glenys Kinnock (United Kingdom), Martine Roure (France), Britta Thomsen (Denmark), Sirpa Pietikainen (Finland).

The MEPs from ten countries suggested in their letter that “the Russian Federation which is a member state of the Council of Europe ratified the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Articles 11 and 14 of the Convention declare the right to freedom of assembly without discrimination on any grounds”.

The letter is the result of discussions between Russian and Belarus gay activists and organisers of Slavic Gay Pride with European politicians at the European Parliaments in Brussels last month. Speaking from Moscow this morning, Nikolai Alekseev, one of the Slavic Pride organisers, expressed his gratitude to the MEPs who signed the letter to the Committee of Ministers. He especially thanked the MEP from the Netherlands, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, who coordinated the initiative within the Parliament.

Among the signatories are two MEPs who took part in the events of Moscow Gay Prides – Sophie In’t Veld from the Netherlands, who came to Moscow in May 2006 and May 2007, as well as Marco Cappato from Italy, who attended Moscow Pride in May 2007. Another official question concerning the breaches of the right to freedom of assembly by sexual minorities in Russia was sent to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe by the member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from Luxembourg Jean Huss in February.

In February organisers of Moscow Pride asked the European Court of Human Rights to give priority treatment to their applications concerning the bans of Pride events in 2006 and 2007. Moscow authorities ban any public events of gays and lesbians, including Moscow Prides, for three years. Complaints concerning all three bans of Moscow Pride events are currently pending before the European Court of Human Rights.

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and the head of Moscow police Vladimir Pronin have already said that this year they will not allow the Pride events for the forth consecutive year. The Moscow Slavic Gay Pride will take place regardless the decision of the authorities on May 16, the same day as the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest, which will be beamed live throughout the world from Moscow.

March 30, 2009 – OnTopMagazine

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As Russia Gay Pride Nears, Tensions Escalate

by On Top Magazine Staff
An unfolding of events in Russia’s gay rights movement threatens to bring tensions to a dramatic climax at a popular European singing contest. The annual Eurovision Song Contest and gay pride events will coincide this year in Moscow. Gay activists say they will ask Eurovision performers to wear lapel pins to show support for gay rights in a city where authorities have banned gay pride. In December, Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov as much as warned gay pride organizers not to stage their May 16 gay pride and march celebration.

During a press conference to welcome Eurovision to the city, Luzhkov said: “Sexual minorities, they are free. We do not allow gay parades. … Entertain yourself, no problem, but not on the streets, squares, marches and demonstrations. We never introduced any limitations in their [gays and lesbians] respect except public actions.” Luzhkov has denied gay activists a march license since a 2006 event turned violent between marchers and anti-gay protesters.

“Gay pride public action during the final of Eurovision will take place in any circumstances,” Gay rights leader Nikolai Alexeyev told gayrussia.ur. “We are not going to surrender our right to freedom of assembly and expression because it is given to us not by Mayor Luzhkov, but by the Constitution of this country.”

Moscow Police Chief Vladimir Pronin says he backs the mayor and told the Interfax news agency that gay pride parades were “unacceptable.” “It’s unacceptable – gay pride parades shouldn’t be allowed. I positively agree with the Church, with the Patriarch, politicians, especially with [Mayor] Luzhkov, who are convinced that man and woman should love each other. It is established by God and nature,” he said.

Being gay is not illegal in Russia, but the Russian Orthodox Church has strongly condemned gay rights groups and anti-gay sentiment appears to be on the rise. Last May, four activists were arrested by police in an apartment after participating in two brief gay rights demonstrations in Moscow: They chanted “No to homophobia” and held pride flags outside the famed Tchaikovsky music conservatory and hung a banner that read “Rights for Gays and Lesbians – homophobia of mayor Luzhkov to be prosecuted” near City Hall.

And in October, authorities in St. Petersburg shut down a gay and lesbian film festival as it was set to open by declaring the nightclubs (The Place and Sochi) where the films were to be screened fire hazards, festival organizer Irina Sergeeva told gayrussia.ru. It’s believed that authorities also pressured the state-run Cinema House and a private theater to cancel their commitments to host the event, which pushed the first-ever festival into bars and nightclubs.

State Artist of Russia Nikoli Burlyaev had urged authorities to ban the gay film festival, calling gays “perverts” and “ill.” Gay rights activists claim authorities have shut down 167 gay-related events. Luzhkov has also linked the gay pride parade to the spread of HIV: “We have banned, and will ban, the propaganda of sexual minorities’ opinions because they can be one of the factors in the spread of HIV infection,” the mayor said at a December 4 conference in Moscow titled HIV/AIDS in Developed Countries.

It now appears gay activists in Moscow are positioning their movement for its most public display yet – the stage of the Eurovision Song Contest – and another near-certain clash with authorities and protesters.

May 6, 2009 – PinkNews

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Lesbian couple attempt to marry in Russia

by Jessica Geen
A lesbian couple are planning to apply for a marriage licence in Moscow later this month, it has been reported. According to GayRussia.ru, Irina Fet and her partner will attempt to marry next Tuesday at one of Moscow‘s Marriage Registration Office. Ms Fet, who is one of the organisers for Slavic Pride, to be held to coincide with the Eurovision final, made the announcement at a press conference for the event yesterday.

“We love each other for a while now and we want it to be officially recognised," she told journalists. “We believe that we have the same rights than any other citizen for happiness. Our love is not different." The couple expect their application to be turned down, but are planning to wed abroad if necessary and fight to have their marriage recognised in Russia. Campaigners believe they can exploit a loophole in Russian law which does not specify gay marriage as a situation which prevents recognition of a marriage ceremony performed abroad.

Nikolai Alekseev, the chief organiser of the Slavic Pride and the couple’s legal advisor, said: "Canada and Norway are the only countries which opened same sex marriage to non- residents. “We initially considered flying the couple to Norway but the procedure is long and fastidious, instead, we decided to register them in Toronto under Canadian laws. The Russian law clearly lists all the situation which prevent to recognise a marriage abroad and, a same sex marriage is not one of them. There is a clear loophole in the Russian law that we are going to use,” he added.

Campaigners have said they plan to take the fight for marriage equality to the European Court of Human Rights. Mr Alexeyev said this week he expects up to 500 people to join the parade, named Slavic Pride, despite official threats to close down any march. He said he asked city authorities for permission to hold the march but added that 100 activists were prepared to disobey officials and risk prosecution by marching anyway.

City Hall spokesman Leonid Krutakov said last week: "There have been no official applications for permission to hold gay parades during the May holidays and all attempts to hold such events will be firmly stopped by the authorities." Gay rights advocates believe that with the world spotlight on Moscow for Eurovision, it is an ideal time to highlight discrimination. "On the day of Eurovision, we want this issue to clearly raised at the international level," Alexeyev said. Activists in Moscow have been denied permission to hold a gay Pride march every year since May 2006.

12 May 2009 – From: Peter Tatchell

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Activists risk Moscow Gay Pride to defends the right to march; Defy threats of arrests and bashings by police and Neo-Nazis

London – Despite threats to bash and arrest the marchers, British gay human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell will join this Saturday’s Moscow Gay Pride parade – this year renamed Slavic Gay Pride to support the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality struggles in all Slavic countries, Russian and non-Russian. The parade is scheduled to take place in Moscow at lunchtime on Saturday 16 May, and coincides with the final of the Eurovision song contest which is being held later that night, also in Moscow.

The Moscow authorities have said the parade is banned and have threatened "tough measures" against anyone who tries to march. Moscow police chief Vladmir Pronin was reported by the Russian news agency Interfax on 8 March as warning that gay pride parades in the capital are "unacceptable – gay pride parades shouldn’t be allowed."

"No one will dare to do it, such ‘brave-heart’ will be torn to shreds," he added. "The West can say we’re bad guys, but our people will see it is right. Our country is patriarchal…I positively agree with the Church, with the Patriarch, politicians, especially with [Mayor] Luzhkov, who are convinced that man and woman should love each other. It is established by God and nature."

"In addition to expected police repression, there is the likelihood of mob violence against the Slavic Gay Pride marchers by neo-Nazis, skinheads, ultra-nationalists and Christian fundamentalists – as happened in 2006 and 2007.

"I am joining the parade to show my support for the courageous Russian gay campaigners. All year round they risk arrest, imprisonment and queer-bashing attacks. These men and women are absolute heroes. I salute them," said Mr Tatchell, who is the human rights spokesperson for the Green Party of England and Wales and the Green Party parliamentary candidate for the university constituency of Oxford East in south-east England.

