VI Gay Pride 2007 -The First Victory in Confrontation with the City Hall
02/07/2007
By
Information Centre "GenderDoc-M"
At the end of April current year, the VI festival of gays and lesbians of Moldova “The Rainbow over the Nistru” took place in Chisinau. Despite the difficulties that Pride organizers had to face, all the planned activities were successfully carried out. Even the laying of flowers to the Monument of Victims of Repressions hampered by the police cordon can be considered a victory of sexual minorities in the fight for their constitutional right to public activities.
In the morning of April 27, the participants in the event making up to 50 people on two minibuses and passenger cars set off for the Monument of Victims of Repressions When they approached the place of destination and having formed a line with garlands and flowers headed towards the bottom of the monument, the vice-commissar of the police of Riscani sector, Valeriu Leontiev, appeared in their way and demanded to call the senior of the column of demonstrators and to show the authorization of the City Hall for the action, and of course there was none. No arguments about the right of every citizen of Moldova to fulfil their duty in the memory of those who have died in concentration camps, had been shot down during raids and persecutions at the time of Stalin’s repressions, including gays, as well as references to the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova and the European Declaration of Human Rights failed – the police were impregnable. In the created situation, the participants had no choice but to lay garlands and flowers to the feet of the senior police officer Valeriu Leontiev. Later on, Nina Stratulat, a representative of the City Hall, commenting on the police actions in a PRO-TV report, confirmed that the police had exceeded their authority and that it was not necessary to have an authorization of local authorities for laying the flowers. We hope that this has put an end to the endless discussion of the GenderDoc-M Information Center with the law enforcement agencies who have been repeatedly preventing Pride participants from laying the flowers to the monument to the oppressed, considering the action to be public and requiring an authorization on the part of local authorities.
Another very important activity carried out within the Pride was a protest action at the building of the capital City Hall. The reason for it was refusal of the City Hall to authorize the Diversity and Equality Festival that was supposed to be carried out within the “All Different – All Equal” European action on April 27 in the square of the National Opera and Ballet Theatre. The members of the municipal committee examining the centre’s application accused the organization of free sex and homosexuality propaganda and declared that our country lived according to the principles of Christian morality that did not allow homosexual relations and banned the festival.
It was the third refusal that violated LGBT-community right to freedom of assembly, and Pride’s participants and guests felt they should react to the evident violation of the European Convention and Constitution of the Republic of Moldova by local authorities. It was decided to come out to the municipal City Hall with mouths sealed by rainbow tape. Moreover, in order not to jeopardize the other Pride activities, GenderDoc-M members were recommended to refrain from participation. As a result, the action was carried out more than peacefully. About 20 people took part in it, including guest from the Near and Far abroad, as well as the representatives of partner organizations from Moldova. Among the picketers there was a deputy of the European Parliament, Maria Carlzamre, and three of her assistants who had come especially to support the sexual minorities in Moldova and the Pride itself. The police behaved correctly fulfilling their duty of protecting the public order and participants in the action from attacks on the part of action opponents. The latter were not more than 30, mainly young people from extremist organizations.
The action demonstrated that there were not and could not be mass riots Chisinau City Hall was so concerned about. Citizens of Moldova have long stopped believing in medieval stereotypes and following Christian dogma. In the country, where the church is separated from the state, the relations in the society are regulated by secular laws. It should be also mentioned that gay-activists came out before the Embassies of Moldova in Stockholm, Vienna, Bucharest, Washington, and New-York with similar protest actions against the lawlessness of Moldovan authorities. By this, our friends from the USA and Europe have shown their solidarity with the LGBT-community in our country; they have supported them in the tough fight for their right to freedom of assembly and peaceful manifestations.
“From the bottom of our hearts we thank all the people who have taken part in the “Rainbow over the Nistru” festival, who have supported us in these tough days of fight in word and in deed both in our country and abroad. We think that everything that has been done within the VI Pride is our first joint victory for the domination of law over indolence and stereotypes. Taking into account the experience of these days we can say with confidence that we will do everything to make the law on non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation passed and the right to freedom of assembly and manifestations exercised in the near future. And then we will organise a true Pride of gays and lesbians of Moldova”, the director of the GenderDoc-M Information Centre, Boris Balanetkii, said at the Pride closing ceremony.
