RUSSIA: Several Activists Arrested At Unauthorized Moscow Pride Event

Via Agence France Press:

Russian police Saturday detained several gay rights activists for attempting to stage an unauthorised pride rally in central Moscow, AFP journalists reported. Police officers seized the activists - one of whom tried to unfurl a rainbow flag - and loaded them into waiting vans as around 30 nationalist counter-demonstrators in camouflage hurled eggs at the activists and attacked them. Several of the Orthodox counter-demonstrators were also detained by police as a large crowd of Russian and international journalists looked on. "Arrested and beaten at 10th Moscow Pride. We are arrested! They probably broke my left hand finger," leading gay rights activist Nikolai Alexeyev wrote on Twitter, posting a photo of himself in detention. "The most brutal arrest at Moscow Pride ever!" Gay rights activists insisted on holding the event Saturday despite a court in Moscow banning it. Gays in Russia face regular harassment and requests to hold pride parades have been consistently rejected by authorities in the capital.

I'll add video to this post if any appears.

UPDATE: We've got video

RUSSIA: Popular Comedy Show Covers Gay Pride Battle With West Side Story Skit

The Moscow Times reports:

Channel One’s mock news show “Yesterday Live” imagined what might have happened if City Hall had permitted the [gay pride] march and the two sides had gotten together to celebrate, in a surprisingly tolerant comedy sketch. A news reader in a satin jacket reads from a pink page against a gay rights flag. “It would be curious to see gays and border guards marking their holiday on the same day,” he says. The sketch shows stereotypically mincing gay activists in Village People outfits and boas fraternizing with the swaggering border guards in stripy vests. “We’ve waited 17 years for Luzhkov to leave,” one says, referring to the openly homophobic mayor, sacked in September. The two sides join for a “West Side Story”-style dance routine to the tune of the song “America” with a joke about the sexual orientation of the pop singers at the traditional concert for the border guards. At the end, the two groups separate, but one border guard confusedly stays with the gay group, before running back to his brothers in arms with a scream of alarm.

Courtesy of Blabbeando, here's the skit. The audio is unfortunately out of sync.

State Dept Condemns Moscow Arrests

The U.S. State Department has issued a letter condemning the arrests of gay activists in Moscow over the weekend.

STATEMENT BY MARK TONER, DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON

Concern about Freedom of Assembly in Russia

We note with concern that in Moscow on Saturday, May 28, a peaceable demonstration of Russians advocating for the rights of gays and lesbians, joined by international supporters, was forcefully disrupted by counter-protesters, and that Russian security forces then detained people from both groups, including American citizens. Some protestors were seriously injured according to media reports.

Freedom of assembly is a fundamental right all members of the OSCE committed to, including in the Moscow declaration and as recently as the Astana summit. As nationwide legislative elections approach, constraints on the ability of Russian citizens peacefully to gather and express their views will be closely watched in evaluating the integrity of the electoral process. We call on Russian authorities to work with municipal officials to find better ways to safeguard these fundamental freedoms.

HomoQuotable - Peter Tatchell

"We witnessed a high level of fraternisation and collusion between neo-Nazis and the Moscow police. I saw neo-Nazis leave and re-enter police buses parked on Tverskaya Street by City Hall. Our suspicion is that many of the neo-Nazis were actually plainclothes police officers, who did to us what their uniformed colleagues dared not do in front of the world’s media. Either that, or the police were actively facilitating the right-wing extremists with transport to the protest.

"During the Second World War, Mucovites stood against the Nazis. Now the Mayor of Moscow is colluding with neo-Nazis. He gave the neo-Nazi groups permission to stage a protest calling for violence against gay people, while denying Moscow Gay Pride a permit to rally for gay equality." - Famed British activist Peter Tatchell, reporting from yesterday's demonstration in Moscow.

More Video From Moscow Pride Protest

Moscow Pride Banned Again

One month after the city of Moscow granted permission for the city's first authorized gay pride event in years, that ruling has been revoked.

