Gay Pride in Moscow: Report from a Chicago Activist
MOSCOW, May 14, 2009 (Gay Liberation Network) – 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 ‘braveheart’ 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 in to 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 homosexuality20and 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 roubles (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.
Then, Sergey Yenin, 19, explained how he became involved in gay rights organizing in Belorussia :
“I felt myself to be gay from my early childhood, he explained.
“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 Sergey 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 thre ats [of violence]. There were such political parties as Right Alliance, and they threaten us all of the time. This year we didn’t20raise 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 Sergey 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 May 12 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.
“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.”
SEE ALSO
Tatchell To Attend Moscow Gay Pride. Despite threats to bash and arrest the marchers, British gay human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell will attend 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. (UK Gay News, May 11, 2009)
Gay Marriage Campaign Starts in Russia. Two women will apply for a marriage license in Moscow on May 12, it emerged this afternoon. The announcement was made today during a press conference for Slavic Pride which is planned for later this month in Moscow. (UK Gay News, May 5, 2009)
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/gay-pride-in-…
Vancouver council to help gay club find new home
After rejecting one proposal, the City of Vancouver says it will do its best to help the owners of a popular gay night club find a suitable new location, a city councillor says.
City council voted down a plan for the Odyssey night club to move to the 900 block of Denman Street from Howe Street .
The owners of the Odyssey need to find a new home because the lease at their current location is ending this month.
But Vancouver police and many residents, who say they’re worried about noise and disturbances from the club, opposed the bid to move to Denman Street.
See Vancouver council to help gay club find new home
CBC.ca
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/04/vancouver-cou…
Vancouver council to help gay club find new home
After rejecting one proposal, the City of Vancouver says it will do its best to help the owners of a popular gay night club find a suitable new location, a city councillor says.
City council voted down a plan for the Odyssey night club to move to the 900 block of Denman Street from Howe Street .
The owners of the Odyssey need to find a new home because the lease at their current location is ending this month.
But Vancouver police and many residents, who say they’re worried about noise and disturbances from the club, opposed the bid to move to Denman Street.
See Vancouver council to help gay club find new home
CBC.ca
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/04/vancouver-cou…
Judge: Gay student club can’t be banned
(Jacksonville, Florida) A federal judge has ruled that a student club that promotes tolerance for gays at a north Florida high school must be allowed to meet.
U.S. District Judge Henry Adams issued the decision Wednesday in a case involving two students from Yullee High School near Jacksonville.
Adams ordered a local …
Tags: District Judge, Federal Judge, Florida High School, Gay Club, Gay Student, Gays, Henry Adams, Jacksonville Florida, North Florida, Student Club, Tolerance2 Fla. students challenge school ruling on gay club
(Jacksonville, Florida) An attorney for two gay students at a north Florida high school told a federal judge Thursday they should be allowed to form a campus club promoting tolerance toward gays, despite a school prohibition.
But a lawyer for the Nassau County School Board said the group’s name, Gay-Straight Alliance, …
Tags: Challenge School, Club Jacksonville, County School Board, Federal Judge, Florida High School, Florida School, Gay Club, Gay Florida, Gay Straight Alliance, Gay Students, Gays, Jacksonville Florida, Lawyer, Nassau County School Board, North Florida, Prohibition, Tolerance2 Fla. students challenge school’s gay club ruling
An attorney for two gay students at a north Florida high school told a federal judge they should be allowed to have a Gay-Straight Alliance on campus, while a lawyer for the Nassau County School Board says the group’s name is against school policy.
Yulee High School students Hannah Page and Jacob Brock, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, are challenging a decision by the school board which prevents them from having the club which promotes anti-bullying and tolerance toward gays.
School board attorney Frank Sheppard says if the group will change its name, it could meet on campus.
See 2 Fla. students challenge school’s gay club ruling MiamiHerald.com
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/03/2-fla-student…
Boy George sent to prison in gay hustler case
(London) Singer Boy George has been sentenced to 15 months behind bars for false imprisonment involving a gay escort.
The openly gay former Culture Club singer was sentenced under his real name, George O’Dowd.
His attorney, Adrian Waterman, had argued for a suspended sentence. Waterman said that O’Dowd, 47, and 29-year-old Audun …
Tags: 15 Months, Boy Gay, Boy George, Culture Club, Escort Club, Escort Gay, False Imprisonment, Gay Boy, Gay Club, Gay Culture, Gay Escort, Gay London, Hustler, WatermanSC principal ‘rethinks’ resignation over gay club
COLUMBIA, S.C. — School officials say the South Carolina high school principal who said he would resign because of a gay club at the school has changed his mind.
Irmo High School principal Eddie Walker had said he would retire in May because his values conflicted with a proposed Gay-Straight Alliance.
Lexington-Richland District 5 spokesman Buddy Price told The State newspaper Thursday that interim superintendent Herbert Berg got a letter from Walker that said he wanted to stay. Price says Walker’s contract will be up for renewal in the spring.
See WCBD
SC principal rethinks resignation over gay club
Myrtle Beach Sun News, SC
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2008/12/sc-principal-…
