They risk arrest and violent attack
From a press release: Moscow – May 27, 2011
Moscow Gay Pride Parade 2011
1 PM, Saturday, May 28, The Kremlin, at the gates to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Alexandersky Gardens.
1:30 PM, march to Moscow City Hall, Tverskaya Street.
U.S. LGBT rights campaigner Andy Thayer and British human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell will join tomorrow’s banned Moscow Gay Pride parade, in solidarity with Russia’s belagured lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
“We expect to bashed by neo-Nazis who have promised to attack the parade,” warned Mr. Tatchell. “The Moscow police are refusing to protect us. The possibility of sustaining serious injuries is a worry. Russian neo-Nazis have previously murdered other protesters. The police have vowed to arrest us. In particular, the Russian marchers are likely to suffer harsh treatment and punishment.”
Andy Thayer from the Gay Liberation Network in Chicago, said, “We call on President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton to speak out forcefully and publicly now, before there is bloodshed in downtown Moscow. History will record whether or not they were silent before this possibly happens, and silence is complicity. The Russian authorities, by refusing to permit, let alone protect, Pride protesters excising their rights guaranteed under the Russian constitution, have already have already shown their contempt for their own laws. The remaining question is whether the Obama administration will echo this contempt.”
“We are afraid but not afraid,” said Tatchell. “Despite the risks to us personally, the human rights of gay Russians must be defended. By defying this ban, we are defending the right of all Russians to freedom of expression and peaceful protest. We express our support for every Russian person whose right to protest has been denied. As well as defending gay human rights, we defend the human rights of all Russia’s minorities, including Jewish, Black, Roma, Asian and Muslim people.”
Actor Sir Ian McKellen and pop singer Jimmy Sommerville have sent messages of support to Moscow Gay Pride, strongly criticising the Mayor of Moscow for banning the parade.
The Council of Europe’s Secretary-General and Commissioner for Human Rights, respectively Thorbjorn Jagland and Thomas Hammarberg, have both condemned the ban on Moscow Gay Pride.
“There will be attempts to remove Russia’s voting rights in the Council of Europe if the march is banned and the participants are arrested, since the European Court of Human Rights has already ruled that the ban is illegal and that Russia must allow Moscow Gay Pride to proceed,” said Mr Tatchell.
See this Background Briefing on Moscow Gay Pride:
http://www.petertatchell.net/international/russia/moscow-mayor-bans-gay-pride-parade-again.htm
Moscow Pride 2011: a Response to the Obama Administration’s Statement
Video of Today’s Moscow Pride 2011
VIDEO: Birth of a Transgender Movement in Russia
VIDEO: Dan Choi Shows His Support for Russian LGBTs
5 Comments
Comments
The Neo-Nazis in Russia are really scary. This year after the terrorist attack on Moscow’s airport the Neo-Nazis beat all people in Moscow who looked not Russian/European and several people got seriously injured. One result of Putin’s very nationalistic politics. I guess the decision of the European curt of Human Rights change nothing. Germany of course will not complain about it as the economic relations with Russia are considered much more important. Former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder may even be appointed to the board of directors of Gazprom, somehow just as the new gas pipline between Germany and Russia is completed. Just disgusting…
Anyway take care!
My statement at the Press Conference on the Day Before Moscow Pride 2011
Introduction by Nikolai Alekseev, President of GayRussia:
[Switching from Russian to English]…and the third time you are here in Moscow, and we are very grateful for your support and the support of his organization. Andy, you have the right to round up all that is being said.
Thank you, Nikolai.
I too am honored to be in Russia and to be a guest of GayRussia , Russia being one of the first countries of the world, in the early part of the last century, to remove all the laws against homosexuality – unfortunately that situation did not persist. But that is an achievement of the Russian people that should be recognized by the LGBT movement internationally.
Now last fall, GayRussia won a sweeping legal victory in the European Court of Human Rights. But unfortunately there was no effective implementation of that decision, as we’ve seen with the repeated ban of Moscow Pride. And that was a failure, not only the Russian judicial system, it was a failure of the European judicial system.
We in the United States have faced a similar situation where, just a little over 50 years ago, the courts decided that racist segregation was illegal, and yet there was no effective implementation of that sweeping decision. That sweeping decision was only implemented through the so-called “Freedom Rides” of the Civil Rights Movement which shook the American judicial system to its core, and actually transformed America, not just for African Americans, but for everyone who lives in the United States. And that I believe is what GayRussia is doing today, because while the European Court system has failed through the banning of Moscow Pride, GayRussia, by going forward with the demonstration tomorrow is actually broadening and deepening Russian democracy and is doing a tremendous service not just to LGBTs in Russia and internationally, but to Russian democracy itself. And for that, all of the Russian people owe a deep debt of gratitude to GayRussia.
Finally, I have to say a few words about the silence of the Obama administration, because the rationalization that was used by the Russian government for saying that Gay Pride had to be banned in Russia tomorrow was that they could not provide the security for the demonstrators, and yet this great nation, one of the most powerful military nations on the earth, can certainly provide security when President Obama and others come to Russia, but yet they say that they cannot provide security for pro-civil rights demonstrators.
That is a shame on Russian democracy, and it is a shame that President Obama has failed to speak out in defense of GayRussia, that Secretary of State Clinton has failed to speak out in defense of GayRussia, and that if there are injuries tomorrow, if there are arrests tomorrow, that will be to the shame of the United States government and President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton for not speaking out now, before that potential tragedy occurs.
History will remember the silence of the Obama administration at this crucial juncture in Russian democracy and I for one am ashamed to be in any associated with the United States government when it makes that failure of supporting democratic freedoms here in Russia.
I am, though, very honored to be here with the people of GayRussia and the other international participants and I will be very honored to participate in Gay Pride tomorrow. Thank you very much.
By our count, 18 pro-lgbt demonstrators were arrested today (15 Russians and 3 internationals), as were an unknown number of fascists who tried to attack us. A fascist tried to slug me, but missed. One of our Russian friends was injured and taken to the hospital, but not in serious condition. We were very worried that the police would simply allow the fascists to beat us to a pulp. That this did not happen is a victory, of sorts.
The pro-gay European Court of Human Rights decision is now revealed as a piece of toilet paper, soiled. The European Court and the Russian gov’t look very bad, and President Obama and Sec’t of State Clinton look like hypocrites for failing to say anything about the events today. Before the demo, our Russian friends were told by the U.S. embassy that they would simply “monitor the situation.” Lot of help that was.
Russian LGBTs unfortunately still have a lot of work ahead of them. The Russian gov’t continues to thumb its nose at world opinion, as does the U.S. gov’t in this and many other matters.
Andy
PS Shortly before the demo today I received a report from Dallas that it the telephone of the Russian embassy in Washington was constantly busy. My friend then called the Houston consulate and got through to someone who had apparently received several previous calls and was pretty nasty with him. The U.S. gov’t may not give a shit, but at least many people in the U.S. do.