OUR LATEST ISSUE
'We need a social whip or something like that, not a liberal ginger cake,' he says
Yuri Luzhkov
Moscow mayor denounces gay pride as 'satanic' - again
The mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, has once again said he will never allow a gay pride event to take place in his city, describing them as "satanic".
A devoted Orthodox Christian, Luzhkov has consistently banned gay parades, including the Moscow Pride events organised by activist Nikolai Alekseev.
Alekseev and British human rights activist Peter Tatchell were arrested and fined when Moscow police violently broke up a gay pride rally on the day of the Eurovision final in 2009.
Today, news agency Interfax quoted Luzhkov as saying: "For several years, Moscow has experienced unprecedented pressure to conduct a gay pride event, which cannot be called anything but a satanic act.
"We have prevented such a parade and we will not allow it in the future. Everyone needs to accept that as an axiom."
He added: "It's high time that we stop propagating nonsense discussions about human rights, and bring to bear on them the full force and justice of the law.
"We need a social whip or something like that, not a liberal ginger cake."
Luzhkov's comments are similar to those he made regarding a 2006 attempt to stage a parade, which he blamed on Western organisations who gave money to activists wanting to extend "this kind of enlightenment" to Russia.
"We think that destructive sects and open propaganda of same-sex so-called love are inadmissible," he said.
Alekseev said that plans for a 2010 march on May 29 would go ahead, regardless of Luzhkov's statement.