The reasons given by the deputy mayor of Moscow, Ludmila Shvetsova, is because of “the impossibility to provide security” – and a high number of letters of protests received by the City Hall against this event. “The reasons for banning 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, Pride chief organiser Nikolai Alekseev. “Russia has decided to mark the Day Against Homophobia by showing, once again, its homophobic policy towards its LGBT citizens. He revealed that an application would now be made directly to the Russian President. “We will apply today to President Dmitri Medvedev for permission to hold our Gay Pride March next to Kremlin, an area which is solely within his jurisdiction.

Moscow Pride Wins City Approval

For first time since 2006, Moscow city officials have approved a gay pride event. Last October the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Moscow had acted illegally when banning previous pride events. Those bannings came at the demand of anti-gay former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, who left office last year.

"The Moscow government told the Moscow gay pride parade organizers on Tuesday that the Moscow authorities have authorized a gay pride parade in Moscow," Alexeyev said in a statement released in Moscow. The organizers notified the Moscow government and the Moscow traffic police of their intention to hold a gay pride parade on April 12, he said. The rally entitled "Moscow Gay Pride Parade: Homosexuality in the History of World Culture and Civilization" will take place on May 28, Alexeyev said. The Moscow authorities have suggested reducing number of the rally participants to 500, which was done, he said.

Court Approves Moscow Pride

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled in favor of Moscow Pride president Nikolai Alexeyev, saying that authorities acted illegally when they banned gay pride in Moscow.

City Hall was ordered to pay 12,000 euros in damages to Nikolai Alexeyev and a further 17,500 euros in costs. And gay rights activists believe the ruling opens the way for all groups to rally in public, regardless of their political or social background. “This is the first ever decision of the European Court of Human Rights which concerns freedom of assembly in Russia. It guarantees everyone freedom of expression without special permission,” Alexeyev told The Moscow News directly after the verdict. The Moscow city government lost each of the three complaints, which activists said had great significance for the future beyond the gay rights movement.

MOSCOW: Activists Defy Police, Stage Two Small "Flash" Pride Parades

Although the mayor of Moscow has banned gay pride parades for the last five years, today activists defied riot police and staged two small "flash" parades without incident. Strategic planning by the activists managed to keep the events below the radar of anti-gay nationalists and neo-nazis. For once.

Two Gay Pride parades were held without arrests in Moscow on Saturday, the first time the notoriously intolerant Russian authorities have not intervened since the inaugural attempt to hold the event in the capital in 2006. The activists' spokesman claimed that the absence of harrasment, beatings and detentions was due to their "military planning" rather than any kind of warming toward non-traditional orientation among officials. Moscow riot police typically disperse such gatherings with brute force, emboldened by declarations from city Mayor Yury Luzhkov equating homosexuals with the devil. The activists also blame Russia's resurgent Orthodox Church, which publicly and sternly denounces gay culture, for fomenting homophobia. About 25 activists held a short demonstration on The Arbat, a pedestrian street lined with shops and cafes that is one of Moscow's main tourist draws. They marched for about 10 minutes, holding banners and shouting slogans such as "No discrimination on the grounds of orientation." Some observers waved and laughed, and there were no signs of hostility. Police did not try to disperse the march, but when the demonstrators saw a line of uniformed officers blocking the street ahead of them, they scattered.

British activist Peter Tatchell took part in one of the parades. Tatchell sustained permanent brain damage when he was beaten by Moscow police at a Pride demonstration in 2007.

Moscow Pride Banned By Mayor

For the fifth year in a row, Moscow Mayor Yury Lushkov has banned gay pride.

Not unexpectedly, the homophobic Mayor of Moscow, Yury Luzhkov, has banned the march planned in Russian capital as part of Moscow Pride on May 29. It is the fifth successive year that the Mayor, who infamously described Gay Pride parades a “satanic happenings”, has invoked a ban. “As soon as we receive the authorities’ refusal in writing, we will appeal it in the Tver District Court,” chief organiser Nikolai Alekseev said this afternoon. In accordance with Russian law, application for the parade was made to the Mayor’s office on May 17, giving the proposed route. Plans were that the parade would end in Lubyanka Square. But Mr. Alekseev said that City Hall had not offered any alternate route for the march, which is contrary to the requirements of current legislation.

