The Moscow mayor's office says it will not allow gay pride marches to take place on this year's May Day holiday. The announcement came as a gay equality leader said he planned events throughout May to highlight the repression of sexual minorities in Russia. "The council will act decisively and uncompromisingly to prevent attempts to hold such events because society is overwhelmingly opposed to the gay lifestyle and philosophy," council spokesman Sergei Tsoi told a reporter. "It is a matter of surprise and indignation that gays plan to carry out unsanctioned gatherings in various parts of Moscow during the Festival of Peace and Work," Tsoi said, referring to 1 May, one of the most important Soviet-era holidays. He said the council was taking into account threats of violence made by radical Orthodox and other anti-gay groups, reports the AFP. "There could be bloodshed and no one wants that," Tsoi said. Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov has been an outspoken opponent of gay pride marches, referring to them once as "Satan's work." An unsanctioned parade on 27 May last year, the anniversary of the abolition of a Soviet law that criminalised homosexuality, ended with ultra-nationalists throwing eggs and punching and kicking gay activists. The leader of the pressure group Gay Russia, Nikolai Alexeyev, said the group planned to apply for permission to hold five events a day throughout May in various parts of Moscow. "This is not a question of security. It is only a question of the personal hatred of the Moscow mayor towards gay people," Alexeyev said.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Thursday, 24th April 2008 - 10:03am