"International solidarity is hugely important. My presence is one way to show that gay people around the world support the right of gay people in Russia to live their lives without homophobic prejudice, ostracism, discrimination and violence. This parade is in defence of human rights. We are defending the often violated human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Russians. They want legal protection against discrimination and hate crimes. I support their cause. Not all Russians are homophobic, but many are. Gay Russians suffer queer-bashing attacks, blackmail, verbal abuse and discrimination in education, housing and employment, This shames the great Russian nation. Saturday’s Slavic Gay Pride is about more than gay human rights. It is about the right of all Russian people to freely express their opinions and to protest peacefully. The ban on gay parades is just one example of the systematic suppression of civil liberties in Russia. It is against the Russian constitution and law, which guarantee the right to protest.

"I appeal to President Medvedev, Prime Minister Putin and Mayor Luzhkov: gay people are no threat to Russian society. Be magnanimous. Uphold democratic rights and freedoms. Allow the Slavic Gay Pride parade. Although I am determined to support our Russian and Belarusian comrades, like them I am anxious about what may happen to us. But we have to take some risks; otherwise the homophobes and authoritarians will win. I don’t have much confidence that the Moscow police will accept our right to protest or that they will protect us against neo-Nazi violence. At Moscow Pride in 2007 I was beaten almost unconscious by right-wing extremists, while the police stood by and watched. They then arrested me. I spent several hours in police detention before being released without charge. My attackers have never been arrested, even though they were clearly identified in photos and film footage.

"When I was beaten up in 2007, my neo-Nazi assailants warned me: ‘If you come back to Moscow, next time we will send you home in a wooden box,’ they said. But I am not afraid or intimidated. These threats won’t deter me of the Russian activists. We are determined to press our case for gay human rights in Russia," added Mr Tatchell.

May 14, 2009 – Gay Liberation Network

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Gay Pride in Moscow: Report from a Chicago Activist

Moscow — After 14 hours of flights, last night I found myself in Eastern Europe for the first time in my life, warmly greeted by lesbian and gay activists who despite state repression are organizing their fourth annual pride event in this city. This year’s event is dubbed "Slavic Pride," denoting the significant participation of activists from around the region. The previous three years’ events have gone forward despite bans from the authorities and violence from neo-fascists in Russian orthodox and skinhead garb. This year the authorities not only banned the Pride event, but for good measure, approved the anti-gays’ application to hold their own event this past Tuesday.

That same day, our Moscow friends countered with their own unsanctioned action at the Department of Registration of Acts of Civil Status — an attempt by two lesbian activists to get a marriage license. Leading Slavic Pride activist Nikolai Alekseev said the action was inspired in part by a February civil disobedience action at a marriage license bureau in Chicago. The Moscow action received widespread international press coverage, including from the New York Times. As I shadowed Alekseev around the city last night, press coverage if anything seemed to build, with Nikolai’s two cell phones ringing incessantly and meetings with Finish and Slovenian journalists held near midnight just outside of Red Square.

Slavic Pride is slated for this Saturday, amidst the big "Eurovision Fest" being hosted this year by Moscow. For those not familiar with what Eurovision is, think "American Idol" times ten, with a profusion of media coverage and street banners that puts Chicago’s 2016 Olympics bid hype to shame. While our specific plans for Saturday are necessarily secret at this time, the aim is to cause maximum embarrassment to the government if they attempt to arrest us or allow the neo-fascists to attack.

In response to Moscow activists’ application for a permit this year, police chief Vladmir Pronin told the Russian news agency Interfax that gay pride parades in the capital are "unacceptable – gay pride parades shouldn’t be allowed." "No one will dare to do it, such ‘brave-heart’ will be torn to shreds," he added. "The West can say we’re bad guys, but our people will see it is right. Our country is patriarchal, that’s [sic] sums it up… I positively agree with the Church, with the Patriarch, politicians, especially with [Mayor] Luzhkov, who are convinced that man and woman should love each other. It is established by God and nature."

However, Moscow Pride organizers have vowed to move forward with this year’s Pride event despite the police chief’s threats. "Mr. Pronin already showed his incompetency last year when his services were unable to prevent us unveiling a banner directed against the Mayor, right opposite his office," said Alekseev. The main pride event successfully took place nearby at the monument to the famous Russian gay composer, Peter Tchkaivosky, while the authorities and neo-fascists were hoodwinked into thinking that it would take place outside of homophobic Mayor Yuri Luzhkov’s office.

Today at the start of a gay rights conference at an undisclosed location east of the city, I was joined by British gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and LGBT activists from around Russia and Belorussia – Minsk, Rostof, Sochi, Ufa, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar, Ekaterinbourg, Volgodonsk, Ryazan and of course Moscow. As we gathered on a coach to go to the conference, Moscow activist Nikolai Baev explained how a group of young activists from Ryazan, about 200 miles south of the capital, got involved in organizing this year’s Slavic Pride:

"There is a very discriminatory law in the Ryazan region which prohibits so-called propaganda about homosexuality and among minors. The law passed in 2006 and we had pickets that said that homosexuality is absolutely normal and we are proud of our situation. We picketed in front of schools in Ryazan and we were detained because it was illegal." Two people were found guilty and fined 1500 rubles (about $45 US) each. Alekseev came to Ryazan to help in the campaign and in the appeal of their cases to the Constitutional Court of Russia.

Sergio Yenin, 19, explained how he became involved in gay rights organizing in Belorussia: "I felt myself to be gay from my early childhood. Last year I came to Minsk and there I got acquainted with some gay activists and I thought it would be great if I fought for my gay rights. There are a lot of people who don’t fight for their rights, who don’t participate in such activist movements, and they just consume our achievements. For example, we fought for our gay club, our one gay club in Minsk. It was in danger of being closed [by the government], but it still exists due to us."

I asked Sergio if he had participated in Minsk Pride events before. "Yes, of course. The most outstanding Pride parade took place in 2001. But I didn’t participate because I was only 11 then. There were over 300 people participating in this event and 300 watching. This was fabulous. This was an historical moment in Belorussia."

"The last one took place in October of 2008. It was named Queer Walk and it took place on the 11th of October 2008, the international day of coming out, and we organized a pride parade. It was a rather private, intimate event, there were fifty participants because we cannot organize such a public event because of our government. If we applied for an event, we would be denied."

"There is an action that takes place [each year] called Chernobyl Way, and all of the opposition parties take place there, and our LGBT group participated last year and this year. Last year we raised the rainbow flag and there were a lot of bad comments about it, there were a lot of threats [of violence]. There were such political parties as Right Alliance, and they threaten us all of the time. This year we didn’t raise our rainbow flag because the organizer of the Belorussian National Front, the main opposition party, they coordinated a call to us, do not raise your rainbow flag, not because we have anything against you, because our fight for clean air, free of radiation will turn into a fight for gay rights."

I asked Sergio why he personally joined the 15 others for the ten hour train ride from Belorussia to join this Saturday’s Slavic Pride: "I [only] made the conclusion [to come] on the 12th of May because I was really very frightened about myself and my friends. I know that there is some information that Pride is going to be canceled, and more than this, that Pride participants are going to be beaten."

And why did you decide to come anyway? "Because this is my fight really. If I don’t go to the pride parade, who will go there? My reasons to come was to support my friends and of course to support gay rights."

16th May 2009 – From: "Peter Tatchell"

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40 arrested as Moscow

Anti-riot police use violence to break up Slavic Pride march– boycott Eurovision, say Pride organisers Sources from Moscow have reported that police have used violent and oppressive tactics to break up the peaceful Slavic Pride march in the city. The march had been outlawed by Moscow city authorities, but permission had been given for counter-demonstrations by far right ultra-nationalists. Between 35 and 40 Russian LGBT activists have been arrested, including British human rights activist Peter Tatchell and Chicago LGBT activist Andy Thayer. Pride organiser Nikolai Alekseev was held down by 5 fully armed riot police and arrested.

European Embassy diplomats witnessed the violence are said to be planning a joint diplomatic action. Slavic Pride organisers have called on the artists and performers of Eurovision to boycott tonight’s showpiece event in solidarity with the beaten and arrested protesters.

Organiser Nikolai Alekseev said: "I call upon all of the artists who are due to perform at tonight’s Eurovision to boycott tonight’s event and send a message that Russia’s state oppression of human rights is not acceptable. The Russian Government is using this years Eurovision in Moscow as a gala showpiece to show the world how far the country has improved since the early 1990’s. However, what was witnessed this afternoon on the streets of Moscow shows the world just how little Russia has travelled when it comes to supporting fundamental human rights. The police brutality that we witnessed here this afternoon is shocking. We planned a peaceful march to highlight the dire state of LGBT rights in Russia today. The police, given violent legitimacy by the openly homophobic Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, did not hold back with their weapons, despite the world’s media watching.

