Gay marchers seek to avoid Eurovision violence
Andy Potts
Tea and cakes could be the last-minute way to avoid trouble at Saturday's banned gay rights march, just hours ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest final.
Visiting British activist Peter Tatchell, who was badly beaten at a gay pride march on Tverskaya Ulitsa in 2007, has offered an open invitation to anti-gay Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov to meet and discuss their differences.
"We are not seeking confrontation," Tatchell said by telephone from London on Wednesday, before flying to Moscow. "I would ask Mayor Luzhkov to meet me and a delegation of Russian gay campaigners. We are seeking cooperation and an amicable solution. Dialogue with the mayor would be useful. I'm sure we can sort out these issues over a cup of tea and a cake at City Hall."
Beneath Tatchell's friendly approach, though, lies an iron will to change attitudes in what he calls "probably the most homophobic country in Europe", especially with the high-camp kitsch of Eurovision attracting thousands of lesbian and gay visitors to Moscow this weekend.
Tatchell added: "Given that the world's media will be in Moscow for the Eurovision Song Contest it would be a PR disaster for the authorities if they banned the parade, especially if marchers were arrested and beaten up. It would do untold damage to Russia's public image around the world.
"On the other hand, if they allow the march to go ahead then there will be no fuss and the mayor will win plaudits for his magnanimity and generosity."
Luzhkov was aware of the activists' request, but had refused to meet with them, an employee at City Hall's press office said by telephone on Thursday.
Sergei Tsoi, a City Hall spokesman, told reporters last week that the march, scheduled for Saturday noon in Alexandrovsky Sad, should not go ahead and would not be sanctioned by the authorities.
"The Moscow government is declaring that there has never been and never will be a gay parade in Moscow," he said. He went on to accuse marchers of "destroying the moral foundations of our society" and said plans for protestors to gather without permission "threatened the lives and security of Muscovites and guests to the capital".
Tsoi said that the authorities' position was backed by the Russian Orthodox Church, youth and veterans' groups and multi-cultural societies, warning that any unauthorised parade would be broken up by police.
Moscow-based march organiser Nikolai Alexeyev claimed that 500 activists were ready to attend a legitimate rally, but still expects at least 100 protesters to defy the ban and risk arrest to make their point.
That could have a knock-on effect for the glitzy Eurovision final at the Olimpiisky Stadium across town. Dutch singer Gordon Heukenroth, frontman of the group The Toppers, has vowed he will refuse to perform if the Gay Pride march is met with violence.
But he hoped not to have to carry out his threat. "After being one week in Moscow and experiencing the wonderful hospitality of the Russian people we all cannot believe that anything bad will happen during Gay Pride," Heukenroth told Dutch broadcaster NOS. "The Eurovision Song Contest is known to be an international event of love and happiness. We all have to cherish this message [for] the next couple of days."
Tatchell dismissed claims that the planned march was simply a publicity stunt, insisting that it was an essential tool to break down prejudice.
"The Russian government won't listen to polite letters and won't talk to gay campaigners, so protest is the only option," he said. "Visibility helps break down prejudice by showing that gay Russians are just like any other Russians except they happen to love someone of the same sex. There's a need for gay protests while gays face huge scale of homophobic prejudice and discrimination, blackmail and harassment."
Tatchell's assessment was backed up by a recent report from human rights campaigners the Moscow Helsinki Group, which found that Russia's gay and lesbian community faced serious prejudice, particularly at work.
In addition to highlighting problems with homophobia in society, the report also said the authorities displayed a "tolerant attitude towards manifestations of this discrimination", which contribute to "the legitimisation of an ideology of neo-Nazism and religious fundamentalism". N
Vox pop
Support for gay rights
Elena Kirillova
A clear majority of people questioned on Pushkinskaya Ploshchad this week said they were against discrimination against lesbians and gay men, but were divided along age lines, with younger Muscovites more in favour of tolerance than their older counterparts. Here's what they had to say:
Elena, 59: Gay parade organizers are provocateurs who wish to enforce our state, our society and all our country to accept their unholy values. They want to break us, to destroy us spiritually. It is a real terror, not against the body but against the soul. How could we accept that the same streets which our fathers and grandfathers marched on Victory Parade in May 1945, this year will run absolutely another parade? Many Orthodox organisations and all those who value our memory, our glory and our country, say no to gay parades.
Tatyana, 30: I hate these mentally ugly creatures - you can't see if it's a man or a woman. Terrible, but these people are very sick. And unfortunately this infection is spreading.
Ruslan, 20: OK, even today there are people alive who won the World War. A couple of those men definitely should be gay. So if they come to the gay parade, will Luzhkov send them away? Freedom must be for everyone. Otherwise I am gay and our officials are fags.
Vyacheslav, 27: In our society gays are deprived of the chance to be themselves, to openly show their feelings. When you try to hug or kiss your boyfriend, the reaction of people around will very quickly change your romantic mood. On one hand, society blames gays for constantly seeking sex and often changing partners, but on the other hand, it does everything to deprive us of the possibility to lead a normal life, driving us underground. We want to walk the streets hand in hand with our partners, to hug each other as other couples do. Gays as well as other guys and girls would like to listen to a concert or watch a movie embracing each other. Parents are ready to accept a girl as their son's wife, but if a guy has a non-standard orientation, he can lose his right even to his room where he lived all his life, not speaking about any help.
Maxim, 23: All changes are for the better. Earlier, about 16 years ago there was an article in the Criminal Code for buggery. Now we have clubs, radio, magazines and the Internet at long last.
Vadim, 28: At the age of 15 we were not as teenagers nowadays. I think it is easier for them now. And for us it was easier than for the previous generation. If I had to live in a Soviet period, when gays were put in jail or sent to the Gulag, I would not accept myself as gay, but also would not become straight. I can hardly imagine such an awful life.
Natasha, 24: I personally am absolutely OK with them. They have chosen this way and even if it is a terrible sin, the only judge for them is God. Though of course I don't like them arranging any parade, that's definitely showy, but in general they are people too. Everyone has a right for a private life if it does not threaten life of the other person.
Masha, 19: I think that each person has their own private life. Different strokes for different folks. I don't understand why so many people hate them. For example, a paedophile is ripe for the gallows, but leave alone gays. Only the parades are too much. Gays are not bad, it's only their attitude I don't like. And another thing: Pretty girls are actually very kissable. I tried it and I support gay women on that.
Nina, 44: I don't care as long as I'm not concerned. It's their life. Sometimes I regret my traditional orientation as from all my acquaintances only gay people are happy with their private lives.
Stanislav, 22: The more gays there are, the more chances straight guys have with girls.
Anton, 30: I absolutely don't care. It's just one person loving another person, and sex is minor here. The female body in every aspect seems more beautiful, and there is nothing bad if you love it more than male. One chooses his way for himself, it's a sin to judge.
Sveta, 25: Remember Coelho's book "Veronika decides to die"? There's a moment when Veronika is ashamed of masturbating and her friend comforts her. She says something like: nothing is forbidden or sinful in sex, except forcing someone to do something or sleeping with children. Anything else is good.
Marina, 25: I have a couple of gay friends. Besides them being true friends it's so cool to discuss boys with them. It was proven long ago that the toughest homophobes calling for "strict measures" are latent homosexuals. With such behaviour they try to suppress their latent tendencies and prove they are straight. A normal self-assured man is not afraid of that and usually doesn't care. Aggression comes from fear.