RUSSIA: High Court Rules Ban On "Gay Propaganda" To Be Constitutional
Russia’s highest court has ruled that a controversial law banning “gay propaganda” is not in breach of the Constitution. The Constitutional Court dismissed a complaint from Nikolai Alexeyev, a leading gay rights campaigner, that St. Petersburg city council had acted unconstitutionally by passing legislation to ban the promotion of homosexuality among minors. The Constitutional Court’s ruling followed a fine imposed on Alexeyev by a city court in St. Petersburg in May 2012 for holding up a poster of a quote by a famous Soviet-era actress Faina Ranevskaya. It read: “Homosexuality is not a perversion, unlike grass hockey or ice ballet.” Alexeyev had asked the court to rule that the law was based on prejudice and permitted discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation. But the judges concluded that the Constitution obliged the State to protect motherhood, childhood and family.
Labels: LGBT rights, Nikolai Alexeyev, Russia
