You need to be a Feast of Fun Plus+ member to access this.
Join now
or Log in – it's easy!
by Andy Thayer, Gay Liberation Network (Chicago), participant in Moscow Pride 2011 The first and most important thing that needs to be said is that we are very fortunate that no Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and […]
Co-founder of the Chicago Coalition Against War & Racism and the Gay Liberation Network (www.GayLiberation.net), a Chicago-based LGBT direct action group which has been at the forefront of gay rights, anti-police brutality and anti-war organizing. He’s been one of the lead organizers of most of the city’s large anti-war protests for the last several years, including a march of 15,000 on Lake Shore Drive at the start of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He’s been arrested numerous times in various protests and was recently found not guilty of two felony counts from a January 2008 protest against a Chicago visit by then-President George W. Bush. In May he was among a handful of Western LGBT activists arrested along with dozens of Russians activists at a government-banned gay pride demonstration in Moscow, Russia. He currently is among the activists organizing a march on the Obama 2012 National Campaign Headquarters in Chicago on the 10th anniversary of America’s longest-ever war, the Afghanistan War. He and other activists are also helping organize the huge protests that will confront the May 2012 NATO/G8 meetings in Chicago.
VIDEO: Birth of a Transgender Movement in Russia
Video of Today’s Moscow Pride 2011
Moscow Gays to Defy Police & Neo-Nazi Threats
The Birth of a Transgender Movement in Russia
Comments
Just a few weeks ago I saw the movie, Beyond Gay – The History of Pride. It gave me a real sense of context as to how brave the Russian activists are and how repressed their society is. More importantly it gave me focus – to admit how puny our demands here in the uS, which seem so radical from a narrow lens of conservatives. We are actually on the last steps in our marathon and the US must finish full equality under the law AND we must simultaneously stand with LGBT around the world as we are so far ahead of them in our rights. It is like oxygen – we can breathe and we must demand it for everyone.
Thank you Andy, thank you Dan, thanks to all who traveled and brought back the message; we are everywhere, no one can be ignored.
It’s a stain on Russia to allow themselves to be pushed around by the fascists. It is what keeps a third-world country, third-world. I wasn’t surprised to see the police at Budapest pride being so incompetent towards the invading fascists but I expected more from the Russian police. Maybe it’s because I’m Russian.
Russia, you embarrass us all when you let the police just stand there like a bunch of overpaid idiots. Learn to protect your people (not just the corrupt ones!) and maybe then the world can respect you.
I wish it were simply the incompetence of the police. Instead, they directly attacked us, with the fascists getting in their kicks and punches where they could. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmDTbnztHgY&feature=player_embedded
You have misgendered the trans-woman activist in the beginning of this article when you wrote “Anna Komarova, a long-time member of the GayRussia organization, was kicked three or four times in the head while he lay on the pavement”. Please change that.
Thank you.
I wrote to Andy to clarify and Anna does use “he.”
Shame on the Russian government and shame on the EU, with which Russia does more than 50% of its trade, for not doing more against the violence on a political level. Particular shame on Germany for not doing more against it, as Germany is the largest trading partner of Russia and has very close relations with Russia. Well, I guess ex chancellor Gerhard Schröder gives a damn and takes the offer from Gazprom, the large Russian state gas company, to be a member of Gazprom’s board of directors. From the current chancellor Merkel who can speak Russian fluently I can expect no help. In an interview some months ago she showed her office, on her desk is no photo of her family only one photo from Catherine the Great.
Andy T., Thank you for your commitment to reporting what has been happening on the ground, and the sacrifices of the Russian activists. Yours and Russian activists’ efforts promote not only LGBT rights, but also the rule of law in Russia by exposing its absence.
I wanted to point out the contrast between the St. Petersburg and Moscow city governments with respect to LGBT rights rallies, because St. Pete is receiving little attention in Western reports. The St. Petersburg police protected a rainbow flash mob at the Aviators Park south of the city center during the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia last month. In addition, other events happened out in provincial areas of Russia that are worth noting. http://www.lgbtnet.ru/news/detail.php?ID=4692
It seems St. Petersburg gov’t. is showing signs of abiding by the European Court for Human Rights decision in favor of Russian LGBT activists, while Moscow city government punches the Court and the LGBT community in the face. I am sure the Russian federal authorities are aware of this, and it is worth sharing with a Western audience.