TransNews Annex

Marching for human rights by Marco Cappato, MEP

Marching for human rights

Regarding the article "Police halt Moscow gay pride rally" (May 28): It is not true that I "traded blows" with a Russian man.

In fact, my aide and I only received blows as we were trying to give to the mayor of Moscow a letter signed by 50 members of the European Parliament requesting authorization for the march of tolerance in accordance with the European Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, to which Russia is bound.

It's not my style to trade blows or to carry out violent protests. I belong to the Nonviolent Transnational Radical Party, an association of citizens, parliamentarians and members of government of various national and political backgrounds who intend to create, through nonviolent methods, an effective body of international law with respect for individuals and the affirmation of democracy and freedom throughout the world.

Marco Cappato, Brussels, Member of the European Parliament

スウェーデンの政治家有志が、モスクワ市長をゲイプライドに招待

Stockholm politicians invite Moscow's mayor to gay pride parade
The Associated Press
Thursday, May 31, 2007

STOCKHOLM, Sweden: A group of Swedish politicians have invited Moscow's Mayor Yuri Luzhkov to Stockholm's gay pride parade in August to experience "the power of love," a spokeswoman said Thursday.

In a letter to Luzhkov, the five members of the Stockholm City Council criticized his "homophobic statements" and urged him to lift a ban on gay pride processions in Moscow.

"It is enormously important that (Russia) moves in the right direction and respects human rights. Being homosexual belongs to those rights," said Liberal Party member Lotta Edholm, one of the co-signers.

On Sunday, Russian police detained gay rights activists, including at least two European lawmakers, as they tried to hold a demonstration in downtown Moscow while members of a hostile crowd punched the activists and pelted them with eggs. Earlier this year, Luzhkov vowed never to allow a gay rights parade, calling such events "satanic."

"Such homophobic statements from a person in your position risk deteriorating an already alarming situation for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people in Russia," the five Stockholm politicians said in the letter sent Tuesday.

They invited Luzhkov to attend the gay pride parade in Stockholm on Aug. 4 "in order for you to see the power of love." Edholm said there had been no immediate reply from the mayor.



German parliament president criticizes lawmaker's detention at Russian gay rights protest

London Mayor issues appeal for end to Pride ban after arrests and violence in Moscow

Press Release
London Mayor issues appeal for end to Pride ban after arrests and violence in Moscow
28-5-2007 320

Following yesterday's violence against lesbian and gay rights demonstrators in Moscow, and the arrest of several of the demonstrators, Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has this morning written to his Moscow counterpart Mayor Luzhkov urging that no charges be brought against those who were demonstrating for lesbian and gay rights.

His letter asks Mayor Luzhkov to 'resolve the root cause of this protest by lifting the ban on the Gay Pride parade in Moscow in line with the practice of most cities throughout the world'.

Below is the letter from Mr Livingstone to Mr Luzhkov:

Dear Mayor Luzhkov,

I am writing to convey my deep concern at the reported physical violence against, and arrest of, Peter Tatchell, a Parliamentary candidate for the Green Party in Britain, and other supporters of lesbian and gay rights, during their participation in an event in Moscow seeking to present a petition to you to lift a ban on the Gay Pride parade in Moscow.

I have known Peter Tatchell for many years and know him to be a person committed exclusively to peaceful political activity.

I would urge you to use your good offices to seek the lifting of all charges against Mr Tatchell and his fellow demonstrators.
I would also urge you to resolve the root cause of this protest by lifting the ban on the Gay Pride parade in Moscow in line with the practice of most cities throughout the world.

Yours sincerely,

Ken Livingstone
Mayor of London


ENDS

Notes to Editors

MEDIA ENQUIRIES: Call the Mayor’s Press Office on 020 7983 4070

GENERAL PUBLIC/NON-MEDIA ENQUIRIES: Call the Public Liaison Unit at the Greater London Authority on 020 7983 4100

DUTY PRESS OFFICER: For out-of-hours media enquiries, please call 020 7983 4000



モスクワプライド：今年も流血の事態に発展

German parliament president criticizes lawmaker's detention at Russian gay rights protest

German parliament president criticizes lawmaker's detention at Russian gay rights protest
The Associated Press
Wednesday, May 30, 2007

BERLIN: Germany's parliament president expressed concern to his Russian counterpart Wednesday over the weekend detention of a German opposition lawmaker at a gay rights demonstration in Moscow.

