by Rex Wockner
Twenty-two members of the European Parliament have sent a letter to the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers complaining about Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov's permanent ban on public gay events and similar bans elsewhere in Russia.
"Since May 2006, the Russian Federation officials have banned 167 public events planned by the local LGBT community in Moscow and other cities across the country," the letter states. "Several Members of the European Parliament were present during attempts to stage marches in support of freedom and rights for sexual minorities in May 2006 and May 2007, marches which led to the beating of LGBT activists in the streets of Moscow."
The letter noted that seven legal cases over the bans are pending at the European Court of Human Rights, with the oldest of the cases dating to February 2007.
It pointed out that Moscow's fourth annual gay pride is scheduled for May 16, the same day the campy Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Moscow, and suggested that the CoE's Committee of Ministers should take some sort of action to end the Russian Federation's systematic breach of the GLBT community's right to freedom of assembly, which is guaranteed by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, to which Russia is a signatory.
Mayor Luzhkov has said he will never allow a gay pride parade in Moscow. He has called the parades "satanic" and "weapons of mass destruction."
The letter to the Committee of Ministers was signed by MEPs Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert (Netherlands), Sophie in 't Veld (Netherlands), Graham Watson (United Kingdom), Marco Cappato (Italy), Alexander Alvaro (Germany), Chris Davies (United Kingdom), Johannes Lebech (Denmark), Maria Robsahm (Sweden), Ignasi Guardans (Spain), Jules Maaten (Netherlands), Daniel Cohn-Bendit (France), Kathalijne Buitenweg (Netherlands), Satu Hassi (Finland), Milan Horacek (Germany), Rauel Romeva (Spain), Anne van Lancker (Belgium), Lissy Groener (Germany), Marie-Arlette Carlotti (France), Glenys Kinnock (United Kingdom), Martine Roure (France), Britta Thomsen (Denmark) and Sirpa Pietikaeinen (Finland).
Meanwhile, the third Russian Week Against Homophobia took place March 23-31 in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Petrozavodsk, Arkhangelsk, Tyumen, Omsk, Chelyabinsk, Kemerovo, Krasnoyarsk, Kazan, Novosibirsk, Khabarovsk and Naberezhnye Chelny.
The various cities saw workshops, discussions, debates, film screenings and press conferences.
The Russian LGBT Network and the Moscow Helsinki Group unveiled a report looking at sexual-orientation and gender-identity legal issues and discrimination.
