Despite threat of fine from eurocrats, Moscow government again prohibits ‘gay pride’ parade
May 18, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Moscow city government has declined to issue a permit for a “gay pride” parade for the seventh year in a row, defying a European Court of Human Rights ruling against the city in 2010 that resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in fines.
Promising that he would “appeal in the Tverskoi court on Monday,” homosexual activist Nikolai Alexeyev added that “we’ll hold the rally in any case.”
In previous years activists have sought to defy the ban on their marches, but have been quickly arrested or dispersed by police.
The homosexualist website Gay Russia reports that the Moscow government responded to this year’s petition by stating that such a march would cause “a negative reaction in society.”
“In the opinion of the citizens, activities associated with the discussion of sexual relations, open to public areas, is a provocation, causing moral harm to children and adolescents” the government stated, and added that such marches “insult the religious and moral sense” of the citizens and portray “abject and dehumanizing conditions.”
The proposed location of the rally, noted the government, is “in the historic center of Moscow, which is a favorite place for children and families of Muscovites and visitors. In this regard, the holding of public events can provoke illegal actions against members of the persons who do not share their views.” It warned that if the public demonstrations went ahead as planned, the participants “can be brought to justice in the prescribed manner.”
Promises made by organizers of the march to exclude profanity and nudity failed to convince authorities to permit the event. Homosexual “pride” marches worldwide are often scenes of nudity, lewd gestures and signs, mockery of religion, and simulated and even real acts of sodomy, in full public view.
Both Moscow’s current mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, and his predecessor, Yury Luzhkov, have been firmly opposed to the marches since they were first proposed seven years ago, and Luzhkov in particular has called such events “satanic.”
A similar opposition has been expressed by leaders of all of the major religious groups in Russia, including Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexis II, Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berl Lazar, and Mufti Talgat Tajuddin, the head of the country’s Central Spiritual Muslim Board.
Opposition to homosexual propaganda in Russia is shared by the vast majority of citizens according to opinion polls.
A poll conducted this year by state-run pollster VTsIOM, showed 86 percent of 1,600 respondents nationwide said they supported a ban on the promotion of homosexual relationships. A 2010 poll found that 74 per cent of Russians said homosexuals are “morally dissolute or deficient” and believe that homosexuality is “an amoral mental deviation.”
Related LifeSiteNews coverage:
* Russia’s Chief Rabbi: Perverse Gay Pride as Bad as Anti-Religious Cartoons
* Russians overwhelmingly endorse ‘gay propaganda’ ban
* City of Moscow bans ‘gay pride’ parades despite court order to allow them
* Moscow Mayor Calls “Gay Pride” Parade “Satanic”
* Moscow Must Permit Gay Parades: European Court of Human Rights
* Russia’s Chief Rabbi: Perverse Gay Pride as Bad as Anti-Religious Cartoons
* Russians overwhelmingly endorse ‘gay propaganda’ ban
* City of Moscow bans ‘gay pride’ parades despite court order to allow them
* Moscow Mayor Calls “Gay Pride” Parade “Satanic”
* Moscow Must Permit Gay Parades: European Court of Human Rights
