Unfinished Lives

Russians Ban Moscow Pride March for 6th Time; Homophobic Violence Threatens LGBT’s

Moscow, Russian Federation – The Russian government, in flagrant disregard of the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights, has officially banned the May 28th Gay Pride March.  Pride organizers have vowed that the scheduled gay pride march will go on, permit or no permit, and call upon the international community to condemn the ban.  Given the past track record of government sponsored oppression of LGBT Russians, and homophobic acts of physical violence allowed (if not actually incited) by national officials and the powerful Russian Orthodox Church, activists are concerned that Moscow Pride 2011 will likely be bloody.  Deputy Mayor of Moscow, Ludmilla Shvetsova, speaking on behalf of Moscow City Hall, listed the “high number” of letters protesting the march, and the “impossibility” of maintaining security for the pride parade as chief reasons for the ban.  In a press release this morning, Gay Russia activist and organizer Nicolai Alekseev said:  “The reasons to ban the Moscow Pride this year are exactly the same reasons used in the past years and for which the European Court of Human Rights judged against Russia for violating the European Convention on Human Rights.  Russia decided to mark the Day Against Homophobia by showing once again its homophobic policy towards LGBT citizens.”  Regardless of the action of the government, Alekseev said: “The ban does not change anything to our intention to hold our rally as planned.  Whatever happens on May 28 will be put on the illegal and irresponsible decision taken today by the Moscow City Hall.”  Since 2006, Gay Russia has organized an annual pride march in the Russian capitol, keeping its whereabouts a closely-guarded secret until the actual start time of the parade to protect marchers from government and church reprisals.  Each time, riot police and soldiers were dispatched by the government to break up the event and arrest participants.  Often, street thugs were permitted to harass and attack marchers and onlookers as law enforcement officers “looked the other way.”  Last year, Alekseev, chief organizer of Moscow Pride, was kidnapped and held incognito for several hours by government agents.  Rapid protests from international LGBT allies to Russian embassies and consulates secured his release relatively unharmed. He and other Gay Russia representatives are sure that had international pressure not been applied quickly and effectively, he most likely would have disappeared.  Three events made Gay Russia’s officials hopeful that this year’s Moscow Pride would be permitted.  First, the notoriously homophobic mayor of Moscow, Yury Luzhkov, was deposed in September 2010 for a “loss of confidence” in his leadership, and jailed in a dispute with the president of the Russian Federation, Dmitri Medvedev.  Second, Alekseev toured the United States during the winter and early spring of 2011, speaking at a wide range of venues in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco to raise awareness of the plight of LGBT people in Russia. Third, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of Gay Russia in April, condemning the ban against Moscow Pride in past years as unlawful.  The ECHR determined that the bans placed Russia in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights in the areas of freedom of assembly and association, and the right to an effective remedy and prohibition of discrimination. This international ruling heartening and emboldening pride organizers to schedule Moscow Pride ’11 in front of the offices of the European Commission in Bolotnaya Square, a venue under the jurisdiction of the City of Moscow. In defiance of international law, city officials have imposed the ban once again.  In response, Alekseev announced on Tuesday that he was applying for a change of location to the Kremlin or an area adjacent to it, a sector of the city outside the authority of City Hall.  “We will apply today to the Russian President Dmitri Medvedev to hold our Gay Pride March next to Kremlin, an area which solely depends upon his jurisdiction,” Alekseev said. International human rights activists from the European Union and the United States are scheduled to be present at this year’s pride march in the Russian capitol.  They and Gay Russia are calling upon persons of conscience to phone, write, and email protesting the ban of Moscow Pride to embassies of the Russian Federation around the world.  In the United States, protests may be lodged with the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C.: phone (202) 338-3263 or (202) 232-5988.

May 17, 2011 Posted by unfinishedlives | Bisexual persons, European Court of Human Rights, gay bashing, gay men, Gay Russia, gender identity/expression, GLBTQ, harassment, Heterosexism and homophobia, Law and Order, Legislation, Lesbian women, LGBTQ, Moscow Pride '11, Protests and Demonstrations, Queer, Russia, Russian Federation, Social Justice Advocacy, transgender persons, transphobia, Washington, D.C. | Bisexual persons, European Court of Human Rights, gay men, Gay Russia, GLBTQ, harassment, Heterosexism and homophobia, Law and Order, Lesbians, LGBT, LGBTQ, Moscow Pride '11, Protests and Demonstrations, Russia, Russian Federation, Social Justice Advocacy, transgender persons, transphobia | 1 Comment