This website contains information
that is not intended for underage visitors.

To enter the website, please confirm your age.

Yes, I'm 18 years old (or older)


 
ENGLISH.GAY.RU
About UsLife in RussiaArt and CultureTraveller's GuideForumShop
Life in Russia
PoliticsLawCommunitySocietyFamilyReligionHistoryBisexualLesbianTrans
Politics
 
Your name:
*
Your e-mail:
*
Text:  (no more than 5 thousands characters)
*

Enter the digits you see:
*
* - Required fields
     
Your Message Is Posted
Thank you for your participation.

The letter was sent to your e-mail.
Please read it and follow the link provided in this letter, to confirm your e-mail.
This is one-time request.
The letter was sent to your e-mail.
Please read it and follow the link provided in this letter, to confirm your subscription to comments.
The two letters were sent to your e-mail.
Please read them and follow the links provided in thåså letters, to confirm your e-mail in comment and subscription to comments.
The letter was sent to your e-mail.
Please read it and follow the link provided in this letter, to confirm your subscription to reply on this opinion.
The two letters were sent to your e-mail.
Please read them and follow the links provided in thåså letters, to confirm your e-mail in comment and subscription to reply in this opinion.
The two letters were sent to your e-mail.
Please read them and follow the links provided in thåså letters, to confirm your subscription to comments on this publication and to reply on this opinion.
The three letters were sent to your e-mail.
Please read them and follow the links provided in thåså letters, to confirm your e-mail in comment, subscription to comments and to reply on this opinion.
Lonely crusader of the Urals. Russian champion of same-sex marriage fighting an uphill battle

Russian Deputy Edvard Murzin and Ed Mishin, director of "Together", Russia's largest gay-rights group

2006/02/16. Perhaps the best illustration of the hopelessness of Russia's gay-marriage campaign happened on a dry, warm day in early August, when Edvard Murzin, a member of parliament in the republic of Bashkortostan, stood outside a maternity ward and talked to journalists about the birth of his baby girl.

The reporters were curious about his daughter's birth, broadcasting her weight and height, because it was newsworthy that a politician who does something as outlandish as promoting gay rights could have a wife and a healthy child.

Many people in Ufa, about 1,300 kilometres east of Moscow, assumed that Mr. Murzin must be gay because of his political stand. One newspaper reported, "Those who saw the happy father with a bouquet of flowers had no more doubts."

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.

His long fight for same-sex marriage laws in Russia has failed so badly that his story is almost farcical.

Prominent gay-rights activists say his mission is doomed. Even among his friends in Ufa's small gay community, the drag queens shake their heads sadly when asked about his efforts.

His failure shows how Russian attitudes about homosexuality have barely improved since the Soviet laws forbidding gay sex were abolished in 1993. If anything, the Kremlin's embrace of the Russian Orthodox Church as a pillar of state has made life even more difficult for gay-rights campaigners.

"Lately, the Orthodox clerics launch more and more attacks against sexual minorities on television, preaching intolerance in the society," said Ed Mishin, director of Together, Russia's largest gay-rights group. "The state, although officially secular, nevertheless follows the church officials' recommendations, so we can take this as unofficial support of an aggressive attitude toward gays and lesbians."

Mr. Murzin launched his quixotic campaign two years ago, shortly after winning election to the regional legislature in Bashkortostan, a semi-autonomous republic in the shadow of the Ural Mountains. He was already well known as publisher of a local newspaper in his town, 300 kilometres southwest of Ufa, and his successful election campaign focused on his interest in human rights.

After taking office, a gay couple approached him. "They said, 'We voted for you. Why don't you protect our rights?' " Mr. Murzin said.

  
It was an unusual idea in Russia, and even more unusual in a rural area with a large Muslim population. In the Soviet Union, gay sex was a crime punishable by five years of hard labour, and those laws weren't repealed until 1993.

