Principal Russian Rabbi Berl Lazar: "Gays are Sexual Perverts"
17/02/2006
Submitted by
Nikolay Alekseev, Human Rights LGBT Project GayRussia.ru
Principal Russian Rabbi Berl Lazar: "Gays are Sexual Perverts"
Nikolai Alekseev: "Gays and Jews were sent to the same Nazi concentration camps"
On Wednesday evening the principal rabbi of Russia joined the fray of homophobic statements from Russian religious leaders. Rabbi Berl Lazar told the Russian news agency InterFax that if the Gay Pride parade was allowed to go ahead it “would be a blow for morality”.
Propaganda of what he called “sexual perversions” does not have the right to exist, the rabbi said.
“As a religious figure, I must first of all say that our religion categorically bans homosexuality. As I know, such sharp condemnation of homosexual relations also exists in other traditional religions in Russia,” he told the news agency.
“I would like to assure you, that the parade of homosexuals it is not less offensive to the feelings of believers than any caricatures in newspapers,” he said, linking the Pride parade with the current furore over the cartoons published in Denmark five months ago.
“I think that it will be perceived as an insult not only by believers but by the absolute majority of the populations of our city,” he added.
Nikolai Alekseev, one of the organisers of the festival countered, charging the rabbi of lying.
“Gay parades are already part of the Jewish society – and no religion was able to stop gay marches in Tel Aviv,” he pointed out.
“In Judaism, there are several schools of thought and some of them not only accept homosexual relations but also allow the blessings of same-sex marriages. This is what we can see now in the UK where same-sex partnerships are blessed in some synagogues.”
According to Alekseev, “comparission between the march for human rights and against discrimination with the publication of cartoons is nothing more than an attempt to incite hatred toward sexual minorities.
“Rabbi Lazar, being the citizen of three states at the same time, should know what is a public actions of gays and lesbians and what is respect for constitutional rights of citizens in the free democratic state. Both in the United States and in Israel gay parades became part of the state based on rule of law in the same way as freedom of religion and right to express one’s opinion.
The most outrageous aspect is that the principal rabbi of Russia can allow himself to call persons of homosexual orientation “sexual perverts”, while both heterosexual and homosexual relations have equal legal status in Russia”.
Alekseev suggested that “among faithful Jews there are many gays. And in Israel their civil rights are respected. The statements of the principal rabbi in relation to Russia do not help to the growth of tolerance in the society and creation of objective image of Jews in Russia”. He concluded that “Jews and gays were sent by Nazis to the same concentration camps, many were burnt in the same death chambers, the only difference between them was the sign on their clothes. In Berlin in front of the monument to the destroyed Jews of Europe there is going to be erected the monument to homosexual victims of Nazism. But Berl Lazar probably already forgot all this since the Jews are not anymore targets for mass repressions. It is sad to hear such words from one of the famous religious leaders. I think that Rabbis of other European countries would sharply denounce the words of Berl Lazar. This is a clear hypocrisy”.
Read more on www.GayRussia.Ru
Nikolai Alekseev: "Gays and Jews were sent to the same Nazi concentration camps"
On Wednesday evening the principal rabbi of Russia joined the fray of homophobic statements from Russian religious leaders. Rabbi Berl Lazar told the Russian news agency InterFax that if the Gay Pride parade was allowed to go ahead it “would be a blow for morality”.
Propaganda of what he called “sexual perversions” does not have the right to exist, the rabbi said.
“As a religious figure, I must first of all say that our religion categorically bans homosexuality. As I know, such sharp condemnation of homosexual relations also exists in other traditional religions in Russia,” he told the news agency.
“I would like to assure you, that the parade of homosexuals it is not less offensive to the feelings of believers than any caricatures in newspapers,” he said, linking the Pride parade with the current furore over the cartoons published in Denmark five months ago.
“I think that it will be perceived as an insult not only by believers but by the absolute majority of the populations of our city,” he added.
Nikolai Alekseev, one of the organisers of the festival countered, charging the rabbi of lying.
“Gay parades are already part of the Jewish society – and no religion was able to stop gay marches in Tel Aviv,” he pointed out.
“In Judaism, there are several schools of thought and some of them not only accept homosexual relations but also allow the blessings of same-sex marriages. This is what we can see now in the UK where same-sex partnerships are blessed in some synagogues.”
According to Alekseev, “comparission between the march for human rights and against discrimination with the publication of cartoons is nothing more than an attempt to incite hatred toward sexual minorities.
“Rabbi Lazar, being the citizen of three states at the same time, should know what is a public actions of gays and lesbians and what is respect for constitutional rights of citizens in the free democratic state. Both in the United States and in Israel gay parades became part of the state based on rule of law in the same way as freedom of religion and right to express one’s opinion.
The most outrageous aspect is that the principal rabbi of Russia can allow himself to call persons of homosexual orientation “sexual perverts”, while both heterosexual and homosexual relations have equal legal status in Russia”.
Alekseev suggested that “among faithful Jews there are many gays. And in Israel their civil rights are respected. The statements of the principal rabbi in relation to Russia do not help to the growth of tolerance in the society and creation of objective image of Jews in Russia”. He concluded that “Jews and gays were sent by Nazis to the same concentration camps, many were burnt in the same death chambers, the only difference between them was the sign on their clothes. In Berlin in front of the monument to the destroyed Jews of Europe there is going to be erected the monument to homosexual victims of Nazism. But Berl Lazar probably already forgot all this since the Jews are not anymore targets for mass repressions. It is sad to hear such words from one of the famous religious leaders. I think that Rabbis of other European countries would sharply denounce the words of Berl Lazar. This is a clear hypocrisy”.
Read more on www.GayRussia.Ru
