Moscow Police Smother Rally for Gay Rights as It Begins
MOSCOW — Police officers in Moscow quickly suppressed a gay rights demonstration on Saturday, detaining dozens of protesters who hoped to showcase discrimination in Russia ahead of the Eurovision song contest final on Saturday evening.
The approximately 40 people rounded up face misdemeanor charges for trying to hold what a police spokesman, Anatoly Lastovetsky, called “unsanctioned” demonstrations.
Such demonstrations have become an annual headache for the Moscow authorities, who refuse to grant permission to organizers to hold the events despite constitutional guarantees protecting freedom of assembly. At previous gay rights events, police officers have often stood by as neo-fascists and radical Orthodox Christian groups attacked protesters.
While there were no reports of violence on Saturday, the crackdown on this year’s protest could prove an embarrassment as thousands of European visitors enter the city for the Eurovision final, a huge pop music spectacle that Moscow is hosting for the first time after Dima Bilan, a Russian pop star, won last year’s contest in Serbia. See Moscow Police Smother Rally for Gay Rights as It Begins New York Times
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Gay protest broken up in Moscow
Police in Russia have broken up a protest by gay rights activists in Moscow, staged to coincide with the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Some 30 campaigners had gathered near a university in defiance of a ban on their march and many were dragged away by police when they shouted slogans.
British gay rights activist, Peter Tatchell, was among those detained.
A counter-demonstration by nationalist and religious groups was allowed to go ahead elsewhere in the Russian capital.
Equal rights
The gay rights group had been waving flags and chanting slogans demanding equal rights and condemning the treatment of gays and lesbians in Russia.
At least 20 were arrested as police moved in to disperse the protest.
As he was being taken away by police, Mr Tatchell shouted: “This shows the Russian people are not free.”
Speaking from a police station, he later told the BBC: “The way the police violently broke up our peaceful protest is an indication of a drift toward authoritarianism that is affecting all Russians.”
‘Satanic’
The organiser of the gathering and leading campaigner, Nikolai Alexeyev, was also detained at the event, which took place in the south-west of the city.
See Gay protest broken up in Moscow
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Graphic Gay Film, Made in Secret, Makes it to Cannes from China
The 62nd edition of the international film festival at Cannes (the “Festival de Cannes”) includes a new look at American culture from Ang Lee of “Brokeback Mountain” fame, as well as a secretly-filmed movie about gays in China.A May 15 article at Adelaide Now quoted the director of “Spring Fever,” Lou Ye, as saying, “I hope to be the last Chinese director ever to be banned.”The article said that the full-length film contains several graphic scenes depicting sex between men. The movie had to be made in secret not only because of the subject matter, but also because Ye has been banned from making films for a five-year span, following his last movie, “Summer Palace,” which is set in 1989 and concerns the Tiananmen Square demonstrations.”We were psychologically prepared to be stopped during the filming,” said Ye, “but that never happened, and today here we are with the film and the cast, which after all is a good thing.” See Graphic Gay Film, Made in Secret, Makes it to Cannes from China
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Russia warns of clampdown on Eurovision gay protest
Russia on Friday warned it would clamp down on an unsanctioned gay rights parade in Moscow that coincides with the Eurovision Song Contest final, but organisers vowed to press on with the demonstration.
Russia is proudly trumpeting the annual pop extravaganza in Moscow on Saturday as the latest example of its ability to hold large-scale international events.
But away from the lights and laser beams at the mammoth 80,000-capacity Olympiysky Arena, police, homosexual activists and extreme-right wingers risk clashing at the “Slavic Gay Pride” parade in central Moscow. See Russia warns of clampdown on Eurovision gay protest
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Violence feared over Moscow gay march
Gay rights activists have warned there could be violence on the streets of the Russian capital Moscow on Saturday as the city stages the Eurovision Song Contest final.
Irina Shipitko (l) and Irina Fedotova’s marriage attempt was rejected
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The competition traditionally has a large gay following and Russian activists are trying to hold the country’s first ever gay pride march while thousands of Eurovision fans are in Moscow.
