Moscow's mayor
vowed Monday never to allow a gay rights parade, calling
such events "satanic," but activists said they would defy a
city ban by holding what would be the Russian
capital's first gay rights parade. Yury Luzhkov and
city authorities had barred activists from staging a
parade last year, citing the threat of violence. Activists
ignored the ban and were pummeled by right-wing protesters
and detained by police.
Speaking at a Kremlin event attended by the head
of the Russian Orthodox Church, Luzhkov again
lambasted gay and lesbian groups. "Last year Moscow
came under unprecedented pressure to sanction the gay
parade, which can be described in no other way than as
satanic," he said to applause in comments broadcast on
a city-controlled TV channel. "We did not let the
parade take place then, and we are not going to allow it
in the future."
He also charged that Western countries are
facing a crisis of religious faith and are corrupting
children. "Some European nations bless single-sex
marriages and introduce sexual guides in schools. Such
things are a deadly moral poison for children," the
Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted Luzhkov as saying.
Meanwhile, Russian gay activists said they are
challenging the city's ban of their parade in an
appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, pledging
to hold a similar march in late May. "Trying to silence us,
the Russian authorities denied us one of the fundamental
human rights. The European justice will have the last
say in this case," activist and parade organizer
Nikolai Alexeyev said in a statement posted on the Web
site GayRussia.ru.
The issue of holding a gay parade last year
split Moscow's gay community, many of whom say Russian
society is still too conservative and that a parade
would only provoke more violence from radical groups. Gay
rights activists estimate that 5% to 8% of Russia's
143 million people are gay. (AP)