Green party lawmaker Volker Beck has said police beat him and others and took their passports away Sunday, in what he said authorities called a "security measure."

Parliament President Norbert Lammert, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, voiced "the dismay of the Bundestag," or lower house of parliament, in a letter to Russian speaker Boris Gryzlov, a parliament statement said.

The demonstrators tried to present a letter signed by 40 European lawmakers to the office of Moscow's mayor, appealing at the city's ban on a march they wanted to conduct. Lammert said that should be viewed as "free expression of opinion."

He said he hoped a Russian parliament working group on the protection of minorities' democratic rights would look into the case.

Marco Cappato, a European Parliament deputy from Italy, was also among those detained on Sunday.


モスクワプライド：今年も流血の事態に発展

Reuters: INTERVIEW - Lesbian politician hopes to make Japanese history

Wednesday May 30, 5:35 PM
INTERVIEW - Lesbian politician hopes to make Japanese history

TOKYO (Reuters) - Kanako Otsuji hopes to make history by becoming Japan's first openly lesbian national lawmaker.

Backed by the main opposition party in a nation so conservative that many gays prefer to stay in the closet, Otsuji, 32, would become the first openly gay politician of either sex if she wins a seat in parliament's upper house in a July poll.

A decade ago, she would have been shunned by major political parties, so the simple fact she will run with the backing of the Democratic Party shows progress, Otsuji says.

"Japan still isn't a place where people can come out, so many citizens don't know we are living right alongside them, or what we are suffering," Otsuji told Reuters in an interview.

"People who can come out should become visible, enter politics and gain wider understanding. Then concrete things like anti-discrimination laws will follow."

Otsuji, who served as a local legislator in the western city of Osaka for four years until April, said standing up for gay rights is more important than ever as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seeks to revive traditional values under his slogan of "Beautiful Country, Japan".

"'Beautiful Japan' is a moralistic way of pushing one model and one form of ideal family, but the fact is that there are many different types of family in today's Japan and the more you do this, the more people will be oppressed," she said.

"Japan needs a society where differences are recognised as a form of affluence. To create this, we need minorities like me, who know society's pain, to be in parliament."

Otsuji said she didn't suspect she might be a lesbian until she turned 18, and that the pain and isolation of the five years until she accepted herself eventually led her to enter politics.

"Why did we have to keep on hiding ourselves like this? Why could we only be our true selves in bars?" she said.

"I began to wonder how I could change this so children of the next generation won't have to go through what I did," she added, speaking at her campaign office in Shinjuku Ni-chome, an area on the western side of Tokyo with several hundred gay bars.

CHANGING LAWS

Elected to the Osaka legislature in 2003, she helped change laws to make it easier for same-sex couples to rent public housing. She also fought unsuccessfully last year to keep a Japanese city from amending a rare law that had explicitly banned discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation.

Otsuji came out as a lesbian in 2005. In her autobiography, "Coming Out: A Journey to Find My True Self", she said: "I thought I could give courage to the most people this way."

Her constituents seemed not to mind, but she decided not to run again last April because a revision of legislative districts had reduced her chances of winning.

Early this month, the Democrats officially recognised her as a candidate for the upper house election.

The party decision, which she lauded as "courageous", faced some opposition from people who worried it might lose conservative votes. Some Internet sites have also criticised her.

Japanese media are taking sexual minority issues more seriously these days -- both TV programmes and a comic have dealt with transsexuals in the past year. But social acceptance remains limited and gays are still often shown as comic relief.

Otsuji remains optimistic, noting Japan has no religious prohibitions against homosexuality and that change often comes fast once it begins.

Supporter Mitsuo Fukushima, who heads of a group to promote Ni-chome, said Otsuji's candidacy will help speed that change.

"Having a role model that can be accepted is very important," he said. "Sexual minorities aren't only comic, they're just ordinary people right near you."