"We were defending the often violated human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Russians. We demand the same legal protection against discrimination and hate crimes that none LGBT people enjoy. This episode has shamed the Russian Government and Moscow authorities before the world."

Further information:

Peter Tatchell – +7 985 238 5709 (Moscow number)

Nikolai Alekseev (organiser Moscow / Slavic Gay Pride) – + 7 916 255 8240

May 17, 2009 – The Los Angeles Times

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Gay activists in Moscow thwarted – Russia’s gay and lesbian community was determined to stage a march this weekend, but the protesters were no match for the large band of plainclothes security men and uniformed police officers.

by Megan K. Stack
Reporting from Moscow — The plainclothes security men came first, clustering in jeans, leather jackets and pointy black shoes. Then the policemen in gray uniforms and stiff hats; bulky men in dark suits who appeared to be in charge; a bus load of riot police in camouflage. A raw wind swept off the Moscow River on Saturday morning, past the souvenir peddlers with their tables of bright wooden matryoshka dolls and T-shirts emblazoned with Soviet iconography. The sky was low and dark over Sparrow Hills, a popular backdrop for wedding photos, a place for limousines, brides and champagne.

Police arrest gay rights demonstrators Kseniya Prilepskaya, left, and her friend Yuri, dressed as a bride during an aborted gay rights parade in Moscow on Saturday

The crowd of plainclothes security officers grew, and tension thickened as noon drew closer. One of the security men laughed rudely, pushing at a colleague. "They are not even here yet and Max is already flirting with me," he joked. "Take him away from me, guys." Nearby, a stocky policeman held his portable radio, listening to scratchy commands from above. "Get all of them!" the unseen supervisor barked. "Yes," the officer said. "But how do we know who’s gay?"

They were girding their force and setting their traps to sweep down on what the city authorities have repeatedly described as a threat: the attempt by dozens of gay rights activists to hold a march in the Russian capital. Yuri M. Luzhkov, the Kremlin-backed mayor of Moscow, describes gay marches as "satanic." And yet Russia’s gay and lesbian community was determined to stage a march this weekend. Moscow was hosting the final round of the Eurovision song competition, a campy and wildly popular show perhaps best known for launching the career of ABBA. Activists hoped to capitalize on the event to draw attention to the sorry state of gay rights in Russia.

Most of them never made it; they stayed away out of fear, or were pounced on and hauled off before they reached Sparrow Hills. Shortly after noon, about a dozen activists stood on a nearby lawn of thick grass and blossoming lilac bushes and began to shout slogans. "Homophobia is a shame!" they chanted. The demonstration lasted for about a minute before the police set upon them from all sides, clambering through the shrubs and knocking news cameramen out of the way to seize the demonstrators, pin their arms behind their backs and drag them off into waiting buses and patrol wagons.

They knew it would be a struggle. The city government has repeatedly denied their permit requests. Police in the past have stood aside while ultranationalist skinheads beat gay activists bloody — then arrested the activists, not the skinheads. (Skinheads, unlike gays, have been permitted to march in Moscow.) This year, the government seemed particularly incensed. Eurovision should have been a proud moment for the Russian authorities, a lighthearted celebration badly needed after bitter conflict with Europe over the war in Georgia and natural gas shut-offs.

"The Moscow government is declaring that no gay parades have been or will be held in Moscow," Sergei Tsoi, the mayor’s spokesman, told journalists last week. Gay activists threaten "not only to destroy the moral pillars of our society but also to deliberately provoke disorder, which would threaten the lives and security of Muscovites and guests of the city," Tsoi said. A few minutes after the first demonstration was broken up Saturday, a second group of activists arrived and began to march along behind a banner reading "Equal rights without compromise." They too were immediately pounced on by police, who snatched away the banner and hauled the men off to the buses.

A man in a wedding dress arrived, only to be shoved kicking and screaming into a bus. After that, the scene melted into a sort of free-for-all, as frustrated police set upon and took away anybody who talked to reporters. "It’s a shock," a gay rights activist named Ksenia Prilepskaya said, watching policemen circle menacingly through a crowd of journalists and a few remaining protesters. "It’s against Russian law. It’s direct violence against us." As she spoke, police officers noticed Prilepskaya and lunged, wrestling her toward the bus as she screamed and squirmed. Her glasses were knocked to the mud and trampled underfoot, her purse lost. Her clothes had been shredded from her body by the time she was forced to the steps of the bus; police pushed her inside stripped down to her bra.

"Scoundrels!" somebody yelled.

That was the end of it. There was no march. The vendors kept on hawking their souvenirs. A bride and a groom arrived, stared in bewilderment at the crowd of police, then shrugged and headed for a parapet to pose for the cameras, a cheering wedding party at their heels.

megan.stack@latimes.com

May 17, 2009 – DailyQueerNews

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Behind the Scenes Story of 2009 Gay Pride in Moscow

Photos are available at the following URL:
http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/86639/index.php

More photos and the first and second stories in this series can be found at:
http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/86617/index.php
http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/86605/index.php

Posted by Daily Queer News
by Andy Thayer / Gay Liberation Network
Moscow – By the time I am finally posting this, many already know the basic story of violent government repression of S aturday’s Gay Pride Parade in this city.

The delay in this post comes as a result of being participant in the action. Several hours were lost due to police detention and then feverish attempts to help our Russian and Belorussian colleagues facing far more serious situations. Finally, our Moscow police friends are now in the possession of a very fine Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ6 memory card, so this story is mainly illustrated with the help of another photographer who would lose her job if credited properly for her work.

I’ll therefore concentrate on the parts of this remarkable story that people who saw the news reports still don’t know:

* the bizarrely extensive lengths that the authorities undertook to pre-empt our action

* the tactical finesse shown by Pride organizers that allowed us to dodge that pre-emption, and

* my personal experience as a participant in the action.

But first and most importantly, here is the latest news on the situation facing our Russian and Belorussian friends:

Around mid-day today, Moscow Time, all of our people were finally released. Holding him and other key activists well past the mandated three hour time limit, the Russian authorities are trying to make an example of Moscow Pride’s foremost organizer, Nikolai Alekseev, by slapping multiple charges on him beyond the traditional “demonstrating without a permit” violation.

Even though he is finally released following a hearing this morning, Alekseev’s attorney Dmitri Bartenev told me that the exact nature of the charges against Alekseev aren’t clear, except that since he has been released, he cannot now be sentenced to jail time. Bartenev and the public were barred from this morning’s hearing. Alekseev faces trial on May 26.

Despite the violent attack by OMOH cops, the Russian equivalent of SWAT police, fortunately no one was seriously injured. Also, after some initial very worrying reports about threats to deport our Belorussian friends, who might in turn face incarceration by their country’s dictatorial regime, we’re happy to report that they have been released.

* * * * * * * * *

The Russian State vs Gays:
The bizarre lengths to which they will go

As noted in an earlier post [http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/86617/index.php], days before Saturday’s Pride action we learned that the authorities were planning a pre-emptive arrest of lead Pride organizer Nikolai Alekseev. This was forestalled by having the entire group decamp to a rural location outside of Moscow, rather than at their usual homes and workplaces. Round 1: Pride organizers

The day before the action we learned through a reliable press source that the authorities were planning on blockading the main roads into Moscow. Despite having more than10 million inhabitants, there are only seven main roads into the city, and the police20were on the look-out in particular for a bus with some of the usual suspects plus a generous gathering of 20-something activists.

To a Westerner this story sounds like the product of feverish paranoia, but to those who live in what can at best be described as a quasi-democracy, such a report can’t be dismissed out of hand. So with the help of friends in other vehicles, the story was checked out in person and yes, police were stopping and searching almost all vehicles coming into the city limits. Another activist reported seeing police in possession of photos of key activists.

Showing remarkable poise the Pride organizers quickly changed transport plans, switched us from coach to a commuter train just outside the check points around Moscow’s ring road, directed us to take the train for one stop inside the ring road, then switched to a group of vans to take us the rest of the way to the protest site. Round 2: Pride organizers

* * * * * &nb sp; * * * *

One of the main difficulties in organizing a public action in a police state is deploying the action to the press and public before the authorities round everyone up. But with an extra bevy of cameramen, sound people, still photographers and print people in town for the huge Eurovision music festival, to say that they can’t blend into a crowd is an understatement. Add to this the fact that while our side has sources in the media, the police do as well, especially all of the Russian-based broadcast media, who are a virtual telegraph agency to the other side.

