Moscow Authorities Will Not Allow Gay Pride In Any Form – Mayor’s Office
17/02/2006
Submitted by
Nikolay Alekseev, Human Rights LGBT Project GayRussia.ru
Moscow Authorities Will Not Allow Gay Pride In Any Form – Mayor’s Office
Pride organisers vow to go ahead as city authorities say they "will suppress" the parade
MOSCOW, February 16, 2006 (GayRussia.ru) – The row over the planned Gay Pride in Moscow, highlighted over the past two days by religious leaders, went squarely into the local political arena today when the Moscow city authorities said they will not permit “under any circumstances” the first-ever Gay Pride parade, scheduled for the end of May in the city.
Sergei Tsoi, the press secretary for Mayor Yuri Luzhkov told the InterFax news agency today that publication of the Gay Pride plans had “led to outrage in the society and in particular among religious leaders”.
“Moscow government does not even consider the issue of allowing a gay parade,” Tsoi said.
He added that the plans for the conferences which formed part of the gay festival were “nothing else than a cloak for the [Gay Pride] march”.
“The Mayor of Moscow said firmly that Moscow government will not allow the conduct of gay parade in any form – neither open, nor indirect, and all attempts to organise non-sanctioned action will be severely suppressed,” he told InterFax.
Following today’s statement from the Mayor’s office, organisers of Moscow Pride said that they were prepared to take the matter to court if city authorities banned the Pride.
“The right to meetings, marches and demonstrations is guaranteed by the Russian Constitution to every citizen of Russia including gays and lesbians,” said Nikolai Alekseev, one of the Pride organisers.
“If our plans for meetings and the parade are denied, Mayor Luzhkov will be breaching Russian legislation,” he pointed out.
“It is a criminal offence in Russia for state officials to use their official powers to create obstacles to planned public demonstrations,” Alekseev said. “The responsibility is set in Article 149 of the Criminal Code of Russian Federation.
“A denial by the Mayor to allow the gay festival and the human rights march of gays and lesbians will be a breach not only of the Russian Constitution but also provisions in criminal legislation.”
The problems currently being experienced in Moscow over May’s Pride – the first-ever in Russia – is starting to raise concern within Europe, and further afield.
In a statement issued today by the organisers of Moscow Gay Pride and Festival, supportive public figures and journalists the thanked for their continued support.
“We will continue the preparations for Gay Pride and Festival and will definitely apply for the march to Moscow Mayor in May this year,” the statement pledged.
“We are convinced that simultaneous reaction in the past 48 hours of the leading religious bodies was carefully planned to explain the further ban of the march and we call upon federal authorities and Russian President in particular, as a guarantor of constitutional rights of citizens, to react to the wave of homophobia in Russia and mainly to non constitutional statements of the representatives of Moscow authorities,” the statement said.
More on www.gayrussia.ru
Pride organisers vow to go ahead as city authorities say they "will suppress" the parade
MOSCOW, February 16, 2006 (GayRussia.ru) – The row over the planned Gay Pride in Moscow, highlighted over the past two days by religious leaders, went squarely into the local political arena today when the Moscow city authorities said they will not permit “under any circumstances” the first-ever Gay Pride parade, scheduled for the end of May in the city.
Sergei Tsoi, the press secretary for Mayor Yuri Luzhkov told the InterFax news agency today that publication of the Gay Pride plans had “led to outrage in the society and in particular among religious leaders”.
“Moscow government does not even consider the issue of allowing a gay parade,” Tsoi said.
He added that the plans for the conferences which formed part of the gay festival were “nothing else than a cloak for the [Gay Pride] march”.
“The Mayor of Moscow said firmly that Moscow government will not allow the conduct of gay parade in any form – neither open, nor indirect, and all attempts to organise non-sanctioned action will be severely suppressed,” he told InterFax.
Following today’s statement from the Mayor’s office, organisers of Moscow Pride said that they were prepared to take the matter to court if city authorities banned the Pride.
“The right to meetings, marches and demonstrations is guaranteed by the Russian Constitution to every citizen of Russia including gays and lesbians,” said Nikolai Alekseev, one of the Pride organisers.
“If our plans for meetings and the parade are denied, Mayor Luzhkov will be breaching Russian legislation,” he pointed out.
“It is a criminal offence in Russia for state officials to use their official powers to create obstacles to planned public demonstrations,” Alekseev said. “The responsibility is set in Article 149 of the Criminal Code of Russian Federation.
“A denial by the Mayor to allow the gay festival and the human rights march of gays and lesbians will be a breach not only of the Russian Constitution but also provisions in criminal legislation.”
The problems currently being experienced in Moscow over May’s Pride – the first-ever in Russia – is starting to raise concern within Europe, and further afield.
In a statement issued today by the organisers of Moscow Gay Pride and Festival, supportive public figures and journalists the thanked for their continued support.
“We will continue the preparations for Gay Pride and Festival and will definitely apply for the march to Moscow Mayor in May this year,” the statement pledged.
“We are convinced that simultaneous reaction in the past 48 hours of the leading religious bodies was carefully planned to explain the further ban of the march and we call upon federal authorities and Russian President in particular, as a guarantor of constitutional rights of citizens, to react to the wave of homophobia in Russia and mainly to non constitutional statements of the representatives of Moscow authorities,” the statement said.
More on www.gayrussia.ru
