Save the date and come to Moscow for our next Pride!
03/08/2006
By
Nikolay Alekseev, National Human Rights LGBT Project GayRussia.ru
Save the date and come to Moscow for our next Pride!
ILGA published an interview about the Moscow Pride Festival in its last Magazine. On this occasion, Nikolai Alekseev, its main organizer, comes back on the events that surrounded the Gay Pride on May 27th. But also, he confirms that the ILGA-2010 conference will take place in Moscow after the 2008 Quebec conference.
ILGA : The efforts of organising such an event must have been huge and the pressure high, as there was much controversy - and unfortunately, much violence as well. You also ran in a record deficit.
Nikolai Alekseev : Yes. My private life has been affected by that, but that’s another topic. Moscow’s gay businesses not only refused to support or promote any of our events; worse, they tried to put us in a difficult financial situation by canceling the party that was supposed to finance half of the budget with two hours notice. That’s what you can call the “poison pill.” We had to swallow it, but we’re still alive. These people are just so scared for their business interests. Today, they operate clubs and saunas; tomorrow, they would go and sell trunks on the market if that was more profitable. I want to pay tribute to Alain, the manager of the Lausanne Pink Beach Sauna that I met at ILGA’s Geneva conference. He offered us sponsorship. I was shocked myself that there can be someone 3500knm from Moscow who cares about Russian gays without any business considerations. As for the record deficit, we’ll have to cover that with some personal loans we took. No one helped us, really, even abroad. I guess Russia has a bad image in terms of stealing foreign aid. We only covered 12% of our budget. The budget is public, so everyone can see that nothing was stolen unless I would have taken something from my left pocket to put in my right one!
What are your feelings and your appreciation of the event now that some time has passed?
My feelings aren’t that interesting. The feelings of all those who took part matter more, and I can say that everyone is happy. Everyone understood that there was a need to achieve this Stonewall. Let’s call it an eastern Stonewall and not a Pride. It was important to show that a few fascists would not prevent us from organizing our conference, and it was important to show that a few fascists would not disrupt Merlin Holland’s speech. The worst is to give in to fear. Some people tried to organize a gay and lesbian week in Moscow at the end of April. Unfortunately, they gave in to threats and cancelled it all at the last minute. As a result, a club where they had planned an exhibition was burnt because they did not provide security. It left the non-gay owner in a disastrous situation, and that was a very bad idea and not very courageous. Despite the threats, despite the attacks, we pursued our mission until the end. For the first time, Moscow has had its Gay and Lesbian Festival. It had been discussed since 1995, but until now, it had never taken place. We’re proud of that. And security was not an issue. Everything was handled and planned very carefully. 120 delegates came from 20 different countries.
How do you explain the little support you got from other actors in the LGBT movement in Russia? And from human rights groups, as well?
Our quarrels are known by almost everyone who reads this magazine. Ed Mishin and his anti gay pride friends have spammed every possible LGBT organization around the world, and the result was that no one mentioned it anywhere. We, the activists, know what it is to struggle for rights. This hateful campaign led by Ed Mishin from Gay.ru and Olga Souvorova from Pinkstar, whose organizations are unfortunately ILGA members, went so far that in March, Ed Mishin declared live on Moscow Radio that “Luzhkov is right to ban this pride!” It’s incredible what people can be forced to do to protect their business interests. Their lack of objectivity comes from the fact that Ed Mishin opened a gay shop in front of the Moscow City Douma and Olga Souvorova became manager of this shop. Any support for Pride from them would have ended up closing that business. It’s a fact. In Russia, money comes before human rights. They always ignored all our calls for unification. They even refused to show up at the IDAHO conference. In terms of human rights groups - except for the few who helped us - many major ones like Moscow Helsinki Group or Moscow Human Bureau played a double game. On one hand, they financed the press conference of a group led by a Ukrainian activist who was opposed to the Moscow Pride, but on the other hand, they came to our press conference supporting the Pride. One wrote a letter in our favour to the Mayor of Moscow, but then left Moscow before Pride and said in the media that gay pride is not necessary. They feared that they would create too many problems for themselves in Russia, but they still tried to look gay friendly abroad. The double game never works. We’ll see how they convince their foreign partners when it comes time to renew their grants! The most outrageous was when Ludmila Alekseeva, who is head of the Moscow Helsinki Group and not known as particularly gay-friendly, told Angela Merkel in Germany that her Russian human rights group needs more support - and used the example of the Moscow Pride!
