Moscow Pride - Moscow Pride 2006

Moscow Pride 2006

The 2006 Moscow Pride was banned by the authorities. The Moscow Mayor's chief of security, Nikolai Kulikov, stated in an interview on Echo Moskvy, a radio station, that the Gay Pride conference and festival would be banned because of the negative views of the Russian population towards it: "all public expressions must be banned They violate our rights. We have our traditions, lots of religious groups told us that they were against this gay pride." The chief mufti of Russia's Central Spiritual Governance for Muslims, Talgat Tadzhuddin, advocated violence towards any protesters: "The parade should not be allowed, and if they still come out into the streets, then they should be bashed. Sexual minorities have no rights, because they have crossed the line. Alternative sexuality is a crime against God". Russian Orthodox leaders echoed his views, declaring that homosexuality is a "sin which destroys human beings and condemns them to a spiritual death".

On May 27, several dozen Russian lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender protestors, accompanied by Russian and foreign supporters, including members of the European and Volker Beck, member of the German parliaments, sought to hold two successive protest rallies after a court upheld Mayor Yuriy Luzkhov's ban on a march they planned for that day to commemorate the 13th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality in Russia. The parade went ahead as planned but was attacked by counter-protesters and finally broken up by the police. There were two main confrontations, the first of which occurred when activists approached the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin, in an attempt to lay wreaths. According to Human Rights Watch, at both events hundreds of antigay protesters, including skinheads and nationalists attacked the participants, beating and kicking many, while throwing projectiles and chanting homophobic slogans. Police intervened belatedly, failing to protect demonstrators, thus aggravating the violence. Volker Beck was attacked and injured, the attackers have never been arrested. According to campaigner Peter Tatchell, "We were immediately set upon by about 100 fascist thugs and religious fanatics who began pushing, punching and kicking us". Injured participants included German Member of Parliament Volker Beck and Merlin Holland, Oscar Wilde's grandson.

Russian LGBT Human Rights Project Gayrussia.ru sponsored a documentary film showing the events that took place around the first Moscow Pride festival. The documentary is called by his producer Nikolai Alekseev as vivid testimony of the fight for freedom of assembly in Russia. See Moscow Pride '06.