The media have to be advised of the specific time and location of the action at the last possible moment, as any gathering of them tips off the cops that something is about to happen. Anyone in proximity to them is of course suspected of being an illegal demonstrator despite not showing any banners or signs.

So we came to a popular bluff on the Moscow River overlooking the city, where lots of weddings take place, camouflaged as … a heterosexual wedding party. The groom? Why, of course, Nikolai Alekseev! And the bride walking arm-in-arm with “her” man? A young Belorussian gay activist dressed in a fine wedding gown. “She” and the groom passed very well, thank you, including through a few ranks of loitering policemen en route (thanks also to their rented limousine). Other groups of the “wedding party” converged from other directions.

As a rank and file participant in the protest lacking even basic Russian language skills, I didn’t know the overall plan until it unfolded in a rolling manner, with groups of activists unfolding banners, flags and signs to a forest of media cameras. Shortly after each group revealed itself, Russian OMOH cops (their equivalent of SWAT police) waded through the sea of press and violently arrested the protesters.

I was taken into custody for holding up a bilingual sign and rapidly taken to a waiting Moscow squadrol. I was soon joined by a few other protesters, at which time the police checked our identification documents. Apparently the police decided it was too much of a hassle to deal with a foreign national from the west, and they released me.

Not seeing the error of my ways, I went right back to a nearby corner where about 50+ press personnel were milling about filing their reports, identified myself to one of them as a protester, and began speaking to her about why I was proud to participate in the protest. This rapidly drew a gaggle of dozens more press around me. They knew better than I that speaking out in favor of gay rights on a street corner of Russia was a civil liberties train wreck waiting to happen, and they wanted to film it as the inevitable happened.

After a sentence or two praising the courage of Russian and Belorussian LGBT activists, I began speaking about how the police attack on gay and lesbian rights should be a concern of all Russians as it was an attack on their democratic freedoms. At just that point the OMOH cops grabbed and dragged me away, making my point much more effectively than any words I could have uttered.

By cleverly timing their event to coincide with Eurovision, which is probably Europe’s highest-profile annual cultural event, Pride organizers scored an unprecedented victory for LGBT rights in Russia. Alekseev reports that this year’ s Pride gathered far more press than the very heavily covered events in previous years. By coinciding Pride with Eurovision, an event which should celebrate free expression not just in the arts, but everywhere, Pride organizers helped drive home the danger of the government’s prohibition on the right of assembly for Russian gays and lesbians. The 4th annual gay Pride in Moscow was an unqualified success, with the political points of its organizers broadcast around the world, which can only serve to help isolate the anti-gay regime.

As I write this Sunday afternoon at the dining room table of Russian flat, I’m surrounded by a joyous gathering of Russian LGBT activists celebrating the release of the last of the imprisoned, talking rapidly in Russian with me not understanding a word. That’s okay. Their spirit is infectious, their determination to continue fighting clear.

I learned a ton from our Russian and Belorussian friends over the past few days. To say that it was a useful political organizing experience is a huge understatement.

19 May 2009 – The Guardian

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Thank you Mayor Luzhkov: Moscow’s mayor tried to crush the city’s gay pride parade. In doing so, he did the cause of gay rights in Russia a huge service

by Peter Tatchell – guardian.co.uk
Russian gay rights campaigners are toasting Moscow’s homophobic mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, after he ordered the banning and violent suppression of last Saturday’s Slavic gay pride parade in the Russian capital – just hours before the Eurovision song contest was staged in the city. "Luzhkov has done more than anyone to publicise gay rights in Russia," beamed Nikolai Alekseev, the gay parade organiser, as we chatted on Sunday afternoon following his release from nearly 24 hours of police detention:

By stopping the gay parade he has provoked massive media coverage of our fight against homophobia. The Russian media has been full of reports about gay issues for the last week. This has hugely increased public awareness and understanding of gay people. Slowly, we are eroding homophobic attitudes. Through this media visibility, we are helping to normalise queer existence. After our successive gay protests in Moscow since 2006, people are less shocked about homosexuality. We have a long way to go, but gradually we are winning hearts and minds, especially among younger Russians.

We ought to give Luzhkov an award. His violation of our right to protest has given us a remarkable platform, with day-after-day of publicity about lesbian gay human rights. It is the equivalent of about 200m roubles (£4m pounds) in free advertising. After spending five days in Moscow, helping prepare for the parade and then participating in the brutally curtailed protest, I am awestruck by the masterful strategy and tactics of the organisers.

They had previously tried writing letters and seeking meetings with the Russian government in a bid to get action against the homophobic discrimination, harassment and violence that is widespread in Russian society. Every approach has been rebuffed. Both the federal and city authorities have refused to meet representatives of Russia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. They will not introduce laws to tackle anti-gay violence and to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Faced with this intransigent refusal to engage in dialogue or legislate, what are Russian queers to do? Stay silent? Do nothing?

The gay parade organisers realise that the conferences, glossy reports and low-key vigils of other Russian and international gay organisations have little or no impact on the government – or on public consciousness. It is only visible and challenging actions, like the gay parades, that put queer issues on the public and political agenda. The same has been true all throughout history. It has been direct action by radical campaigners like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King that has most dramatically and effectively overturned injustice. By adapting their tactics, the Slavic Pride coordinators ran rings around the Russian and Moscow authorities and put them on the defensive.

"Luzhkov walked into our trap. We offered to meet him last week to work out an amicable solution. He refused. His refusal and the subsequent police repression of the parade gave us masses of publicity and made him look aggressive and tyrannical," said Alekseev. As well as being full of admiration for the organisers’ tactical savvy, I was also immensely impressed by their ingenuity in outwitting the Moscow police and the Federal Security Service (the successor to the Soviet-era secret police, the KGB).

Moscow’s gay parade was planned like a military operation and executed with more than a whiff of James Bond-style daring and evasion. The authorities were determined to stop the protest before it happened. They put activists under surveillance and planned to pre-emptively arrest Alekseev. To prevent this, he went into hiding a few days before, moving from house to house, switching cars and trains and changing mobile phones.

Over 60 gay activists joined the parade, with others acting as logistical support, arranging transport, accommodation, food and security. They came from far-flung regions of Russia, plus a 15-strong delegation from Belarus. Most were in their early 20s. There were a few older veterans from the underground Russian gay rights movement in the 1980s, including a member of the Academy of Sciences and a nuclear physicist. Their bravery and fearlessness was totally inspiring. All of them were ready to risk being arrested, beaten, jailed, sacked from their jobs and evicted from their apartments.

On the day of the parade, we converged on the protest location – the gardens in front of Moscow State University. To fool the riot police, we arrived in limousines, disguised as a wedding party, complete with bride and groom (Alekseev).

There were three successive protests, one after the other. First, the Belarusians kicked off with chants against homophobia, which is when I was arrested for holding a placard with "gay rights" written on it in Russian and English. After we were dragged off, another group unfurled a 25-foot banner: "Gay Equality. No compromise." Then, finally, Alekseev and his "bride" were bundled into a police van. Several people were arrested for simply speaking to the media. Nearly all those detained – including myself – report being arrested with excessive force.

All in all, it was a PR disaster for the Russian and Moscow authorities, ensuring that Eurovision 2009 will be forever associated with police brutality, government homophobia and the suppression of a peaceful protest.

It is good to know that Russian gay campaigners are having the last laugh. In March, the then Moscow police chief, Vladmir Pronin, had promised there would no protests at all. No gay demos would be allowed to mar Eurovision. He boasted of "tough measures" and that protesters would be "torn to shreds." No person would be brave enough to risk the wrath of his riot police, Pronin warned. He was wrong. There was a gay protest. Gay people had the guts to defy his uniformed thugs. By so doing, they not only defended gay human rights, they defended the right to protest of all Russians, gay and straight.

April 25, 2009 – Gay & Lesbian Times

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St. Petersburg activists stage ‘silent flash mob’

About 70 GLBT activists staged a “silent flash mob” on Nevsky Prospekt, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Members of the group Coming Out and the Russian LGBT Network taped their mouths shut to mark the International Day of Silence and walked the city’s main street handing out leaflets and “silent cards.” About 4,000 pieces of literature were distributed during the 90-minute action.

“The reaction of passersby was extremely positive: So many of them were seeing our large groups, they came up themselves and took leaflets,” the organizers said in an English-language statement. “On the way back the participants of the flashmob virtually see hardly single leaflets thrown out, which is the evidence of the fact that citizens read them and considered interesting for themselves.”

The organizers said the successful action demonstrated that “the LGBT community of Petersburg is interested not only in entertainments, but also in human rights events.”

