RUSSIA: A Russian biology teacher says he was fired over attending a protest against an anti-gay bill passed by Russia's parliament

Record ID: 277776

  • Title: RUSSIA: A Russian biology teacher says he was fired over attending a protest against an anti-gay bill passed by Russia's parliament
  • Date: 29th January 2013
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF STUDENTS IN SCHOOL HALLWAY
  • Embargoed: 13th February 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9LADXBC3MXMDSOZRY0CI7MTF4
  • Story Text: A Russian biology teacher said on Tuesday (January 25) that he had been fired after attending protest over an anti-gay law being voted on in Russia's State Duma.

    "Well, here's what happened. You know, on Friday I came to the building of Russian Parliament - the State Duma, because I knew there would be a first voting for the new law, a federal-level law, which will efficiently outlaw homosexuality. It is called the law against homosexual propoganda, and that pretty much means that it's an open season against any, you know, gay teenager, or gay couple, or their children for that matter," biology teacher Ilya Kolmanovsky said.
    The decision to fire Kolmanovsky, who is an award-winning instructor at one of Moscow's top public schools, came after what Kolmanovsky said was a slew of hate mail.

    "In 24 hours the school administration started receiving hate mail, essentially. They started receiving messages through the school website signed as if by the parents of my pupils, and I'm sure these were not the parents of my pupils," Kolmanovsky said.

    "Monday morning - which is what? Three days after this protest - three days after the protest - I had a meeting with the principal at his office where he said, 'You see, I have received six such messages.' And there were printouts on his table. And he doesn't understand that they could, you know, send two hundred of those, 'And I took a difficult decision to fire you. I fire you to save the school. They are threatening that they, if we don't remove you, if we don't protect children from you and your influence, they will complain," he added.
    The biology teacher, however, said that he would not leave his position at the school without a fight.

    "So he takes this decision. And I'm asking him, 'Is this the final decision?' And he says yes. And I'm telling him, look, I'm sorry but I'm not quitting - you'll have to fire me officially, and I will sue, because I feel this is my duty for the children and for the civil society. No one should be fired for expressing their views," Kolmanovsky said.
    According to the school's principal Vladimir Ovchinnikov, however, Kolmanovsky was never fired.

    "No one fired him. What does it mean to be fired? It is to receive a written order, or a copy of this order. If it's a full-time employee, this means a notation in his employment booklet - isn't that right? None of that has happened," Ovchinnikov said.

    "A school must be maximally free from all political activity. This is written in the constitution - in both the old and the new law, and I think that that is right. A school has other objectives. If he - Kolmanovsky - regarded this (the protest) as a political action, then he should not have gone," the principal added.
    The draft law that Kolmanovsky was protesting would ban "homosexual propaganda" in what critics see as an attempt to shore up support for President Vladimir Putin in the country's largely conservative society.
    The legislation has served to deepen divisions in society since Putin returned to the presidency in May and began moves seen by the opposition as designed to crack down on dissent and smother civil society.
    In a sign of the passions caused by the bill, clashes broke out between supporters and opponents outside the Duma, a few hundred metres from the Kremlin in central Moscow.
    The measure must be passed in three readings by the lower house, approved by the upper house and then signed by Putin to go into force. It would ban the promotion of gay events across Russia and impose fines of up 500,000 roubles ($16,600) on organisers.
    In Moscow, city authorities have repeatedly declined permission to stage gay parades and gay rights' allies have often ended in arrests and clashes with anti-gay activists.
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