A number of politicians from other countries marched in the parade, along with citizens of other countries who came to Moscow to show support. Do you think foreigners - especially politicians - were helpful for the movement, or was that somehow counterproductive?
How could it be counterproductive? In all the emerging countries, like Poland and Latvia, foreigners have been there to help. They did not invent the impulse to attend, they were encouraged by local gay activists. They just brought their fame and their courage to try to draw attention to the topic in that country. It worked in Poland and it worked in Latvia. And it worked in Russia. I just regret that Volker Beck and Pierre Serne were injured. But ultimately, that just shows the state of Russia. I will be grateful for my whole life to the courageous people who came to Moscow, and I can tell you that there were several who cancelled their trip at the very last minute due to the expiration of their passport.
Russian authorities and politicians have appealed to violence in an incredible show of impunity. Is there any hope this could change in the near future?
One day before the pride, Tverskaya was quiet. One day after the pride, it was empty. It’s as if a big dramatic show took place on Saturday, May 27th. The babouchkas came by bus with their priests. The childish fascists came from the province of Moscow by bus. All of them were paid. The babouchkas got a few euros. Young fascists probably got a Happy Meal. I’m being a bit sarcastic, but when you look at it two or three weeks later, that’s what we had in the city: actors paid to create chaos in the streets of Moscow. The difference is that it was not theatre, it was real. The blows were real, and the police did not react. The Mayor encouraged all that. But the one positive thing is that the millions of Moscovites that they promised against us did not show up. Russians don’t care about homosexuality. That’s a reality, and we saw it on May 27th.
Do you feel Muscovites and Russians have become more or less receptive to LGBT issues after that event?
They have been incredibly receptive before. Remember the fake marriage of Ed Mishin-Edemski and Ed Murzin in January 2005? It was only covered in the tabloid section and titled: “Soon, They will Marry Tables and Chairs.” Right after the Moscow Pride initiative was announced, the media changed their opinions. They’ve adopted a positive tone on homosexuality, they’ve asked questions, and they’ve tried to understand us. Of course, some media were still against us, but most of them took a positive approach. They educated the society. We left the tabloid section of the worst paper, which is an achievement. But that’s not all - between April 2005 and April 2006, the attitude toward homosexuality in Russia has been much less negative. We have conducted two polls that prove that. It’s a tremendous success. It’s also apparent at our press conferences. We had more than 50 journalists on May 15th and probably 60 on May 27th. Gays had never received so much attention in the media before.
What would you consider to be the next steps to progress towards equality in Russia?
Well, first, we need an authorized Pride - something more like a march for the freedom and equality of sexual minorities. That would be symbolic. But most of all, we need to have anti-discrimination laws. The Russian legal system is not so bad, but judges refuse to use the law on gay issues. We need precedents in court. The investigation we’ve brought forth against the Mufti Tadjuddin’s words of hatred last February could be a good start. But we also have many cases pending. Gay marriage will come one day in Russia, but not directly. It will probably be imposed by the Council of Europe as soon as 70% of the countries recognize it. What we urgently need today are anti-discrimination laws.
In Poland and elsewhere, activists have created anti-homophobia parades and tolerance marches in place of Pride parades. What do you think of these alternatives ?
That’s exactly what we applied for in Moscow. And that’s what we will apply for again on May 27th, 2007. You can already save the date and come to Moscow.
What are your plans for 2007? Do you plan to do anything differently?
