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The Russian courts certainly seem intent upon raining on our gay parade.
Moscow city court has apparently upheld a goverment decision to turn down LGBT activists’ request for permission to hold gay pride parades for the next 100 years!
100 years. That's a long time to be on the wrong side of history.
More after the jump!
According to Reuters, "Earlier, Tverskoy district court ruled lawful the decision of the Moscow municipal government to ban public events that can be qualified as gay parades from March 2012 till May 2112."
One of the leaders of the Russian LGBT community and organizer of gay pride events, Nikolay Alekseyev, says he intends to appeal the decision in the Moscow City Court Presidium, and ultimately to the European Court of Human Rights if the Court Presidium rules against him.
Alekseyev tells reporters that in 2011, submitted requests for 102 gay pride parades to the Moscow Mayor’s office based on a loophole in Russian legislation.
Alekseyev says all they received in return was a letter with a quote from regulations; the law obliges Moscow authorities to either allow or ban the planned event within 15 days.
Reuters reports that "Alekseyev admitted that he and his comrades never hoped to actually receive a license for the parade but simply needed a formal excuse to turn to the European Human Rights Court."
Alexseyev notes, “They refuse our requests every time, but in Strasbourg they recognize these rulings as unlawful. But time does not stand still, we ask for a new event and again they refuse us."
It looks like Alekseyev and his LGBT compatriots and allies are in this for the long haul. Let's hope the European Court of Human Rights can do right by them (and that their presumably positive ruling will be enforced).
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