19 May 2009 – Time Magazine

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Time magazine on first Slavic Pride in Moscow – Russia to Gays: Get Back into the Closet

by Marina Kamenev, Time
Being gay is not supposed to be a crime in Russia. Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1993; six years later, the law that sent gays and lesbians to psychiatric wards was annulled. But Russia would still rather have its homosexual citizenry invisible — and silent. Nikolai Alexeyev knows that very well. He’s just been released from jail for trying to organize a gay-rights demonstration in Moscow.

Alexeyev, 31, had decided to stage a gay-pride march to take advantage of the spotlight Moscow was enjoying for playing host to the Eurovision finals over the weekend. "We want equal rights. We don’t want to be discriminated against," the director of Gayrussia.ru said a couple of days before the parade. "Many Eurovision fans are gay, and they will be watching what happens to us." Wary of the government of Moscow’s openly homophobic mayor Yuri Luzhkov (a similar march two years ago had somehow ended in violence as neo-Nazis and religious groups attacked demonstrators), Alexeyev used guerrilla tactics and, at the last minute, moved the parade from Moscow’s center, farther north to Sparrow Hills.

At the same time, an anti-gay demonstration sanctioned by Moscow’s government was taking place near a metro station in the central part of the Russian capital. Protesters held up signs saying, "Moscow is not Sodom." Vladimir Terechenko, a refrigerator repairman, said he tells his sons repeatedly that if they come out as homosexuals he will kill them. "Homosexuality is the end of civilization. They are pale, they are sickly, and they smell," he said. He echoes the opinions of Luzhkov, who has said homosexuality is a disease that needs to be treated, has called gays satanic and has vowed that there will never be a gay parade in Moscow. Despite the violent beliefs and the hateful messages of the anti-gay protesters, they were left untouched by Russian riot police, who sat meekly in their vans during the demonstration.

Not so at Alexeyev’s march. There, an estimated 30 protesters unwrapped rainbow banners and chanted for less than half a minute before Moscow riot police rounded up and arrested everyone involved. Alexeyev, who came to the parade accompanied by a man in a bride’s dress, was swiftly carried off by riot police. One woman, who was surrounded by cameras, was grabbed by riot police as she was giving interviews, her shirt torn on the way to the police bus. Peter Tatchell, a British gay-rights activist, flew to Moscow for the event. He was speaking to reporters before he too was arrested. "This shows Russian people are not free," he told reporters.

Alexeyev was held overnight in prison and was interrogated for hours at a time. "The psychological pressure was overwhelming," he told TIME. "This was by far the worst treatment from the police that I have ever received." He has been arrested four times since starting Gayrussia.ru in 2005. Still, Alexeyev says he will not stop until gay and lesbian couples have the same rights as all other Russians. "We want the right to adopt children and the right to get married." His work has come at a price. When he came out at 22, he was in the middle of pursuing a master’s degree in law. But when he announced that the topic of his thesis would be gay-rights legislation in Europe, he was expelled. Says he: "There is a homophobic totalitarian past in Russia, while in the present, there is this huge influence of the Orthodox Church, and Russian authorities are doing nothing to stop homophobia."

In between protests, Alexeyev works with human-rights lawyers to defend gay rights within Russia’s bureaucratic court system. Last week a lesbian couple in Moscow was refused the right to get married; Alexeyev plans to take the case to court. He has had some success with legislation. Last year his activism helped change a law that barred gays and lesbians from donating blood. Alexeyev speaks regularly to gay groups outside Moscow to promote his message of equal rights. "Moscow and St. Petersburg is one thing," he says. "There are clubs and communities [in the big cities,] but being gay in a Russian small town is scary."

The fear is pervasive. In Moscow, Viktor, 28, says, "My family does not know I am gay. I am open about it to anyone that asks, but I would never tell my parents. I don’t know what my mother would do, but I know my father openly hates homosexuals." Like many gay men, Viktor didn’t want to attend the parade on Saturday. "I just want to be treated like everyone else, and going around and screaming I am gay isn’t going to help me." Says Sergei, who is married to a woman but advertises for liaisons with men on gay dating sites: "Being gay is just not considered normal like in the West. In Russia there are just no good [gay] role models. No normal people who happen to be gay."

If Alexeyev had hoped that the Eurovision finals would help his cause, he was wrong. The events were treated with an awkward silence from Eurovision organizers. The Dutch team had threatened to pull out of the competition if the parade was banned, but the team did not qualify for the finals. And the Norwegian winner, Alexander Rybak, patronizingly told a press conference, "I think it’s a little bit sad that they chose to have the protest today. They spent all their energy on that parade, while the biggest gay parade in the world [an allusion to the campy performances of the contest] was tonight."

Nevertheless, Alexeyev tries to find a silver lining to the suppression of his march. "We changed the location of the march at the last minute so that we wouldn’t be attacked by anti-gay groups like previous years," he says. "This is the first year that no one was seriously injured in the parade." In gay Russia, that counts for an achievement.

June 9, 2009 – PinkNews

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Russian activists plan picket for Obama’s visit to Moscow

by Anish Bhavsar
Gay rights campaigners are planning to stage a picket during US President Barack Obama’s visit to Moscow in July to highlight his pledge to increase rights for same-sex couples. LGBT rights campaigner Nikolai Alekseev told GayRussia.ru: “We want to express our solidarity with US gay activists who are planning similar protests in Washington DC, Chicago and other cities in the coming months.” He praised developments since Obama took office, but added that the next step was legalising gay marriage.

In May, a lesbian couple attempted to obtain a marriage licence at the city’s marriage office. As expected, their request was denied but they now plan to marry in Canada and exploit a legal loophole in Russian law on marriages abroad which does not state gender. However, the campaigners will have to seek permission from the city authorities to stage the picket on July 7th. Alekseev said that it was “highly unlikely” that they would be granted the right to protest outside the US Embassy in Moscow after the banned Slavic Pride march last month.

Andy Thayer, a member of Chicago’s Gay Liberation Network, feels the picket will be a strong reminder to the US leader following his election promises to do more for gay rights. “Since President Obama has backed away from his campaign promises to LGBT people in the US to repeal the Defence of Marriage Act and ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’, we are grateful that our gay and lesbian friends in Russia are continuing to raise these human rights concerns during the president’s visit to their country,” he said.

July 16, 2009 – Human Rights Watch <webadmin@hrw.org>

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Subject: Murder of Natalia Estemirova, Human Rights Researcher

Natalia Estemirova, the world’s leading researcher on Chechnya and an invaluable partner and close friend to Human Rights Watch, was abducted in Chechnya yesterday morning. Her body was found dead in Ingushetia several hours later. We at Human Rights Watch are shattered by the murder of our dear friend Natasha. We’ve worked with her since 1999 and just yesterday, wrapped up a mission with her.

Natasha was a researcher with Memorial, Russia’s leading human rights organization. She was a key source of information for human rights organizations and the media regarding the worst abuses in Chechnya: torture, abduction, extrajudicial executions and the like.

Natasha was well known outside Russia as someone who sought justice and accountability for abuses by all sides to the conflict in Chechnya. We honored her with the Human Rights Watch Defender Award in 2007. Natasha had also been honored by various European institutions: In 2005 she received the European Parliament’s Robert Shuman medal and in 2004 was awarded the "Right to Life" award by the Swedish Parliament. She also was the first recipient of the Anna Politkovskaya prize — named for the journalist who met the same fate.

While the international community applauded her work, the Chechen authorities were not as pleased. She risked, and lost, her life for her cause. We are planning a concerted response to ensure that Russia does not let this crime go uninvestigated or forgotten. Human Rights Watch expressed its deepest condolences to Estemirova’s family and colleagues.

Yours,
Kenneth Roth
Video Honoring Natalia Estemirova

July 17, 2009 – Russian LGBT Ntetwork

17a
The Russian Human Rights Ombudsman Met with the Representatives of the LGBT Community

On July 15, 2009, a meeting between the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Lukin, and the representatives of the Interregional Public Movement The Russian LGBT Network took place. The work of the Russian LGBT Network lies in protection of rights and social adaptation of sexual and gender minorities.

A joint discrimination monitoring report of the Russian LGBT Network and the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) was presented at the meeting. The report includes an evaluation of the laws with respect to guarantees of non-discrimination and a summary of identified facts of violation of rights and freedoms of people with nontraditional sexual orientation and gender identity. Vladimir Lukin noted that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people are entitled to same rights as all other people. “If rights of specific people are violated due to their orientation, we are ready to protect their rights,” he said.