Sure. It will be less violent and more peaceful. The only particular difference is one that neither the homophobic Luzhkov nor his fascist friends will be able to change. We are full of resources and ideas, and we’ve got 11 months to go.
ILGA published an interview about the Moscow Pride Festival in its last Magazine. On this occasion, Nikolai Alekseev, its main organizer, comes back on the events that surrounded the Gay Pride on May 27th. But also, he confirms that the ILGA-2010 conference will take place in Moscow after the 2008 Quebec conference.
ILGA : The efforts of organising such an event must have been huge and the pressure high, as there was much controversy - and unfortunately, much violence as well. You also ran in a record deficit.
Nikolai Alekseev : Yes. My private life has been affected by that, but that’s another topic. Moscow’s gay businesses not only refused to support or promote any of our events; worse, they tried to put us in a difficult financial situation by canceling the party that was supposed to finance half of the budget with two hours notice. That’s what you can call the “poison pill.” We had to swallow it, but we’re still alive. These people are just so scared for their business interests. Today, they operate clubs and saunas; tomorrow, they would go and sell trunks on the market if that was more profitable. I want to pay tribute to Alain, the manager of the Lausanne Pink Beach Sauna that I met at ILGA’s Geneva conference. He offered us sponsorship. I was shocked myself that there can be someone 3500knm from Moscow who cares about Russian gays without any business considerations. As for the record deficit, we’ll have to cover that with some personal loans we took. No one helped us, really, even abroad. I guess Russia has a bad image in terms of stealing foreign aid. We only covered 12% of our budget. The budget is public, so everyone can see that nothing was stolen unless I would have taken something from my left pocket to put in my right one!
What are your feelings and your appreciation of the event now that some time has passed?
My feelings aren’t that interesting. The feelings of all those who took part matter more, and I can say that everyone is happy. Everyone understood that there was a need to achieve this Stonewall. Let’s call it an eastern Stonewall and not a Pride. It was important to show that a few fascists would not prevent us from organizing our conference, and it was important to show that a few fascists would not disrupt Merlin Holland’s speech. The worst is to give in to fear. Some people tried to organize a gay and lesbian week in Moscow at the end of April. Unfortunately, they gave in to threats and cancelled it all at the last minute. As a result, a club where they had planned an exhibition was burnt because they did not provide security. It left the non-gay owner in a disastrous situation, and that was a very bad idea and not very courageous. Despite the threats, despite the attacks, we pursued our mission until the end. For the first time, Moscow has had its Gay and Lesbian Festival. It had been discussed since 1995, but until now, it had never taken place. We’re proud of that. And security was not an issue. Everything was handled and planned very carefully. 120 delegates came from 20 different countries.
How do you explain the little support you got from other actors in the LGBT movement in Russia? And from human rights groups, as well?
Our quarrels are known by almost everyone who reads this magazine. Ed Mishin and his anti gay pride friends have spammed every possible LGBT organization around the world, and the result was that no one mentioned it anywhere. We, the activists, know what it is to struggle for rights. This hateful campaign led by Ed Mishin from Gay.ru and Olga Souvorova from Pinkstar, whose organizations are unfortunately ILGA members, went so far that in March, Ed Mishin declared live on Moscow Radio that “Luzhkov is right to ban this pride!” It’s incredible what people can be forced to do to protect their business interests. Their lack of objectivity comes from the fact that Ed Mishin opened a gay shop in front of the Moscow City Douma and Olga Souvorova became manager of this shop. Any support for Pride from them would have ended up closing that business. It’s a fact. In Russia, money comes before human rights. They always ignored all our calls for unification. They even refused to show up at the IDAHO conference. In terms of human rights groups - except for the few who helped us - many major ones like Moscow Helsinki Group or Moscow Human Bureau played a double game. On one hand, they financed the press conference of a group led by a Ukrainian activist who was opposed to the Moscow Pride, but on the other hand, they came to our press conference supporting the Pride. One wrote a letter in our favour to the Mayor of Moscow, but then left Moscow before Pride and said in the media that gay pride is not necessary. They feared that they would create too many problems for themselves in Russia, but they still tried to look gay friendly abroad. The double game never works. We’ll see how they convince their foreign partners when it comes time to renew their grants! The most outrageous was when Ludmila Alekseeva, who is head of the Moscow Helsinki Group and not known as particularly gay-friendly, told Angela Merkel in Germany that her Russian human rights group needs more support - and used the example of the Moscow Pride!
