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MOSCOW - Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov branded Gay Pride parades a "satanic act" today and vowed to stop any attempt by homosexuals to march through Russia's capital this year, Russian news agencies reported.
Last year, objectors ranging from skinheads to Russian Orthodox Christians attacked gay activists when they marched through Moscow in defiance of a ban on the parade.
Organisers of last year's Gay Pride march have filed a suit at the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights against Russia for banning last year's march, demanding 20,000 euros ($37,590) compensation, Interfax news agency reported.
Gay Pride parades "can only be described as a satanic act," Interfax quoted the 70-year-old Luzhkov as saying. "We did not allow that parade then, and we will not in the future," he said.
Russia decriminalised homosexuality in 1993. Tolerance is slowly rising, with a handful of gay clubs opening in large cities since the Soviet Union collapsed, but the country has no high-profile homosexual politicians or business leaders.
Luzhkov also attacked the West's growing support of gay rights and equality. "We think that destructive sects and propaganda of same-sex love are inadmissible," he said of projects to promote gay rights in Russia.
Last year, police closed off the route to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where Gay Pride marchers had aimed to lay flowers, and detained dozens of activists, including march organiser Nikolai Alexeyev.
Alexeyev said he would sue Luzhkov for his comments on Monday "for insulting me and the peaceful and democratic goals of the Gay Pride parade", Interfax reported.
Alexeyev could not be contacted for comment, but other leaders of Moscow's homosexual community distanced themselves from him.
"This is a personal conflict between the organiser of last year's Gay Pride event in Moscow, Alexeyev, and the mayor of Moscow," said Ed Mishin, editor of the www.gay.ru website and Queer magazine.
"If somebody else organised the Moscow Gay Pride march it would be successful," Mishin said, adding that he was not aware of plans to stage a march this year.
- REUTERS
