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Moscow Gay Activists Want to Publicly Back a Pro-Gay Putin Statement





Moscow’s gay-rights activists have requested permission to hold a small-scale rally of up to just 20 people in support of Putin’s recent statement, in which the Russian president called to respect LGBT rights.

GayRussia.Ru, a Russian gay news portal, reported Wednesday the hour-long rally was set for today, 1pm (9am GMT) in the downtown Novopushkinsky park.
Nikolai Alekseyev, the organizer of the pro-Putin rally and the founder of Moscow’s Gay Pride movement, said he had submitted the request back on November 21.
The demonstration is aimed at spreading the message Putin delivered in a speech on November 20, where he called on the nation to fight xenophobic sentiment.
“We must not feed xenophobic sentiment in the society towards any groups, including people of non-traditional sexual orientation,” Putin said at a Kremlin meeting with Russia’s minority parties.
The statement followed a barrage of criticism over the signing of a notorious law that banned gay propaganda among children.
Putin stressed the legislation was only to protect minors from premature exposure to LGBT content, but urged the nation not to discriminate against gays and lesbians as such.
In his Twitter blog, gay-rights activist Nikolai Alekseyev pointed out that “if the Moscow authority voids the freedom of speech and prohibits us to directly quote the Russian president, it will show just how absurd the current political system has become in its profound disrespect of the fundamental freedoms of speech and assembly.”
Alekseyev also claimed the goals of the rally were thrashed out to leave no leeway for the city authority to rebuff their request. “His [Putin's] words were cited in the rally manifesto almost in full,” the activist said.
Voice of Russia, GayRussia.Ru

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