A number of politicians from other countries marched in the parade, along with citizens of other countries who came to Moscow to show support. Do you think foreigners - especially politicians - were helpful for the movement, or was that somehow counterproductive?
How could it be counterproductive? In all the emerging countries, like Poland and Latvia, foreigners have been there to help. They did not invent the impulse to attend, they were encouraged by local gay activists. They just brought their fame and their courage to try to draw attention to the topic in that country. It worked in Poland and it worked in Latvia. And it worked in Russia. I just regret that Volker Beck and Pierre Serne were injured. But ultimately, that just shows the state of Russia. I will be grateful for my whole life to the courageous people who came to Moscow, and I can tell you that there were several who cancelled their trip at the very last minute due to the expiration of their passport.
Russian authorities and politicians have appealed to violence in an incredible show of impunity. Is there any hope this could change in the near future?
One day before the pride, Tverskaya was quiet. One day after the pride, it was empty. It’s as if a big dramatic show took place on Saturday, May 27th. The babouchkas came by bus with their priests. The childish fascists came from the province of Moscow by bus. All of them were paid. The babouchkas got a few euros. Young fascists probably got a Happy Meal. I’m being a bit sarcastic, but when you look at it two or three weeks later, that’s what we had in the city: actors paid to create chaos in the streets of Moscow. The difference is that it was not theatre, it was real. The blows were real, and the police did not react. The Mayor encouraged all that. But the one positive thing is that the millions of Moscovites that they promised against us did not show up. Russians don’t care about homosexuality. That’s a reality, and we saw it on May 27th.
Do you feel Muscovites and Russians have become more or less receptive to LGBT issues after that event?
They have been incredibly receptive before. Remember the fake marriage of Ed Mishin-Edemski and Ed Murzin in January 2005? It was only covered in the tabloid section and titled: “Soon, They will Marry Tables and Chairs.” Right after the Moscow Pride initiative was announced, the media changed their opinions. They’ve adopted a positive tone on homosexuality, they’ve asked questions, and they’ve tried to understand us. Of course, some media were still against us, but most of them took a positive approach. They educated the society. We left the tabloid section of the worst paper, which is an achievement. But that’s not all - between April 2005 and April 2006, the attitude toward homosexuality in Russia has been much less negative. We have conducted two polls that prove that. It’s a tremendous success. It’s also apparent at our press conferences. We had more than 50 journalists on May 15th and probably 60 on May 27th. Gays had never received so much attention in the media before.
What would you consider to be the next steps to progress towards equality in Russia?
Well, first, we need an authorized Pride - something more like a march for the freedom and equality of sexual minorities. That would be symbolic. But most of all, we need to have anti-discrimination laws. The Russian legal system is not so bad, but judges refuse to use the law on gay issues. We need precedents in court. The investigation we’ve brought forth against the Mufti Tadjuddin’s words of hatred last February could be a good start. But we also have many cases pending. Gay marriage will come one day in Russia, but not directly. It will probably be imposed by the Council of Europe as soon as 70% of the countries recognize it. What we urgently need today are anti-discrimination laws.
In Poland and elsewhere, activists have created anti-homophobia parades and tolerance marches in place of Pride parades. What do you think of these alternatives ?
That’s exactly what we applied for in Moscow. And that’s what we will apply for again on May 27th, 2007. You can already save the date and come to Moscow.
What are your plans for 2007? Do you plan to do anything differently?
Sure. It will be less violent and more peaceful. The only particular difference is one that neither the homophobic Luzhkov nor his fascist friends will be able to change. We are full of resources and ideas, and we’ve got 11 months to go.
