Gays To Sue “Homophobic” Moscow Mayor Luzhkov for Banning Gay Pride
Moscow authorities will never allow a Gay Pride march to take place in Russia’s capital, Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov announced on Friday. He noted, that no formal request to conduct such an event had been received by the City Hall so far, but when a request is duly filed, it will be rejected outright, “to protect the feelings of Muscovites, who would definitely oppose such an event”, in Luzhkov’s words.
“Moscow Mayor has once again revealed his true homophobic self”, — reads GayRussia.Ru website’s comment to the Mayor’s promise.
The statement by Mayor Yuri Luzhkov came as a response to Thursday’s announcement by Russian gay and lesbian activists, that they will apply for a permit to hold pride celebrations in Moscow next May. If it is granted it would be the first pride parade ever held in the Russian capital. Speaking at a news conference, Nikolay Alekseyev, leader of the Gay Russia.Ru project, said the projected date is May 27, 2006 — the anniversary of the abolition of laws against homosexuality in 1993. Soviet laws deemed male homosexuality a criminal offence, punished by several years’ imprisonment.
Both Nikolay Alexeyev, and lesbian activist Evgeniya Debryanskaya, speaking at the same conference, said that in case of refusal to allow the march they will sue the Moscow Mayor in the European court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Russian gays attempted to hold a pride march in Moscow in 2001 in Moscow but officials refused to grant a permit saying it would be contrary to people’s religious feelings, Lenta.Ru news agency reports. In 2005, though, gay pride event organizers scored a number of victories in several former communist satellite states. In Riga, capital of Latvia, the local court lifted a ban over Gay Pride celebrations, imposed by the city council in the beginning of July. In Warsaw more than 2500 gays took part in a march, despite municipal ban. “Such events had already taken place in Tallinn, Riga, Bucharest, Sofia and Bratislava”, — Lenta.Ru quotes Nikolay Alexeyev as saying.
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