Two previous attempts at promoting same-sex marriage in Russia ended quickly. A poet's application to marry his partner was rejected in 1994, and he later received death threats and was prosecuted on charges of "malicious hooliganism" for writing about homosexuality. Another gay couple tried to marry at a church in Nizhny Novgorod two years ago, but the Russian Orthodox priest who conducted the ceremony was defrocked and the marriage annulled.

Mr. Murzin wanted to pursue the issue through the legislature and courts. He drafted a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage, but it died in committee before reaching parliament. He applied to the Moscow city court, the Moscow district court, the Russian supreme court, and finally Russia's constitutional court. Each one denied the application or refused to hear the case. He has filed an application to the European Court of Human Rights, but it has yet to respond.

His campaign earned him media attention, mostly as an oddity, and made him a notorious figure in his hometown.

Most members of parliament in Bashkortostan are officially unpaid, so Mr. Murzin, 42, depends on the equivalent of $245, the monthly profit from his newspaper. Those profits have been squeezed after 10 per cent of his advertisers pulled out because of his campaign.

"Financially, it's pretty hard for me," he said. "We scrape a living here and there. But I want my children to live in a free and good society."

In Moscow, Mr. Mishin says the regional parliamentarian's actions are brave but the law won't change in his lifetime.Still, the consensus among a recent gathering of young gay men at an apartment in Ufa was that life is slowly getting better for homosexuals.

The small improvements aren't measured in terms of official, legal acceptance but according to how much they must keep their lives secret. Mr. Semyonov doesn't hold hands with his boyfriend in public for fear of getting beaten, but in September he got a chance to put on women's clothing and perform in front of a large audience at a gay-friendly party in Ufa as his alter ego, Olga Wundersex.

Ms. Wundersex, wearing a giant wig, feather boa and spiked leather collar, lip-synched onstage.

A man was overheard in the audience complaining, "Look how many gays came tonight!"

Somebody replied, "Oh, shut up."

Graema Smith, Globeandmail.Com
Vote:   Interesting   Not interesting
Voting result:   0    0
Ïîäïèñûâàéòåñü
íà íàø êàíàë â Òåëåãðàìå
Share the link
Comments
Share your opinion
Subscribe to the comments
See Also
Life in Russia: Other Publications
Most popular Most popular      Last publications Last publications
Censorship in Russia: Gay.Ru has been added to Russia's centralized internet blacklist 31 Mar. 2018 Putin decorated Milonov - Orthodox crusader against gay people - with the Order of Saint Vladimir for "Good, Honor and Glory" 13 Sep. 2015 Female team from Moscow won the IGLFA European Championship III 18 Jun. 2015 Moscow’s Chief Rabbi about gays: "would not hang myself, but would support those who do so" 9 Jun. 2015 [VIDEO] Those who violated the Silence Day action promised to do the same to everyone who supports LGBT 20 Apr. 2015 Tomsk to have the first "Siberian Athens" - LGBT competition in 3 sports 19 Apr. 2015 Single pickets in Saint Petersburg to support LGBT teenagers 17 Apr. 2015
Life in Russia    Trans
The Moscow Times: Russia's Transgender Community Struggles for Acceptance
Transgender Russians often keep a low profile, worried how they will be treated by friends, colleagues and family members.
Life in Russia
The Washington Post: Surprising Russian reaction to gay marriage in the U.S.
Since 2013, Russia has had a law on the books banning the spread of gay "propaganda" as a means of "protecting children from information advocating for a denial of traditional family values." In the two years since, little progress has been made toward creating a more inclusive, safe space for gays
All news      Subscribe to the news on the topic "Life in Russia"

TOP PUBLICATIONS
PEOPLE ON LOVE.GAY.RU
WEB PARTNERS
SHOP
©
Ed Mishin
, together@gay.ru
Web design: Green Art
Gay.Ru is the project of Russian National GLBT center "Together"
Snail mail: PO Box 1, 109457 Moscow, Russia
Please Wait
Subscription
 
Your e-mail:
Enter the digits you see:
     
Unsubscribe option is just one click away!
...
A confirmation request has been sent to you.
Follow the link in the message to confirm your subscription.
Please check your spam folder if you have not received our letter.