Moscow bans gay pride for century ahead

Published time: June 07, 2012 10:26
Edited time: June 07, 2012 22:57
A gay rights activist takes part in a gay pride parade near the headquarters of Moscow city Duma in central Moscow May 27, 2012. (Reuters/Maxim Shemetov)

Moscow city court has upheld a decision to turn down the LGBT activists’ request for permission to hold gay pride parades for the next 100 years.

Earlier, Tverskoy district court ruled lawful the decision of the Moscow municipal government to ban public events that can be qualified as gay parades from March 2012 till May 2112.

Nikolay Alekseyev, one of the leaders of the Russian LGBT community and organizer of gay pride events, told reporters that he intended to appeal the decision in the Moscow City Court Presidium, and that if the highest Russian instance also rules against him, to address the European Court of Human Rights.

Alekseyev explained to the reporters that in 2011, the activists found a loophole in Russian legislation and submitted requests for 102 gay pride parades to the Moscow Mayor’s office. According to the activist, all they got in return was a letter with a quote from regulations, although the law obliges the city authorities to either allow or ban the planned event within 15 days.

At the same time, Alekseyev admitted that he and his comrades never hoped to actually receive a license for the parade but simply needed a formal excuse to turn to the European Human Rights Court.

“They refuse our requests every time, but in Strasbourg they recognize these rulings as unlawful. But time does not stand still, we ask for a new event and again they refuse us,” the activist noted.

On one occasion, though, Muscovite gay rights activists found a way to the streets – after they quibbled the authorities to get access. About 70 people marched on one of Moscow’s quays under rainbow banners in early June and managed to hold a two-hour rally calling for freedom of assembly and organization for sexual minorities.

The rally was not officially announced as a gay pride event, as the organizers initially applied for a permit to hold “a rally against all types of discrimination.”

This year the Russian government started an active campaign against so-called gay propaganda – a special law was approved and signed into force in St. Petersburg, prompting a group of parliamentarians to suggest approving a similar law on a nationwide scale. Two people have already been brought to justice in St. Petersburg for displaying a poster reading “Being gay is normal” in the street near a kindergarten.

The bill has been widely criticized by Russia's LGBT and human rights activists as well as international human rights groups. Protest rallies by Russian consulates took place in many countries throughout the world.

After the first reading of the legislation Amnesty International urged St. Petersburg’s lawmakers to stop the adoption of the “inhumane” bill. The US State Department has also criticized the document.

Many legal experts have declared that the legislation is so vague that it is impossible to distinguish where one’s private life ends and propaganda begins, so anyone can be brought to trial for breaking the law.

American show business legend Madonna revealed herself as an outspoken critic of the controversial bill. On her Facebook page the singer announced that during her concert scheduled for this summer in St. Petersburg she will “speak up for the gay community, to support the gay community and to give strength and inspiration to anyone who is or feels oppressed.”

Comments (82)

Cyrus (unregistered) 30.06.2012 10:24

The Law should be made but Russia must meet in middle. The video was Blashemy because they song video was made by Lesbians that were actors and not Lesbian. and that should not be allowed as if there was a video with someone trying to be a religion and they are not that, its ok, but to put on video. the Law should say if there is a video it should not be actors but the truth... if the video was made with 2 real Lesbians , then it would not be a problem cause it was true, but there was actors

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bayhuntr 13.06.2012 05:53

one or the other (unregistered) #19 Do you think incest should be legal?  *No, it causes genetic issues in later generations.

18 year old and a 15 year old? *Depends on  the culture. I personally think children should be allowed to be children until they are 18.

12 year old and a 30 year old?  *No. 12 is not mature enough to make decisions.

man and a monkey?  *No.  Monkeys can't give consent. This would be animal abuse. Evangelicals have problems understanding this for some reason??

2 men and a 1 women?  Free to do what they want.

3 men able to get married?  No, only two, just like everyone else.

your justification for your interpretation?  *Allowing two committed people to marry delivers equality and is good for a stable families, extended families and society. *Polygam y has been proven to be bad for societies, old wealthier men pushing young men out of the community to get rid of competition. Women tend to become property and young girls abused.  This has been observed in Mormon communities.
is there anything that you would be opposed to even if the parties involved consented? *Probably, but specifics are needed.  Usually based on if it puts a cost on society. 

Surely by your understanding you cannot oppose any of these as that would be a result of your indoctrination, forcing your views on consenting adults? 

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bayhuntr 13.06.2012 05:51

* This is an opinion phrased as a question. You assume my answers before I answered them; very disingenuous.

people were getting married and having children at 10.  *It wasn't that long ago that our life span was around 30, what is your point?

do n't use the word absurd for the examples. * I have answered your questions even though they are common evangelical misconceptions and you will probably ignore their conclusions.

 its nothing to do with religion, tho
everybody believes in something, an athiesm is a belief, since they have not died yet they are talking about something they cannot know as a fact. so it is a belief.  *This is a evangelical misconc eption. Atheist don't claim to know, they claim there is or isn't evidence to support something.  No one can know there isn't a god, it's untestable, therefore unknowable. But then the same thing goes for leprechauns.

Just because you can't prove something, doesn't automatically mean you've disproved it.  *You are correct, what is your point?  If we used that philosophy without using evidence to filter nonsense, the things that you couldn't prove is only limited by imagination.  I have a box the dimensions are unknown, prove to me what's not in it.   *Your entire argument is religious, this type of argument is transparent.  If you admit it's religious, you lose the argument.  If you lose the argument, it causes contradiction in your superstitious beliefs. Your beliefs can't be wrong, remember? "see step one"

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