Last year Moscow police roughed up and arrested over 20 LGBT activists who defied the ban. Among those arrested was British activist Peter Tatchell.

UPDATE: Luskgov has forced the company that hosts GayRussia.ru to take the site down that word of the ban can't be spread.

OMOH

Troubled Diva points out that the acronym for Russia's riot police is the mirror image of "homo", an irony probably not lost on the dozens of gay activists arrested this morning at Moscow Pride. OMOH's motto: "We know no mercy and do not ask for any."

Police Break Up Moscow Pride, Peter Tatchell Among Arrested

In an embarrassment for Eurovision organizers, Moscow police are cracking down hard on today's gay pride parade.

Between 20 and 40 activists have been arrested at Slavic Pride in Moscow by anti-riot police, early reports indicate. According to a statement released by Pride organiser Nikolai Alekseev, violence was used to break up the peaceful march, which had been banned by Moscow authorities. It was held to coincide with the Eurovision final which will be hosted by the city tonight. Attempts to hold a Pride march in previous years have been met with violence. Among those arrested were British gay rights activist Peter Tatchell, and Chicago campaigner Andy Thayer. It is not yet clear how many campaigners braved threats of extremist violence to join the parade. Nikolai Alekseev was allegedly held down by five armed riot officers and arrested. In a statement, Alekseev called on artists due to perform at tonight's Eurovision final to boycott the event to "send a message that Russia's state oppression of human rights is not acceptable."

UPDATE: Peter Tatchell has twittered that he has been released, but that he's worried about Moscow Pride organizer Nikolai Alekseev, who is missing. Go to UK Gay News for a live blog from Moscow. Pet Shop Boys are also twittering updates. Below, police break up another protest.

UPDATE II: YouTube appears to be down at the moment.

Gay Fans "Not Safe" At Eurovision

Gay fans traveling to the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow this weekend are being warned that extremists are planning to "roam the streets" of the city looking for homosexuals to assault. Via the Guardian UK:

[T]here is now a distinct possibility that Russian nationalists and neo-Nazis will once again beat up gay demonstrators – as well as visiting Eurovision fans – in what would be a severe blow to Russia's international reputation and to Eurovision, already reeling from eastern European bloc-voting scandals. The Dutch Eurovision entrants, a three-man combo called the Toppers, have promised to boycott the final if the Moscow authorities prevent the march. Few are optimistic that the rally will go off without trouble. "Groups of fanatics and extremists will be roaming the streets in the centre of Moscow looking for people to beat up," Nikolai Alekseev, the organiser of the Slavic Pride rally, told the Guardian. "Nobody will care. Moscow police will do nothing to protect them." Asked whether gay British fans should avoid travelling to Moscow this Saturday, he warned: "Everybody has to make their own choice. But they won't be safe." That Eurovision has a wide gay following isn't much of a secret, even in Russia. "Lots of gays and lesbians are fans of Eurovision. It's a very gay event," Alekseev said.

Moscow's mayor has called gay people "satanic" and "weapons of mass destruction." Taking the lead from his mayor, one Orthodox Christian extremist organizer told the Guardian: "We won't allow this satanic gathering. We don't want Moscow to become Sodom. It's an affront to Russian society and to our spiritual peace."

Dutch Eurovision Entry Threatens Boycott If Moscow Police Stop Gay Pride Parade

Russian gay activists have asked contestants at this weekend's Eurovision Song Contest to boycott the finals if Moscow police attempt to interfere with the gay pride parade on that day. The lead singer of the Netherlands' entry, The Toppers, is the first to agree.