But the city council has refused to give official permission for the march, while allowing hardcore nationalists and religious groups to stage a counter-demonstration on the same day.
Gay activists have come under attack from such groups in the past.
“We will still go ahead”, says Nikolai Alekseev, leader of Russia’s gay rights movement.
“There will be outrage around the world… if on the 16 May people are being arrested and beaten on the streets of Moscow hours before the Eurovision Song Contest final.
“It will be a disgrace for Russia.”
See Violence feared over Moscow gay march BBC News
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In Moscow, an Attempt to Wed Pushes Gay Rights
MOSCOW — They knew they had no chance. But there they were anyway at a marriage registration office in Moscow on Tuesday. Two young women, wearing tuxedos and clutching bouquets, trying to become the first same-sex couple in Russia to legally wed.
“We have love, we have happiness, we want to be together for our whole lives and we want to do this here in Russia,” said Irina Fedotova, who hoped to marry her longtime partner, Irina Shipitko.
In a country where the push for gay rights has materialized only recently — and in fits and starts often met with violence and arrests — their attempt to marry was a bold, if muted, political statement as much as it was an expression of love.
The unsurprising response from the official at the registration office was dry and unequivocal. “According to article 12 of the family codex, for a marriage to be sanctioned it is necessary to have the mutual and voluntary agreement of a man and a woman.”
Both women said they had expected their marriage application to be rejected and said they would appeal the decision.
Their attempt to marry was meant in part to draw attention to gay rights in Russia as thousands of Europeans flood Moscow for the Eurovision song contest.
Gay rights groups plan a demonstration in Moscow Saturday, the day of the Eurovision final. See In Moscow, an Attempt to Wed Pushes Gay Rights New York Times * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Moscow warned to allow gay rights protest – or face Eurovision boycott
But only a few days before this weekend’s grand finale, things have turned ugly, with official homophobia and a boycott threat casting a shadow over the entire event.
lready, one Eurovision contestant has said he will walk out of the competition if violence flares at the proposed demonstration.
“If we get to the final and the demonstration is suppressed by force, I will refuse to get on that stage in Moscow,” Gordon, the singer and songwriter from the Dutch group De Toppers, told Dutch television. “If my kind of people are discriminated against in any way, then there is no reason for me to be here; I’ll be on the first plane home.”
Prominent British gay activist Peter Tatchell, who was assaulted and arrested at the demonstration in 2007, has added his weight to the campaign by announcing that he will attend Saturday’s march, despite a ban on him travelling to Russia.
“I am joining the parade to show my support for the courageous Russian gay campaigners,” said Mr Tatchell, who is the human rights spokesperson for the Green Party.
“All year round they risk arrest, imprisonment and queer-bashing attacks. These men and women are absolute heroes. I salute them.” See
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oin the Impact protests ex-gay training
The latest foray by Exodus International, the country’s leading ex-gay ministry, into Boston was a relatively low-key affair, but the grassroots LGBT group Join the Impact Massachusetts and other activists turned out to protest and send a loud message of opposition to their teachings.
Exodus held an April 28 pastor training at Park Street Church to promote the organization’s message that gay and lesbian people can change their orientation and become heterosexual. Join the Impact held a protest across the street near Park Street Station, but following the speaking portion of the demonstration some of the attendees urged the organizers to move the protest closer to the church, within view of the Exodus training attendees. The protestors marched across the street into the Granary Burying Ground, an historic cemetery next to the church that houses the remains of Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere, and the victims of the Boston Massacre, among other important figures in American history, and continued their protest there for about 15 minutes until a police officer asked them to disperse.
Exodus declined a request by Bay Windows for permission to cover the pastor training, saying the event was closed to the press. Exodus has held prior events in Boston, including a daylong conference in 2005 that also sparked a protest by LGBT activists (See “My day with the ex-gays,” Nov. 3, 2005).
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National Equality Rally at Independence Hall March for Equality on Independence Mall Sunday, May 3, 2009
PHILADELPHIA, PA — The National Park Service (NPS) has issued a First Amendment permit for a National Equality Rally at Independence Hall on Sunday afternoon, May 3, 2009 at Independence National Historical Park.
