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Moscow Pride
Moscow Pride
Moscow Pride 2009 will be held on the day of the Eurovision final
"For the last two years Pride has been banned by the Mayor of Moscow, who has branded gay rights activists as 'Satanic'"
Organisers of next year’s Moscow Pride have announced it will be held on 16th May, the same day as the Eurovision Song Contest final show.
As the winners of this years Eurovision Song Contest, Russia will be hosting next years ceremony and organiser Nicolas Alexeyev told the Interfax news agency that they have scheduled the Pride to co-incide with the contest.
He went on to say,
"Russia must show that it is part of the civilised world, of the European family, that it is tolerant and that it is possible to conduct public actions of sexual minorities in Moscow"
For the last two years Pride has been banned by the Mayor of Moscow, who has branded gay rights activists as “Satanic”. Smaller-scaled events have been marred by anti-gay violence.
Last month a small group of gay activists staged short protests in front of Moscow City Hall without being arrested, but four of the protesters were later taken in for questioning after hours of siege which ended in four of the protesters being held over night and charged with taking part in an unauthorised demonstration and failing to obey police orders.
Russia has notoriously poor gay-relations only emphasised by the heavy handed police responses and the Mayor of Moscow's comments that any marches would "endanger public order and cause negative reaction of the majority of the population."