Dutch singer Gordon has said he will boycott the Eurovision Song Contest if Moscow police use violence against gay rights activists. Gordon, whose real name is Cor Gordon Heuckeroth, fronts the band The Toppers along with Jeroen van der Boom and René Froger. They will be in the May 16th final if they make it through the selection rounds. He told NOS radio: "If people of my kind are being discriminated against in such a way, I have nothing to expect from this Russia, and I will be on the first plane home." Russian gay rights movement leader Nikolai Alexeyev is planning to hold a gay pride march before the city hosts the Eurovision final. He has said he expects up to 500 people to join the parade, named Slavic Pride, despite official threats to close down any march.

Here is The Toppers' fun Eurovision 2009 entry, Shine.

RELATED: British gay activist Peter Tatchell will again be attending Moscow Pride, where he was brutally beaten in 2007 by anti-gay extremists while police stood by. After the attack Tatchell was arrested and held without charges. Police refused to seek his attackers despite photo and video evidence of their identities. You can follow Tatchell's experiences at this year's Moscow Pride on Twitter.

Lesbian Couple To Attempt First Same-Sex Marriage In Russia

Although they'll surely be rejected, next week a lesbian couple in Moscow will attempt to get a marriage license.

Public relations worker Irina Fyet, 31, and her partner of the same age will apply for a marriage license at a register office on May 12 in Moscow, a city where mayor Yuri Luzhkov once described gay pride marches as "satanic." Gay rights activist Nikolai Alekseyev said it was the first time a gay couple would apply for a license. "I am 99 percent sure there will be a refusal, but maybe later the situation in Russia can change, the political feeling can change," he told Reuters on Wednesday. The pair will most likely legally marry in the coming months in Toronto, or Norway, he added. Neither country requires residency for gay couples wishing to marry. Activists say a loophole exists in Russian law which bans gay marriage at home but does not prevent the recognition of a same-sex marriage that has taken place abroad.

Next week Moscow Pride will coincide with the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest, bringing the couple access to hundreds of probably friendly foreign journalists.

Russian Activists Found Guilty Of "Popularizing Homosexuality"

Gay activists in Russia have been found guilty of "popularizing homosexuality" for demonstrating with pro-gay posters.

A court in Ryazan has found the organizers of two public events protesting homophobia guilty of popularizing homosexuality and ruled they be fined 1,500 rubles each. Nikolay Bayev and Irina Fet were found guilty of popularizing homosexuality among minors and the court ruled to fine them 1,500 rubles each, an organizer of the Moscow gay parade Nikolay Alexeyev told Interfax. On March 30, the gay activists staged public event demonstrating posters reading, "Homosexuality is normal" and "I am proud of my homosexuality." The judge ordered the posters be destroyed. Sexual minorities held their rallies near schools and near a regional children's library, the court said.
"We will now file a complaint with the Russian Constitutional Court," Alexeyev said

Unreal.

Moscow Pride To Coincide With Eurovision

LGBT activists in Moscow have shrewdly rescheduled this year's pride events to coincide to that city's hosting of the Eurovision Song Contest, guaranteeing them a global stage should the Russian government follow through on its promise to once again ban their celebration.

Activists said they would ask contestants to support gay rights by wearing lapel pins onstage on May 16, the final day of competition. The event, in which contestants perform songs submitted by each of the countries in the European Broadcasting Union, is one of the most-watched non-sporting events in the world. "We believe this is the best way for those who support democratic values in Europe and who take part in the show to bring support to human rights campaigners in Russia,” said gay activist Nikolai Alekseev, according to Reuters India. Russian authorities have repeatedly banned gay events in the country, and violent counter-demonstrations have taken place when activists proceeded against the official directives.

Eurovision is considered to be the most-watched non-sporting event in the world.

Moscow's Mayor To Gay Eurovision Fans: Stay Off The Streets

Gay pride organizers in Moscow remained defiant even after their mayor used a Eurovision ceremony yesterday to warn homosexuals to stay off the streets during the famously loved-by-gays song contest.

