RUSSIA: Moscow police detain gay activists during unsanctioned protest

Record ID: 278143

  • Title: RUSSIA: Moscow police detain gay activists during unsanctioned protest
  • Date: 31st May 2014
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (MAY 31, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF GAY ACTIVISTS DRIVING BY MOSCOW MAYOR'S OFFICE WAVING RAINBOW FLAGS POLICE ON STREET PEOPLE ON SQUARE IN FRONT OF MAYOR'S OFFICE JOURNALISTS AROUND GAY SUPPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) OLGA MAZUROVA, DOCTOR AND GAY SUPPORTER, SAYING: "No one canceled genetics. These people were born, are born and will be born. And no propag
  • Embargoed: 15th June 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVADMKN2S4G3K5BDZZR8CFFL6Z81
  • Story Text: Russian police detained two gay rights activists who tried to protest outside the Moscow mayor's office on Saturday (May 31).
    Women holding rainbow flags were escorted into a police car and taken away.
    Other gay activists, among them the leader of Russian gay community Nikolay Alexeev, drove by the mayor's office waving rainbow flags. Alexeev and other activists wore wigs to appear like Eurovision Song Contest winner and Austrian drag queen Conchita Wurst.
    The protesters are trying to attract attention to a law Russian President Vladimir Putin signed last year banning the spread of "gay propaganda" among minors.
    "No one cancelled genetics. These people were born, are born and will be born. And no propaganda can help to spread it. It is a fact of nature. It is genetics," said Olga Mazurova, a doctor who came to support the activists.
    Russia's law adopted last year bans the dissemination of gay propaganda among minors, and has become a focal point of criticism by the West and human rights activists who say the law is discriminatory and represents a crackdown on rights and freedoms under Putin.
    Gay rights groups say the new law has fueled attacks on homosexuals in Russia, but Putin says it is needed to protect young people.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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