The Chairman of the Russian LGBT Network, Igor Kochetkov (Petrov), expressed his satisfaction with the results of the discussion. “This is the first time a representative of the Russian government officially met with the Russian LGBT activists. Taking this into account, we can safely say that the results exceeded our expectations. We very much count on further collaboration with the Ombudsman.”

July 23, 2009 – 365gay.com

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Russian couple fights for their right to marry

by 365gay Newswire
(Moscow) A lesbian couple has made plans to wed in Canada to try and see if their marriage will be recognized in their home country of Russia. Irina Fedotova-Fet and Irina Shepitko first applied for a marriage license in May but were eventually denied. “We’re a couple of girls who have been together for a long time, who live together. We’ve been together five years,” said Fedotova-Fet. “We’re a family — our relationship is in every way a marriage, just like all those heterosexual couples. We have a joint household, a life together, vacations, everything. We’re a family, but the right to marry has been taken away from us.”

Russia has a family code – established in the early 1990s – that does not grant civil unions or any equivalent to gay couples but does not explicitly prohibit foreign marriages of same-sex couples. The couple is trying to see if they can use this loophole to their advantage. “Somebody has to start it sometime. We are the first real couple to fight for same-sex marriage to be recognized,” Fedotova-Fet said. “We hope that we can set a precedent, and that more and more people will follow our example.”

Russia decriminalized homosexuality only in 1993 and its gay pride parades are usually met with large opposition. Anticipating that their marriage will not be recognized, Fedotova-Fet and Shepitko have hired a lawyer from France to bring their case to the European Court of Human Rights

“If a person wants a career, to be more or less successful, he’ll hide that he’s gay,”Fetova-Fet said. “I have lots of gay friends who are fairly successful and pretend they’re straight and even get married. If you’re gay, you’re marginal.”

Read the full Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty story here.

August 7, 2009 – PinkNews

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Russia’s newest LGBT support group to focus on education and health

By Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk
A new organisation that aims to develop social services for LGBT people has been formed in Moscow. LGBT Organisation Assistance was founded by gay rights activist Vyacheslav Revin.

"The necessity of an organisation which provides direct social services for homosexuals, bisexuals, transgender people and their families is long overdue," he said. "Unfortunately Russian nonprofits that provide social services for the local communities do not view LGBT as their target group. Representatives of LGBT communities are often forced to hide their sexual orientation or gender identity, so they can receive professional help. This negatively affects the quality of social services and LGBTs’ quality of life. Also lesbian, gays, bisexuals and transgender people need special services. A non-discriminatory approach to these people and an egalitarian, respectful attitude towards them would change the situation for better."

The mission of LGBT Organisation Assistance is to provide support for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people who are in difficult life situation because of societal prejudice or direct discrimination on the basis of homosexuality and gender identity. The group’s website provides information about services along with online consultations on psychological and legal problems, HIV/AIDS and STDs.

August 26, 2009 – The Miami Herald

20
Drama in Moscow court over lesbian marriage

by David Nowak, Associated Press Writer
The debate over whether to allow a lesbian couple to marry in Russia sparked an angry exchange inside a Moscow courtroom Wednesday, while outside the women locked lips to protest a holdup in proceedings. Homosexuality has been decriminalized in Russia but there is little support for gay rights. The court postponed hearing a complaint from the gay couple over a refusal to let them marry. Judge Natalya Zhuravlyova said the reason for the postponement was the couple’s "disrespectful" failure to appear in court.

The couple, Irina Fedotova-Fet and Irina Shipitko, arrived 10 minutes after the hearing ended and kissed for the cameras. They said they had been held up in traffic. The authorities "are using any excuse" to obstruct their quest for matrimonial recognition, Shipitko said. "There is enough homophobia in this country. We are no different from any other couple," she said.

Earlier in the courtroom, lawyer Nikolai Alexeyev protested the postponement, telling the judge "the way you conduct a hearing is a disgrace." Alexeyev protested the new date, Sept. 9, saying he couldn’t make it. The judge ignored Alexeyev, asking him instead to sign a court document setting the new date. "I won’t be signing that. It’s a disgrace, your court session. A big disgrace," Alexeyev said.

Alexeyev – also Russia’s most prominent gay rights activist and an organizer of gay pride parades – later told The Associated Press that the judge’s attitude reflected the official stance toward gays in Russia – "intolerant." Gay rights demonstrations are not permitted by Moscow, whose mayor has called homosexuality "satanic." Foreign politicians and pop stars as well as dozens of Russians have been roughed up by police and attacked for participating in the protests. The last gay parade was in May and coincided with the final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. That ended with dozens of arrests.

Fedotova-Fet and Shipitko, meanwhile, applied in May to get married at a Moscow registry office but were eventually refused on the grounds that same-sex marriage is illegal in Russia. They argue that Russian law does not forbid such a union. A court ruled the refusal was legal and their complaint was to be heard Wednesday. Shipitko and Fedotova-Fet will fly in October to Toronto, Canada, where they plan to marry. They have said they would subsequently urge Russian authorities to recognize the marriage.

Same-sex marriages are legal in Canada.

August 2009 – Lesbian and Gay Peace Corps Alumni

20a
The Gay Scene in Russia and Kazakhstan

by Everett Peachey, RPCV
Having served in Peace Corps in both western Russia and Kazakhstan, I feel that I can make a few general statements about the gay scene and community in these two countries and give advice for success as a gay Peace Corps Volunteer in this part of the world.

Our Pre-Service Training (PST) in Russia was held in a Moscow suburb, and my work site was located about 90 minutes from St. Petersburg, so I guess you could say that I had the epicenters of Russian gay culture at my disposal. I went to a few gay clubs in Moscow during PST, and I quickly realized how small, yet close-knit, the gay community there was. Everyone seemed to know one another or had dated one another at some point. The clubs and bars almost carried with them a ‘Cheers’ sort of attitude — a place where everyone knows your name. Over all the scene was underground, yet thriving. There were a handful of gay clubs, cafes, coffee shops, and even saunas available. It was quite incredible that in ten short years from the fall of the Soviet Union that such progress was made. Yet that progress still seemed quite limited considering that 10 to 11 million people lived in Moscow and its environs.

Despite the progress, there were many things that immediately caught my attention:
1) Many of the people who frequented the club were closeted in their day-to-day lives. Most of the drag queens at the club brought their own apparel with them and changed in the bathrooms when they got there.

2) Many of the gay clubs had at one time been raided by the police and/or shut down for violations of various city ordinances.

3) Most clubs and saunas have tyomni komnati, or dark rooms, which are basically the same back rooms that helped spread HIV in metropolitan areas in the United States twenty years ago.

4) There is a lack of regard for condom use by many young people in the gay community. They often trust one another’s word, and because of that, there is a rampant increase in STDs and HIV infections in the gay community in Russia. Because the epidemic is still in its relative infancy, many of the long-term effects have yet to be realized.

I saw many of the same things in St. Petersburg. In fact, in some St. Petersburg gay clubs, I actually ran into some of the people that I had met in the clubs in Moscow. Although St. Petersburg is more of an artistic and intellectual capital, the scene there is much smaller in comparison to Moscow. For many things in Russia, Moscow is the revered center of the universe, and everything revolves around it, and that includes the gay community. Anything from fashion trends to gay web sites comes out of Moscow and radiate from there to St. Petersburg and to the rest of the former Soviet Union.

I was relatively closeted at my work site, although I was out to my Russian counterpart and to a few select students. I found this extremely helpful in the beginning since I was the only volunteer at my site, and there was really no one with whom I could talk about gay issues. Despite my proximity to St. Petersburg, the mentality of the average Russian in my community was closed. There was one particular incident in the spring semester that shocked my perceptions of my surroundings.

Read Article

October 2009 – ohchr.org

20b
Violations of the Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender Persons in Russia

A Shadow Report

Acknowledgements
This shadow report on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights in Russia was coordinated by Global Rights, ILGA-Europe and the International Human Rights Clinic at the Harvard Law School. In preparing this report, contributions were provided by: Global Rights, ILGA-Europe, Russian LGBT Network, FtM Phoenix Group and Russian Transgender Fund

Executive Summary
Article 19 of the Russian Constitution states that all people are equal before the law and are subject to equal protection under the law.1 It denounces discrimination based on “sex, race, nationality, language, origin, property or employment status, residence, attitude to religion, convictions, membership of public associations or any other circumstance.”2 Though this nondiscrimination clause includes denouncing discrimination based on sex, it does not prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. Therefore, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (“LGBT”) individuals in Russia experiencing violations of their human rights due to their sexual orientation or gender identity do not find protection from authorities and are denied access to the Russian courts.

