"We can't keep living in the shadows," Alexeyev said in an interview before the rally began. "We deserve the same rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly as anyone else."
Organizers had urged gay-rights supporters to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, just outside the Kremlin wall, before marching to a square opposite Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov's office. But when they arrived, they found that authorities had closed the entrance to the park where the tomb is located, and hundreds of riot police blocked their path.
私たちは、影のような、隠れた存在のまま人生を送るなんて耐えられない。私たちには同等の権利が与えられている──言論の自由と集会の自由だ、誰にでも、何処にいても。
モスクワで同性愛者デモ、実力行使で解散させられる [CNN]
主催者はデモ数時間前の記者会見で、平和的に行動する意向を表明。主催者はデモ参加者らに対し、クレムリンの壁の外に設けられた「無名戦士の墓」に献花し、デモ開催申請を却下したモスクワ市庁舎の向かいにある広場に集まるよう呼びかけた。
２７日はロシア当局が同性愛を非犯罪化してから１３年目にあたる。今週は海外から大勢の活動家がモスクワに集結し、同性愛者の権利に関する関連フォーラムを開催した。こうした行事はロシアでは前例がない。
Moscow pride- an eye witness account [Pink News]
This first Moscow Pride took place, but not as we had planned it —thanks to the combined opposition of Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and the neo-Nazis. The Mayor's homophobia created the atmosphere which gave a green light to the fascists to attack the Moscow Pride participants.
The anti-gay violence and intimidation we experienced shows precisely why Moscow Pride is necessary.
The repression of a handful of lesbian and gay protesters signifies the fear and weakness of the Russian state. We had a moral and political victory, forcing the Moscow authorities to unleash forces of repression comparable with the bad old days of the Soviet era.
