Rainbow News
Gay Pride in the capital of Russia: More questions than answers!
18 Sep. 2005
18/09/2005. Foreign gay press reports about the desire of some gay activists to conduct gay pride in Moscow in May of 2006. The idea, which was put forth by a private citizen on behalf of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals in Russia, caused aversion amongst gays across the country and especially in Moscow.
Immediately after the press conference with Nikolay Alekseev, who announced that he would conduct gay pride in the capital of Russia, 9 gay activists from the capital of Russia brought forth a letter in which they called this initiative "provocation from the authorities," and accused the organizers of the parade of conspiring with officials from the administration of the President. The majority of those signing the letter were editors of such sites as Gayclub.Ru, XsGay.Ru, Lesbi.Ru, Lesbiru.Com, Travesty.Ru and Qguys.Ru.
The authors of the appeal call the intentions of the "self-proclaimed organizers of gay pride" "irresponsible" and note: "Having not even handed in an application for conducting the parade, he already speaks as if it is a done deal and talks about inviting "politicians from Europe" and "foreign stars."
Ed Mishin, the Editor-in-chief of the gay magazine "Kvir" and the site Gay.Ru, said, "Gay pride is the symbol of the unity of society and the gay community. It's too bad that in our country there isn't even unity in the gay community, and therefore it is strange to speak about the possibility of such a carnival like "Pride". Gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals will be abused physically and be subjected to derogatory remarks. However, if someone wants to walk on Red Square with a rainbow flag, that is his right."
"There is still one more very important moment that the initiator of gay pride, Nikolay Alekseev, needs to understand, continued Editor-in-Chief of the magazine "Kvir"," - There has already been a similar case in history and it is called "Pop Gapon (people were led into the Russian Revolution of 1905 and as a result, hundreds of children, teenagers and adults were shot down - Gay.Ru) leads the people to carry on a dialogue with the authorities."
"In my opinion, this is exactly the same situation. Alekseev does not seem to be the person who can regulate the relations between homosexuals and authorities. In my opinion, he can't even get a dialogue with himself right."
Immediately after the press conference with Nikolay Alekseev, who announced that he would conduct gay pride in the capital of Russia, 9 gay activists from the capital of Russia brought forth a letter in which they called this initiative "provocation from the authorities," and accused the organizers of the parade of conspiring with officials from the administration of the President. The majority of those signing the letter were editors of such sites as Gayclub.Ru, XsGay.Ru, Lesbi.Ru, Lesbiru.Com, Travesty.Ru and Qguys.Ru.
Ed Mishin, the Editor-in-chief of the gay magazine "Kvir" and the site Gay.Ru, said, "Gay pride is the symbol of the unity of society and the gay community. It's too bad that in our country there isn't even unity in the gay community, and therefore it is strange to speak about the possibility of such a carnival like "Pride". Gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals will be abused physically and be subjected to derogatory remarks. However, if someone wants to walk on Red Square with a rainbow flag, that is his right."
"In my opinion, this is exactly the same situation. Alekseev does not seem to be the person who can regulate the relations between homosexuals and authorities. In my opinion, he can't even get a dialogue with himself right."
Gay.Ru