There are pervasive examples of the Russian culture of discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. The government run HIV/AIDS programs largely ignore the LGBT community. Russian faith and public officials regularly engage in intolerant language and the Russian media publishes hate speech, disseminates misleading information, and incites discrimination against the LGBT community. Individuals face regular discrimination in the work place and in education based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. Russian teachers are unequipped and uneducated in how to teach transgendered students. There are reports that LGBT individuals in Russia are victims of extrajudicial killings due to their sexual orientation. The police harassed and humiliated gay and lesbian individuals at the 2006 and 2007 Moscow Pride events by failing to protect them and possibly even colluding with the attackers. Russian state officials have continuously and systematically blocked every attempt by LGBT human rights defenders to exercise their right to freedom of assembly. Additionally, there have been multiple LGBT organizations that were refused official registration without a seemingly valid explanation. The lack of protection from authorities and refusal of the law-enforcement system to hear violations of rights based on sexual orientation and gender identity has resulted in many LGBT individuals choosing not to report serious violations. The purpose of this report is to provide an evaluation of Russia’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”) and to assist in the advocacy of greater protection and promotion of LGBT persons by shedding light on violations of the ICCPR.

REad Report HERE

October 6, 2009 – PinkNews

21
Russian court denies lesbians the right to marry

by Jessica Geen
A Russian lesbian couple have been barred from marrying by a court. The Tverskoi District Court ruled that Irina Fedotova-Fet and Irina Shipitko cannot marry as Russia law states marriage is between a man and a woman. The district court was upholding an earlier ruling by the city’s civil registry. The couple had tried to marry in May but had been turned away.

Fedotova-Fet and Shipitko are planning to marry in Canada on October 23rd. They believe they can force Russian authorities to recognise the marriage as a loophole in Russian law does not mention the gender of those who have a ceremony abroad. The couple expected the latest bid to be turned down but are trying to raise awareness and publicity around the issue. Their spokesman Nikolai Alexeyev said they would fight the ruling.

Although homosexuality has been legal in the country since 1993, gay marriage is not permitted and attempts to hold Pride marches in the capital Moscow have seen activists beaten and abused.

October 11, 2009 – Gay Russia

22
Moscow Gays Launched International Campaign Against Closing of Oldest Moscow Gay Dance Club
In Moscow, Music Stars mobilized for a press conference on Tuesday – More than a thousand gays and lesbians signed a petition

Moscow gay community is mobilized to prevent the closing of its oldest and most popular gay club since 1993.A petition signed by 1,084 gays and lesbians was sent last Friday to the Russian President, the Moscow Mayor and the Human Rights Ombudsman.Several Russian music stars said they will take part to a press conference on Tuesday in Moscow to attract attention of the public and ask the government to end pressure on the LGBT community and let the club operating.

In Strasbourg, the petition was also handed at the Council of Europe to the General Secretary, the Committee of Ministers and the Human Rights Commissioner. And it has already been announced that next week, the question will be put forward during the UN Human Rights Committee review of Russia’s compliance of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in Geneva.

As the story developed through summer, it turned to be that the campaign on morality initiated by Oleg Mitvol, the Prefect of the Northern District of Moscow, was an attempt to discredit one of its competitors in today’s local election. The Russian Society of Blind People, owner of the hall leased by the Club was threatened by the Prefect that its subsidies would be stopped if its contract with the club was not terminated immediately.

As a result, the Club Chance was informed that it had until November 15 to cease all activities. One of the head of this NGO, Mr Smolin, happens to be a direct competitor of Mr Mitvol in today’s election. “The Mayor of Moscow on several occasions said that the only limitation he put on gays is on public action”.

“The closing of the oldest gay dance club in Moscow shows today that gays and lesbians in Russia can be restricted to march in the streets but also to dance in private clubs if that can serve the political interests of someone” said Nikolai Alekseev, one of the coordinator of the campaign and Head of the Human Rights Project GayRussia.Ru. The pressure on Russia suddenly increased last week as the European Court of Human Rights gave Russia until January 20 to justify the ban of 163 LGBT public events since 2006.

October 13, 2009 – PinkNews

23
Hillary Clinton to honour ‘gay’ poet Walt Whitman in Moscow

by Jessica Geen
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton will inaugurate a monument to gay poet Walt Whitman in Moscow tomorrow. According to GayRussia.ru, she will be joined by Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who has banned gay Pride marches and called homosexuality "satanic". Whitman, who was born in Lancashire and died in 1892, is often labelled as gay or bisexual by biographers, although it is not clear if he ever had a relationship with a man. However, he is often linked with gay culture.

The monument is to be unveiled in the gardens of the Moscow State University, where around 30 activists, including Peter Tatchell, were arrested by police in May for attempting to stage a gay Pride march. Clinton, who is on a short European tour, has made a name for herself as a gay rights advocate in recent months, but it is unclear whether she will express these sentiments tomorrow. Nikolai Alekseev, the chief organiser of Moscow Pride, commented: "Hillary Clinton will have a good chance to publicly express her position on gay rights to one of the top homophobic politicians in Europe.

“I think that no one would understand her silence on the breach of fundamental rights of LGBT people in Russia, the day she inaugurates the monument to a gay poet together with the homophobic mayor of Moscow."

Russian gay rights activists are currently fighting to save Moscow’s oldest gay club, Club Chance. The club leases a hall owned by the Russian Society of Blind People. The society was told to sever its links to Club Chance during a campaign on public morality led by Oleg Mitvol, the prefect of the northern district of Moscow. Club Chance is due to close on November 15th.

October 26, 2009 – PinkNews

24
Russian lesbians tie the knot in Toronto

by Jessica Geen
A lesbian couple from Russia have married in Toronto, Canada, where gay marriage is legal. Irina Fedotova-Fet and Irina Shipitko were married by Harvey Brownstone, a well-known openly gay judge, and will return to Russia this week to try to force authorities to recognise their union. Gay marriage is currently illegal in Russia. They attempted to marry in the country in May but were turned away from their local registry office.

On October 6th, the Tverskoi District Court ruled that they could not marry as Russian law states marriage is between a man and a woman. They now hope to exploit a loophole in Russian law which does not specify the gender of those married abroad. Russian gay rights campaigner Nikolai Alekseev, who is their lawyer, told GayRussia.ru: "We are delighted with the warm welcome in this wonderful country and in this stunning city of Toronto. Even though it is not my marriage, this is a day I will hardly forget. We are grateful to the Canadian LGBT organisation EGALE for helping us in organising the wedding of our Irinas in Toronto".

He added: "Many in Russia, including in the LGBT community, think that same sex marriage is impossible but the fight for marriage equality in Russia today is an investment in a democratic and free future of the country. We know that we will get it one day and this is the reason why we have to start now".

"I salute the courage of Irina and Irina who are showing today that there are no barriers to love. They give a great message of hope." Speaking at a press conference before their ceremony, the couple said: "This is only the beginning of a long journey of recognition of family rights for same-sex couples in Russia. "We get a lot of mails and messages of congratulations from gays and lesbians in Russia who also want to have their union recognised but most of them are not able to fight for their rights. We are confident that our struggle will soon benefit them".

They are expected to return to Russia this week and have said they are willing to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights.

October 31, 2009 – The Associated Press

25
UN panel: killing of Russian journalists alarming

by Eliane Engeler (AP)
Geneva — Russia fails to protect journalists, activists, prison inmates and others at odds with authorities from a wide range of abuses, including torture and murder, the U.N. Human Rights Committee said Friday. The findings came in a report by an 18-member panel of independent experts who urged the Kremlin to implement a number of legal reforms. They include narrowing the broad definitions of terrorism and extremism under Russian law, decriminalizing defamation cases against journalists and granting appeal rights to people forced into psychiatric hospitals by the courts.

The report said Russia was responsible for reported attacks on civilians by armed groups in South Ossetia in the aftermath of the August 2008 war with Georgia, and called for Moscow to investigate those abuses. It also said that journalists were subject to politically motivated trials and convictions, discouraging critical media reporting, and urged the government to take action against what the panel called an increasing number of hate crimes and racially motivated attacks.

The harshest criticism, perhaps, was reserved for the Russian justice system in Chechnya and other parts of the North Caucasus region. The panel cited reports of torture, forced disappearance, arbitrary arrest and extrajudicial killing in those regions committed by the military and security services, saying the perpetrators "appear to enjoy widespread impunity" from punishment for their actions.

The Human Rights Committee gave Moscow one year to report back on how it was investigating abuses in the North Caucasus and South Ossetia, and protecting journalists and activists throughout Russia. The panel has no enforcement power, but it issues regular reports to draw public attention to human rights violations around the world.

