Moscow official nixes gay rights parade

[shawmut]

Wed Feb 14, 3:41 PM ET


MOSCOW - A top Moscow official repeated Wednesday that the city will not allow a gay rights parade, echoing the mayor's vocal criticism and saying that homosexuality is bad for your health, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported.

"There is the hard line of the city authorities and the position of our main faith, the Russian Orthodox Church ... of the inadmissibility of such an event in Moscow," RIA-Novosti quoted the head of the city's international relations department, Georgy Muradov, as saying.

Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and city authorities barred gay rights activists from staging a parade last year, citing the threat of violence, but activists ignored the ban and were attacked by right-wing protesters and detained by police. Last month, Luzhkov vowed never to allow a gay rights parade, calling such events "satanic."

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"As you know, the sale of alcohol is restricted in many Scandinavian countries. Why not pose the question of removing the limits on alcohol in these countries, of holding a 'parade of alcoholics' in Sweden? They would answer: no, it's bad for one's health, it affects society's morals," RIA-Novosti quoted him as saying.

Muradov said he had "medical proof" that "this form of relations" is harmful to health, the agency reported.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070214/ap_on_re_eu/russia_moscow_gays

[sakabatou]

1. .

[LeftyMom]

3. Can we drop the every 'phobe is secretly gay shit?

It's old, it's tired and it's not funny.

[knight_of_the_star]

2. Lovely

Can't say I'm surprised, sad to say.

[Behind the Aegis]

4. Add this to the mix, and it just gets more bizarre...

Russian army accused of gay prostitution

Following recent news that Russia may reinvigorate Soviet law by jailing gays, a new report finds that young recruits in the Russian army are being forced into prostitution.
The Gazeta newspaper reported that soldiers from an army base in St. Petersburg are routinely being pimped by senior officials, who then force them to turn over the earnings. Clients allegedly include a former general of FSB, Russia's intelligence agency.

Anonymous soldiers told Gazeta that they were violently tortured and beaten by senior officers as a means to force them into prostitution. Last year, a 19-year-old recruit was reportedly beaten so badly that his genitals and legs had to be amputated.

The Union of the Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia, a rights group speaking on behalf of soldiers, said that clients arrived at the base late at night to avoid recognition. Soldiers were forced into cars and often would be gone all night.

more...

[youngdem]

5. Ever get the feeling that Wingnuts here aspire to the Russian way of life?