The goals of the National Equality Rally are:
– Passage of trans-inclusive hate crimes legislation and the Employment
Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)
– Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the Defense of Marriage Act
(DOMA)
– Support for GLBT health issues
– Equal benefits for same-sex families
– Same-sex marriage Equality
Regional, state and national organizations, people of color, progressive religious institutions, high school and college GSAs, and straight ally organizations will be represented as Co-Organizers. Over 100 organizations from across the nation will March for Equality on Independence Mall.
Leaders will carry their organization’s name on pole-mounted placards. Activists, participants and straight allies will be offered American and rainbow flags. After completion of the March for Equality, activists, organizations, and allies will fill in Independence Mall for a one-hour high-impact Rally.
Gay Pioneers Frank Kameny and Lilli Vincenz will lead grassroots activists, organizations, and straight allies in the March for Equality on Independence Mall from the National Constitution Center to Independence Hall.
The Rainbow Chorale of Delaware will open the Rally with a choral tribute, and 100 members of the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus, Anna Crusis Women’s Choir and the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia will sing a special rendition of “America the Beautiful” to end the Rally.
The Philadelphia Freedom Band and members of the national Lesbian and Gay Band Association will join the March for Equality on Independence Mall. The Lesbian and Gay Band Association marched in President Obama’s Inaugural Parade. There will be participants from the New York Big Apple Corps, D.C.’s Different Drummers, North Carolina Pride Band, and Flamingo Freedom Band of South Florida, among others, marching past the Liberty Bell Center and the Gay Pioneers Historic Marker to Independence Hall.
Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell are where the Gay Pioneers held the first organized gay and lesbian civil rights demonstrations called “Annual Reminders” each Fourth of July from 1965 to 1969. The Annual Reminders laid the groundwork for the Stonewall Riots in 1969 and the first New York Pride Parade in 1970.
“Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell are where the movement was launched. With a new Congress and a President who describes himself as a ‘fierce advocate’ of our civil rights, it is the right moment for us to join hands at an iconic location to demand Equality,” stated Malcolm Lazin, Executive Director of Equality Forum.
Equality Forum is a national and international GLBT civil rights organization with an educational focus. The National Equality Rally at Independence Hall will be held on the concluding day of Equality Forum 2009 (April 27 to May 3), the largest and premiere annual national and international GLBT civil rights forum.
For more information about the National Equality Rally at Independence Hall, visit www.nationalequalityrally.org. For more information on gay-friendly Philadelphia or to book a hotel stay, visit the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation’s website at www.gophila.com/gay.
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How the Rising Gay Marriage Issue Affects Cal Gov Race
The cultural war over gay marriage has suddenly re-emerged nationally, setting the stage for volatile political developments in California when the Prop. 8 decision comes down between now and June.
Last Friday’s decision by the Iowa Supreme Court that found unconstitutional a state ban on same-sex marriage was followed within days by enactment of a pro-gay marriage law in Vermont and passage of another in the District of Columbia. All this could push the issue directly before Congress, as similar measures move ahead in New York and other states.
The flurry of activity triggered an all-hands-alert among religious foes of gay marriage, led by an outfit called the National Organization for Marriage, which rushed to air in California and other key states a dubious TV spot that uses paid actors to mouth lines of supposedly real people whose purported lives are about to be allegedly disrupted by “The Gathering Storm.” (And for a good spoof of the ad, try this.)
Foes of Prop. 8 meanwhile are sniffing defeat in court and planning mass demonstrations if the California Supremes uphold the initiative ban on gay marriage passed last November. The court has until June 3 to issue its ruling.
All of which complicates the lives of the candidates for governor. After months of mouthing platitudes about the green economy, as all-recession-all-the-time stories blanketed the news cycle, wannabes now face the unpleasant prospect of getting whipsawed between two highly motivated enemy camps: ardent progressive and gay activists demanding civil rights for all versus impassioned conservative evangelicals and other churched groups, fiercely intent on protecting their most sacred values from doom.
Read how the issue affects the governor’s race at www.calbuzz.com
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