While the report did not cite specific cases or statistics, it alluded to the killings of a number of journalists and human rights activists in Russia that remain unresolved, including the 2006 shooting of Anna Politkovskaya. The internationally known journalist was a harsh critic of the Kremlin and exposed widespread human-rights abuses and corruption in Chechnya. Prosecutors have said little about who might have ordered Politkovskaya’s contract-style slaying on Oct. 7, 2006. The suspected gunman is believed to be hiding abroad.

Two Western journalist groups on Thursday sent a letter to President Dmitry Medvedev demanding that those responsible for the death of Nataliya Estemirova, a Chechen human rights activist, be brought to justice. Estemirova, who wrote occasionally for Politkovskaya’s newspaper Novaya Gazeta, was kidnapped in front of her apartment building by four men in broad daylight in July. Her body was later found riddled with bullets in a field. There have been no arrests in the case.

"Through her professional work, Estemirova had accumulated a damning body of evidence linking human rights crimes to Chechen authorities, particularly the militia of local President Ramzan Kadyrov," said the joint statement by the Committee to Protect Journalists and the PEN American Center. The statement said Estemirova was the 18th journalist murdered in Russia "in direct retaliation for her work" since 2000, and that in each case those who ordered the killings have escaped conviction.

The committee said it was concerned at "the alarming incidence of threats, violent assaults and murders of journalists and human rights defenders in the state party, which has created a climate of fear and a chilling effect on the media." The slayings of Estemirova, rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and others in just the past year have not stopped human rights activists from working in Russia or the Caucasus. But the killings have made many of those working to halt alleged abuses by the authorities — including kidnappings, torture and extrajudicial killings — extremely cautious, with some avoiding media exposure.

The expert panel said it also was concerned about violence against lesbian, gay and bisexual persons, including reports of police harassment. It said it received reports of people being assaulted or even killed because they were gay or lesbian. The panel said it was concerned at the "systematic discrimination against individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation" in Russia.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in the 1990s, but many Russians are vehemently opposed to expansion of gay rights or gay-rights demonstrations. Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov is an outspoken foe of gay rights and always has blocked attempts to hold gay pride marches in the capital, calling one a satanic gathering. The U.N. panel — which this week assessed the compliance of Russia and four other countries with the U.N.’s 1966 international treaty on civil and political rights — receives its information from various U.N. agencies, non-governmental organizations and cases at the European Court of Human Rights.

December 02, 2009 – Xtra.ca

27
The new Russian queer activism – Ice thawing on gay issues as activists work to increase visibility, connection

by Ruby Pratka (Ottawa)
It may be the Day of Silence, but the two hundred or so people in Valery Sozaev’s office are anything but. There is a buzz of nervous excitement. We’re about to march down Nevsky Prospect, St Petersburg’s main street, with tape over our mouths, handing out flyers calling for an end to homophobia.

“It’s important to show people that activism exists,” says Irina, a marcher who didn’t give her last name. “But it’s a risk in Russia. I think people are very nervous.” As it turns out, they have reason to be. Our rally permit has been denied, allegedly due to construction in our path.

“Cunning, very cunning,” mutters Anton Smolev, a social studies teacher. “I’m not only here for queer people,” he says. “I’m here 50-50 for the rights of queer people and the rights of all simple people.”

“This is our first generation of kids with rights,” says Smolev, “and I’m trying to teach them how to use them.” Our conversation is cut short when Sozaev, chair of St Petersburg’s largest gay and trans organization, Vyhod (“Exit”), calls for order. Reading from the federal criminal code, he warns us not to make the demonstration look like a rally, because unauthorized rallies are punishable by heavy fines and even prison terms.

“Write that down,” says Smolev. “Our Russian laws.” “If we break laws, the militia have the right to use force,” says Sozaev. “But we’re not planning to break any laws. There’s no law against walking down Nevsky on a nice sunny day with tape over our mouths.”

Sozaev warns us not to walk alone. “It’s easier for other people to pick you off that way, not only the militia but other unpleasant groups.” Two women pick up rainbow flags, but are told to leave them in the office. “That’s already a rally,” says Sozaev. “We can’t have that.” Our not-rally is pleasantly uneventful. Every militiaman we pass is talking to someone else. Reactions to our flyers vary — there are snorts of derision and quite a few bewildered looks, but one group of passersby shouts, “Good for you!”

Vyhod has come a long way in a year.

“At our first Day of Silence last year, we had 25 people,” says Sozaev. “But we had big press. After that people got together.” Through the summer and fall, the volunteer-run organization held seminars and film screenings. “We went to Euro-Pride in Stockholm. In October,we had a big Coming Out Day seminar, about what coming out is and what people’s parental and work reactions could be.”

Sozaev knows firsthand what that’s like. He’s a teacher.

“My colleagues and I have a good relationship,” he says. “I did have a few parents complain to the headmaster, who asked for my resignation. I will resign, not because of him but because I have a lot of work here.”

Vyhod provides psychological support to members of the gay community, supports satellite organizations in other cities, and monitors reports of discrimination which, although forbidden by law, is a persistent problem.

“We have no legal defence like your Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” he says. “Discrimination is forbidden in the constitution against racial, national and social groups, but not everyone considers [gay and trans people] a social group.”

Read Entire Article HERE

December 8, 2009 – PinkNews

28
Russian human rights commissioner says Moscow Pride should be held in Germany

by Jessica Geen
The Commissioner for Human Rights in Moscow, Alexander Muzykantsk, has suggested that Russian gays and lesbians should hold gay Pride marches in Germany, instead of their own country. In an interview with Novye Izvestia, he said: “I’m not ready to support the parade of sexual minorities in Moscow." But instead, he suggested, they could hold them in Berlin, Germany’s capital with the help of the city’s mayor.

He said: “In recent years, Berlin became de facto the world capital of sexual minorities. Because there are friendly relations between the mayors of Moscow and Berlin, why not [sign] an agreement in which the representatives of sexual minorities in Moscow will hold their parade in Berlin with the support of the city?”

Gay Pride marches have had a troubled history in Russia, and especially in the capital of Moscow. Although other cities in the country are seen as more tolerant, attempts to hold gay events in the city have generally ended in violence. In 2007, marchers such as gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell were beaten by neo-Nazis and there were claims of police brutality at a brief march this year.

Responding to Muzykantsk’s comments, Russian gay rights campaigner Nikolai Alekseev told GayRussia.ru: "What the ombudsman suggests remind me when in 1920 the Soviet deported the most prominent Russian philosophers and historians in what was called the ‘philosophical boat’, just because they did not fit into the ideological standards of the Soviet ideology.

“Now, they want lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to realise their constitutional rights to freedom of assembly outside Russia, in Berlin.” But he added he was not surprised at Muzykantsk’s suggestion and said that ombudsmen risked the sack for speaking out on sensitive issues.

December 23, 2009 – PinkNews

29
Head of Russian Orthodox Church condemns discrimination against gays

by Jessica Geen
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has said that although homosexuality is still a sin, gay people must not be discriminated against. Kirill met with Thorbjorn Jagland, the secretary general of the Council of Europe, a pan-European human rights body. According to Russian news agency RIA Novosti, he told Jagland: "We respect the person’s free choice, including in sex relations."

Although he reiterated that the majority of religions saw homosexuality as a sin and gay marriage could not be allowed, he added: "Those who commit a sin must not be punished… And we have repeatedly spoken out against discriminating people for their nontraditional sexual orientation." In January 2008, Kirill, who was then head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations, said that not viewing homosexuality as a sin would lead to a variety of other sexual perversions.

"Morality is either absolute or it does not exist. If you excuse homosexuality, why not excuse paedophilia?" he said in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegal. When the interviewer pointed out that there was a "great difference" between homosexuality and paedophilia, as the latter violated the "personal freedom" of children, Kirill said that people in the future would say that "12-year-old girls were considered children before, but now they develop much faster.

"Twenty years ago nobody could imagine that Germany would legalise homosexual marriages," he continued. "However, they get used to it by now. It is a matter of principle. There is one moral nature. The task of the Church is to say that sin is sin. Otherwise, the Church is not needed."

In March 2007, Kirill objected to Moscow hosting a gay pride parade. "It is directed against the majority of Russian society. We believe that the law should not interfere in citizens’ private lives. You can sin if you want to, but you will answer to God. However, if you are trying to propagate your sin by seducing and degrading people, society must oppose it."

In a statement issued in August 2000, he explained that globalisation would inevitably lead to the kingdom of the anti-Christ and that it was the Russian Orthodox Church’s role to defend Russian nationality and religious identity.

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