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Politics

Photo by Seva Galkin. Gay.Ru, Politics. For many decades gays and lesbians have been isolated from the world of politics. Not only gays and lesbians have not been allowed to voice out their concerns as a community, but also they dare not to be 'out' and behave naturally in the realm of conservative straight men who jealously protected their male supremacy in decision-making from being diluted or undermined by 'aliens', gays and women alike.

The gay liberation movement is the former Soviet countries is gaining momentum reclaiming its right to have a say in political affairs. Changes occur very slowly, traditional 'power brokers' represented by the Soviet-style bureaucracy and former apparatchiks are reluctant to live by international democratic standards and share their power. Gay and lesbian NGOs are still weak, sometimes led by incomptent leaders, but they keep trying to bring about the Slavic Stonewall and put end to the macho dominance in politics.

Photo by Seva Galkin. "Kvir" (#4, 2003)

News on "Politics"

· 18/11/2009 “Body & Soul” is closed
· 17/11/2009 Kazakhstani gays did not get an answer from their president even with the support of Russians
· 27/10/2009 Russian LGBT Network: those convicted of Article 121 of the Universal Codex were victims of repression
· 30/09/2009 Ramzan Kadyrov: Gays are poisoning our generation and weakening the Russian state
· 28/09/2009 Moscow's human rights commissioner promised to “solve the gay-pride issue”
· 26/09/2009 Saint-Petersburg's Ombudsman met LGBT activists
· 12/09/2009 Saint-Petersburg's queer festival will have support from General Consulates of Sweden and the Netherlands
· 05/08/2009 Igor Kon correlates recent outburst in homophobic rhetoric with the forthcoming election to the Moscow City Duma
· 04/08/2009 Politicians agree with Mitvol, Prefect of Moscow’s Northern District, and suggest ‘to sweep the house clean of gays’
· 20/07/2009 Vladimir Lukin - Russian Ombudsman - met gay activists

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All articles on "Politics"

· Declaration by Members and Partners of Russian LGBT Organisations Network
The most important thing is that the prohibition for free circulation of information legalises and perpetuates the close nature of LGBT community, which is the main cause of discrimination, irrational fears and slander with respect to homosexuals.

· Problems and Prospects
The most obvious social change in Russia is the disappearance of the old conspiracy of silence and the appearance of same-sex love as a fashionable topic for newspapers, art, and salon conversation. Formerly suppressed and forbidden "gay sensibilities" and eroticism are gradually being recognized and integrated into the elite culture

· Lonely crusader of the Urals. Russian champion of same-sex marriage fighting an uphill battle
Mr. Murzin is the only politician in Russia who openly champions the idea of same-sex matrimony, but instead of defending the concept he usually ends up defending himself: his reputation as a politician, his small business and even his truthfulness about his sexuality.

· Press Release by the Russian National GLBT Center Together on an attempt to recriminalize gay sex in Russia
We urge parliamentarians of the Council of Europe, Russian and international human rights organizations to support condemnation of this law draft and to achieve its recall by the authors of such intolerant initiative.