More information about Pride events in Moldova and about the activities of GenderDoc-M you can find at web page http://www.gay.md/eng/ or by e-mail: info@gay.md, or by phone: +373 22 27 60 94
In the morning of April 27, the participants in the event making up to 50 people on two minibuses and passenger cars set off for the Monument of Victims of Repressions When they approached the place of destination and having formed a line with garlands and flowers headed towards the bottom of the monument, the vice-commissar of the police of Riscani sector, Valeriu Leontiev, appeared in their way and demanded to call the senior of the column of demonstrators and to show the authorization of the City Hall for the action, and of course there was none. No arguments about the right of every citizen of Moldova to fulfil their duty in the memory of those who have died in concentration camps, had been shot down during raids and persecutions at the time of Stalin’s repressions, including gays, as well as references to the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova and the European Declaration of Human Rights failed – the police were impregnable. In the created situation, the participants had no choice but to lay garlands and flowers to the feet of the senior police officer Valeriu Leontiev. Later on, Nina Stratulat, a representative of the City Hall, commenting on the police actions in a PRO-TV report, confirmed that the police had exceeded their authority and that it was not necessary to have an authorization of local authorities for laying the flowers. We hope that this has put an end to the endless discussion of the GenderDoc-M Information Center with the law enforcement agencies who have been repeatedly preventing Pride participants from laying the flowers to the monument to the oppressed, considering the action to be public and requiring an authorization on the part of local authorities.
Another very important activity carried out within the Pride was a protest action at the building of the capital City Hall. The reason for it was refusal of the City Hall to authorize the Diversity and Equality Festival that was supposed to be carried out within the “All Different – All Equal” European action on April 27 in the square of the National Opera and Ballet Theatre. The members of the municipal committee examining the centre’s application accused the organization of free sex and homosexuality propaganda and declared that our country lived according to the principles of Christian morality that did not allow homosexual relations and banned the festival.
It was the third refusal that violated LGBT-community right to freedom of assembly, and Pride’s participants and guests felt they should react to the evident violation of the European Convention and Constitution of the Republic of Moldova by local authorities. It was decided to come out to the municipal City Hall with mouths sealed by rainbow tape. Moreover, in order not to jeopardize the other Pride activities, GenderDoc-M members were recommended to refrain from participation. As a result, the action was carried out more than peacefully. About 20 people took part in it, including guest from the Near and Far abroad, as well as the representatives of partner organizations from Moldova. Among the picketers there was a deputy of the European Parliament, Maria Carlzamre, and three of her assistants who had come especially to support the sexual minorities in Moldova and the Pride itself. The police behaved correctly fulfilling their duty of protecting the public order and participants in the action from attacks on the part of action opponents. The latter were not more than 30, mainly young people from extremist organizations.
The action demonstrated that there were not and could not be mass riots Chisinau City Hall was so concerned about. Citizens of Moldova have long stopped believing in medieval stereotypes and following Christian dogma. In the country, where the church is separated from the state, the relations in the society are regulated by secular laws. It should be also mentioned that gay-activists came out before the Embassies of Moldova in Stockholm, Vienna, Bucharest, Washington, and New-York with similar protest actions against the lawlessness of Moldovan authorities. By this, our friends from the USA and Europe have shown their solidarity with the LGBT-community in our country; they have supported them in the tough fight for their right to freedom of assembly and peaceful manifestations.
“From the bottom of our hearts we thank all the people who have taken part in the “Rainbow over the Nistru” festival, who have supported us in these tough days of fight in word and in deed both in our country and abroad. We think that everything that has been done within the VI Pride is our first joint victory for the domination of law over indolence and stereotypes. Taking into account the experience of these days we can say with confidence that we will do everything to make the law on non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation passed and the right to freedom of assembly and manifestations exercised in the near future. And then we will organise a true Pride of gays and lesbians of Moldova”, the director of the GenderDoc-M Information Centre, Boris Balanetkii, said at the Pride closing ceremony.
More information about Pride events in Moldova and about the activities of GenderDoc-M you can find at web page http://www.gay.md/eng/ or by e-mail: info@gay.md, or by phone: +373 22 27 60 94
