May 25, 2007News: Defence of Freedom of Expression For All Russians
By vanrozenheim
(Moscow, Russia) – International solidarity can help give a psychological and practical boost to local LGBT activists, Peter Tatchell said shortly after arriving in Moscow for the city’s second Gay Pride. “It also offers a degree of protection against State repression,” he said. “Mayor Luzhkov is already less vocal against gay pride than he was this time last year. “Perhaps that’s because he knows the world is watching and there are high profile international observers attending the pride conference and march,” the London-based human rights activist and founder of Outrage! suggested.
“The right to hold Moscow Pride is not just an issue of gay rights – it’s a defence of freedom of expression for all Russians.
“Gay people are in the front line of the movement to defend the right to freedom of expression and assembly.”
Mr. Tatchell, who was at last year’s Moscow Pride – the first to be staged in the Russian capital, admitted that he was a little scared of what lay ahead for the Pride March, scheduled for Sunday.
“It is going to be dangerous,” he said. “We might be assaulted and arrested, like last year.
“But freedom never comes without people taking risks and challenging the authorities.”
Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov has already banned the march – a ban that, Gay Pride organisers say, flouts both the Russian constitution and the European Charter on Human Rights which the country signed-up to as it emerged from Communism.
A case against Russia over the banning of Pride last year has been lodged with the European court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which last month ruled against Poland and the ban by the then Mayor of Warsaw (now the President of Poland) two years ago.
Peter Tatchell had a message for Mayor Luzhkov: “Homophobia is hateful and divisive. It does not befit the mayor of a great city like Moscow. Open your mind and your heart, and you will find that lesbian and gay people are part of your city. As law abiding citizens, they are entitled to dignity, respect and rights- including the right to peaceful protest.”
But the message fell on deaf ears – the Mayor is not allowing the Gay Pride Parade on Sunday.
The only person who, apparently, can force a change of mind in Moscow City Hall is President Vladimir Putin.
And Mr. Tatchell pointed out that President Putin has said on a number of occasions that the rights of all Russian citizens must be respected.
“We expect [the President] to give a lead in speaking out against homophobia and in legislating protection against discrimination for Russia’s queer citizens,” Mr. Tatchell said.
“As President of Russia, with a duty to defend the constitution, it is time [he] told the Moscow city authorities to lift the ban on gay pride. It is constitutionally unlawful and is causing huge damage to Russia’s international reputation.”
And Mr. Tatchell hit out at some Russian human rights activists who refused to include gay and lesbian rights in their campaigns.
“When human rights activists pick and choose which freedoms to defend they are compromising the whole human rights agenda,” he pointed out.
“The fundamental, non-negotiable principle is that human rights are universal and indivisible.”
It is not only gays from around the world who are assembling in Moscow this weekend. The world’s press are also here.
Even the Russian pop group t.A.T.u took time out from recording sessions in Hollywood to jet in for the weekend.
“We think that every person should express his or her love to another person in the way these two people wish, and no third parties may interfere with their dogmas,” Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova said in a statement before leaving the USA.
“We are supporting people disregarding their sexual orientation or any other differences.”
Mr. Tatchell said that he was surprised that he was able to get a visa to travel to Russia.
“Either the Russian authorities are not very systematic in their surveillance of foreign visa applications or they don’t want the political embarrassment of having to ban foreign observers,” he said.
