モスクワ・プライド：モスクワ市長「パレードを禁止したモスクワ市は道徳的に清潔」

Attempt to hold gay parade in Moscow a provocation - Luzhkov

Moscow, May 31, Interfax - Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov has described attempts by participants in a failed gay parade last Saturday to lay flowers to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as a provocation and the desecration of a holy place.

"Those gays decided to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This was a provocation. This is a desecration of a holy place. This is not a church, but a state and national altar. And now gays are going there - I don't know what they looked like, but that is not even important - and they were showing off when they appeared near the memorial. This is desecration. They broke through, and of course they got thrashed," Luzhkov said live on TV Center television.

The Moscow government banned the gay parade after being guided by public opinion, Luzhkov said. "We should first of all listen not to ourselves, but to the Muscovites, the people. Our religious denominations - both Orthodoxy and Islam - stood up resolutely against the holding of a gay parade," Luzhkov said.

"Gays are also our citizens," but their sexual orientation should not be displayed publicly, Luzhkov insisted.

"The gays would have been badly beaten up," he said referring to aggressive opponents of gays and lesbians.

Luzhkov also urged the West to learn moral principles from Russia. "Our morality is purer, and the West should learn something from us regarding morality rather than move toward wild licentiousness," he said.


Moscow says banned gays because "cleaner" than West
Tue May 30, 2006 1:58 PM ET

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow's influential mayor said on Tuesday the city banned gay activists from holding a parade because it is morally cleaner than the West, which is caught up in "mad licentiousness".

The gay activists tried to hold their protest against homophobia and discrimination at the weekend despite the ban, but were detained by police, abused by militant Christians and attacked by neo-fascists.

They had wanted to lay flowers at the grave of the unknown warrior, a monument to those who died defeating Nazi Germany, but police blocked their path.

Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said such an action would have been a desecration of the sacred monument, and rejected Western criticism of his ban as prejudiced and homophobic.

"Our way of life, our morals and our tradition -- our morals are cleaner in all ways. The West has something to learn from us and should not race along in this mad licentiousness," he told Moscow radio, according to local news agencies.

"We may have a democratic country, but we live in an organized country and an organized city."

The protest on Saturday, which was intended as a Gay Pride solidarity event as have become common in Western capitals, degenerated into a scrum with women hurling eggs and fruit at the activists, while shouting "Moscow is not Sodom".

Riot police detained several dozen neo-fascist skinheads who wanted to break up the protest.

Luzhkov, who has run Russia's capital almost as a private fiefdom since 1992, said his anticipation of such a public reaction to the gays' plans had led him to ban the march to ensure the safety of all.

"These gays wanted to lay flowers at the grave of the unknown warrior. This is a provocation. It is desecration of a sacred place," he said.

He rejected the gays' argument that the eternal flame is a monument to all those oppressed by fascism.

"These gays go there, and openly go up to the monument. It is a contamination. People burst through and of course they beat them up," he said.

Gay activists, who were arrested when they arrived at the park with flowers, said the mere fact of holding the protest was a victory.

Gay parade banned in Moscow for reasons of participants safety.
30.05.2006, 22.37

MOSCOW, May 30 (Itar-Tass) -- A sexual minorities parade in Moscow was prohibited for reasons of safety of its participants, Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov said in a live broadcast of central television on Tuesday.

He said, “The decision to deny permission to a group of activists to stage an action of representatives of sexual minorities was not my whim, but the will of Muscovites, who protested against this action.” “Protests against the gay parade came from religious confessions, while l, personally, believe such manifestations of human life should not be flaunted.”

Meanwhile, he said, the main reason for the ban was “the need to ensure safety of homosexuals whom we regard Muscovites the same as people of traditional sexual orientation,” the mayor said. He noted that “a number of aggressively-inclined organizations whose fascist actions we check” came out against the parade.

Luzhkov described as a provocation the attempt of activists of the gay movement to place wreaths at the Unknown Soldier’s Tomb. “This place is sacred to everyone, and using it for agitation and for furthering someone’ s interests should be regarded as desecration,” the mayor said. He spoke sharply against statements of a number of European politicians who disapproved of the ban on the gay parade in the Russian capital. “They may have different moral notions, but they should respect traditions and the way of life in our country,” Luzhkov said.

Police detained some 120 people in connection with the attempt of activists of the gay movement to hold an unsanctioned action in downtown Moscow on May 27. There were among them representatives of sexual minorities and of organizations that objected to the gay parade.



モスクワ・プライドは、暴力・負傷・逮捕に終わってしまった - ILGA