The Mayor of Moscow has used a Eurovision Song Contest ceremony to warn gay people visiting the city for the event next year that they are not welcome on the streets. Yuri Luzhkov was receiving a set of symbolic keys from the Mayor of Belgrade, Dragan Dilas, in recognition of Russia's success at this year's Eurovision in Serbia. The winning country usually hosts the contest the following year.

Speaking at a press conference after the ceremony the Mayor, who has banned every gay rights march in Moscow since 2005, gave some advice to gay people coming to the city for Eurovision: "Entertain yourself, no problem, but not on the streets, squares, marches and demonstrations. We never introduced any limitations in their respect except public actions. We do not allow gay parades."

Moscow Pride organisers are confident that after years of bans, the eyes of the world on Russia may mean they can finally march. Russian and Belarussian activists are planning a Slavic Pride event in Moscow to coincide with the Eurovision final on May 16th. The semi-finals will be held on May 12th and 14th.

"Gay Pride public action during the final of Eurovision will take place in any circumstances," said Moscow Pride organiser Nicolas Alexeyev. "We are not going to surrender our right to freedom of assembly and expression because it is given to us not by Mayor Luzhkov but by the Constitution of this country."

Russian gay pride organizers have several cases pending in the European Court Of Human Rights to contest the parade bans.

Moscow Pride Banned For Third Year

For the third straight year, Moscow's mayor has banned gay pride.

The homophobic Mayor of Moscow has banned this years gay pride event. The Mayor, who has referred to gay rights marches as "satanic" has outlawed the march which was due to take place next week. The move comes amidst a growing number of violent threats from members of the orthodox church and far right groups.

However, a number of gay rights activists are insisting on holding a variety of events over the coming weeks, highlighting the homophobia that Russia's LGBT community are subjected to. Moscow Pride was banned by the city's Mayor in 2006 and in 2007.

There has been an increasing amount of global publicity concerning the persecution of Moscow's LGBT community and the prejudice that the community are receiving from their homophobic Mayor. A spokesmen from his office said: "It is a matter of surprise and indignation that gays plan to carry out unsanctioned gatherings in various parts of Moscow during the Festival of
Peace and Work".

An unsanctioned parade on May 27 last year, the anniversary of the abolition of a Soviet law that criminalized homosexuality, ended with ultra-nationalists throwing eggs and punching and kicking gay activists. Last year a number of gay protesters including Peter Tatchell and Right Said Fred singer Richard Fairbrass, were physically attacked by a homophobic mob.

I think I said the same thing last year, but as you attend your gay pride this year, count your blessings.

Moscow Pride Crosses Fingers

The organizers of Moscow Pride have invited the mayors of Paris, Berlin, and London to their event in the hopes forcing their local authorities to allow Pride festivities to take place and to act respectfully during the events.

The organisers of Moscow Pride have invited the Mayors of London, Paris and Berlin to attend this year. Last year's event was banned and gay protesters, including Peter Tatchell and Right Said Fred singer Richard Fairbrass, were physically attacked by a homophobic mob.

In a letter to the three Mayors Nicolas Baev and Nicolas Alexeyev said:

"Knowing and respecting you as prominent supporters of civil rights for LGBT people, we would like to invite you to take part in the human rights conference and manifestation for LGBT rights and against homophobia which will take place in Moscow on May 30th and 31st 2008. You always support the fundamental right of homosexual people to openly manifest and to publicly express themselves. All of you also regularly take part in Gay Pride parades in your own cities.

"Unfortunately, Russian LGBT people have no such an opportunity to manifest and openly protest against homophobia and in support of their civil rights. Their constitutional right to freedom of assembly is constantly violated by Moscow city authorities.

"Taking into account the bans of the public Pride events in the Russian capital in 2006 and 2007, we are not sure that Mosow Mayor Luzhkov will permit Gay Pride manifestation this year. We appeal for your help and your sincere support for the third Moscow Pride which will celebrate 15th anniversary since decriminalisation of homosexual relations in Russia."