Homosexuality was decriminalized by the Russian Parliament during 1993. It may no longer be illegal to be gay but opposition remains strong and sometimes violent. Gay activists have attempted to organize gay parades in Moscow for years now with all of them resulting in failures.
[Photo Source: en.rian.ru]
In the photo above, British musician Richard Fairbrass of Right Said Fred, was beaten by ultra-nationalist who oppose gays. The photo is from a set taken at the aborted 2007 gay parade in Moscow.
Moscow mayor, Yury Luzhkov, has repeatedly prevented organizers from any public events or actions in the capital. The mayor has denounced these events as “the work of Satan” and “weapons of mass destruction” against Russia by the West.
For the third consecutive year, gay pride organizers were denied the scheduled parade for May 1st and 2nd of this year. As a result gay activists pledged to march on Moscow’s capital streets 5 times a day during the month of May.
Nikolai Alekseyev, a gay pride organizer in Moscow, stated they want to show the European justice that homosexuals are not allowed to freely express their opinions in Moscow. He added that court proceedings would continue against Moscow authorities for banning the parades in 2007 and 2008.
Alekseyev said, “five notifications, which we are submitting to the government of Moscow for each day in May, touch upon the marches on different streets in the city center.” Of course the marches never manifested as they were rejected by the Moscow government.
Meanwhile in the USA, gay human rights activists expressed their support for Russian gays. In San Francisco, activists conversed with the Russian consulate on May 16th. This was of IDAHO events planned around the world. The objective of the San Francisco event was to press the Russian government to grant parade permits to its gay citizens.
[Photo Source: Gay Republic]
George Duvoisin, a gay youth advocate, asked the official they spoke to stand with the group for a photo and he agreed. He also accepted recent news stories and engaged in pleasant conversation with the activists. The official identified himself as Sergei, which is likely Sergei Vakulenko, Russian Consulate in San Francisco.
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I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog.
Tim Ramsey
how can they reverse laws against homosexuality in 1993 and 15 years later still not let gays express their own solidarity? stupid. just stupid.
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Ok. Let’s use their logic! RUSSIANS are weapons of mass
Destruction! Polluting the world with more stupidity!