Tag Archives: gay international news. Russia

1000 Russian Orthodox Protesters Rally Against Gay Pride and Gay Marriage in Moscow, Russia

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Following the recent ruling of the European Court of Human Rights that Moscow’s ban on gay pride marches is illegal  a number of Orthodox religious organizations put together a rally against gay parades, legalization of same-sex marriages and immorality propaganda and gathered some 1,000 protesters on Bolotnaya Square in central Moscow on Saturday.

Vladimir Khomyakov, a co-chairman of the Narodny Sobor (People’s Gathering) Orthodox organization, said, “Despite the stories about our belligerent homophobia, we have never urged and are not urging to destroy gay clubs and attack gays. We have come to claim that the ECHR ruling is a gross interference in Russia’s domestic affairs and a violation of the Russian constitution and international law.”

The video below taken in 2009 will show you just one of the examples of “belligerent homophobia” that Vladimir Khomyakov says is just a “story”.

Arrested Russain Activist Nikolai Alexeyev In Belarius After Being Kidnapped In Moscow Airport By Russian Police

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Nikolai Alexeyev Russian gay rights activist who disappeared after being arrested at a Moscow airport this week claims to be in Belarus and aims to seek political asylum, according to the Interfax news agency.via The Canadian Press

Nikolai Alexeyev says he was “squeezed out” of Russia under pressure. Interfax says he told the agency by text message that he is in the Belarusian capital Minsk and preparing to seek asylum.  Belarius is another politically repressed  homosexual state in which Alexeyev has been a key figure in attempting to produce Pride parades and protest which are broken up swiftly and harshly by police.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993, but opposition to gay rights remains widespread. Moscow’s mayor Yuri Luzhkov has called gays “satanic” and the city routinely denies gay activists permission to rally, saying the gatherings would be dangers to public safety because they would attract violent opposition.

Akexeyev was to have flown to Geneva for a United Nations meeting on gay rights, but never boarded the plane. A spokeswoman for Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport said Alexeyev was barred from the plane Thursday after refusing to take off his shoes at the security check, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

However, Interfax quoted Alexeyev as saying that he was taken from the airport to a police station in an unspecified town, where he was forced to sign a document saying he would withdraw suits he filed with the European Human Rights Court protesting Moscow’s ban of gay rights rallies.

Nikolai Alekseev, Russia’s Leading Gay Activist Arrested. Whereabouts Unknown

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Nikolai Alekseev, Russia’s leading gay activist and organizer of Russia Pride was arrested at the Moscow airport as he was about to board an Air Swiss flight to Geneva, Switzerland.  Russian Police have not answered questions concerning the reason why Alekseev was arrested and his whereabouts at this time is unknown.

\In a statement release by gay activists in Moscow via The UK Gay News:

“The Russian border police asked Swiss Air Lines to cancel his boarding pass and to offload his luggage from the plane, causing a 30-minute delay to the flight’s departure. ‘[Mr. Alekseev] had time to call a friend as well as the news agency Interfax,’ the statement read. ‘Reports of his arrest have been republished in the evening through the Russian media. As he told his friends and the media, no explanation was given to him on the motive of his arrest. A group of three activists from GayRussia led by Nikolai Baev went to the airport to try to locate Nikolai. The airport police told them that Nikolai was not retained by the airport police and one police officer suggested that he was being interrogated by the FSB (ex-KGB) at its headquarter in Lubyanka (Central Moscow).'”

According to Gay Russia:

Russian activist applied yesterday for a picket scheduled for Sept 21 on the anniversary of Moscow Mayor Luzhkov with the title “Luzhkov – Gomiki. (English translation for Gomiki is Faggot.) The activists wanted to protest a Court decision which dismissed their complained against the Mayor who said that gays are “gomiki” in a TV interview in June 2009.

A recent law passed by the Russian Parliament and signed-off by President Medvedev in July of this year allows the FSB to echo Soviet practices. The punishment for ignoring a warning was unclear, but 15-day jail sentences are envisaged for “obstructing an FSB officer’s duties”.

This new provision was denounced by human rights activists as an attempt to prevent human rights activists to organize rallies and public protest by preemptively arresting them.

The headquarter of the Moscow Police said tonight to Human Rights activists Ludmila Alekseeva that Nikolai Alekseev is not registered within their database. The FSB denied to answer tonight. No more information is expected before tomorrow morning.

Under Russian law, enforcement authorities have no right to detain people for long periods without charges and without giving reasons for the detention, but this time has already expired at 10pm Moscow time.

Courage Nikolai.  Courage.