Rainbow News
Gay Pride parade "satanic": mayor
30 Jan. 2007
2007/01/30. Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov has branded Gay Pride parades a "satanic act" and vowed to stop any attempt by homosexuals to march through the capital this year, Russian news agencies reported.
Last year, objectors ranging from skinheads to Russian Orthodox Christians attacked gay activists when they marched through Moscow in defiance of a ban on the parade.
Gay Pride parades "can only be described as a satanic act", Interfax quoted the 70-year-old Luzhkov as saying.
"We did not allow that parade then, and we will not in the future," he said.
Last year, police closed off the route to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where Gay Pride marchers had aimed to lay flowers, and detained dozens of activists, including march organiser Nikolai Alexeyev.
Alexeyev said he would sue Luzhkov for his comments today "for insulting me and the peaceful and democratic goals of the Gay Pride parade", Interfax reported.
"This is a personal conflict between the organiser of last year's Gay Pride event in Moscow, Alexeyev, and the mayor of Moscow," said Ed Mishin, editor of the http://www.gay.ru website and Queer magazine.
"If somebody else organised the Moscow Gay Pride march, it would be successful," Mishin said, adding he was not aware of plans to stage a march this year.
Last year, objectors ranging from skinheads to Russian Orthodox Christians attacked gay activists when they marched through Moscow in defiance of a ban on the parade.
Gay Pride parades "can only be described as a satanic act", Interfax quoted the 70-year-old Luzhkov as saying.
Last year, police closed off the route to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where Gay Pride marchers had aimed to lay flowers, and detained dozens of activists, including march organiser Nikolai Alexeyev.
Alexeyev said he would sue Luzhkov for his comments today "for insulting me and the peaceful and democratic goals of the Gay Pride parade", Interfax reported.
"This is a personal conflict between the organiser of last year's Gay Pride event in Moscow, Alexeyev, and the mayor of Moscow," said Ed Mishin, editor of the http://www.gay.ru website and Queer magazine.
"If somebody else organised the Moscow Gay Pride march, it would be successful," Mishin said, adding he was not aware of plans to stage a march this year.
Reuters
