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Moscow gay rights violently supressed - video

May 16th 2009 21:30

UPDATE

Moscow police violently prevented the gay pride demonstration:

Please ask the organisers of Eurovision to halt the contest.

Eurovision Director General - Jean Reveillon - ebu@ebu.ch

Stefan Kuerten - Eurovision Operations Department - kuerten@eurovision.net
Jeff Dubin - News & events - dubin@eurovision.net
Svante Stockselius - Song contests unit - stockselius@ebu.ch

END UPDATE

According to daily paper Moskovski Komsomolets (MK), Moscow police are planning to arrest the Moscow Pride leader Nikolai Alekseev today, Friday.

Nikolai has organised a gay pride march for Saturday, one day before IDAHO, the International Day Against Homophobia.

Australian/British activist Peter Tatchell is in Moscow to attend the pride march despite bing bashed at last years march.

Peter Tatchell under attack, Moscow Pride 2008

I spoke with Nikolai on Wednesday for the Rainbow Report: you can download the podcasts parts one and two here.

Part One
Nikolai talks about the gay pride march planned for Saturday, Eurovision Song Contest Final day.
Really Long Link

Russian rightwingers opposing Moscow Gay Pride 2008

Part Two
Nikolai talks about what it's like to be gay in Putin's Russia.
Really Long Link

Please ask the organisers of Eurovision to halt the contest unless Nikolai is allowed to protest freely, as is his democratic right. Oppose the Mayors ban.

Eurovision Director General - Jean Reveillon - ebu@ebu.ch
Stefan Kuerten - Eurovision Operations Department - kuerten@eurovision.net
Jeff Dubin - News & events - dubin@eurovision.net
Svante Stockselius - Song contests unit - stockselius@ebu.ch

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Posted By: Doug Pollard - Category: TV, censorship, discrimination, equality, gay lesbian politics, equal rights, popular culture, religion, social commentary, world politics

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Rainbow Report - Moscow Special

May 14th 2009 22:25

Russian gay leader Nikolai Alexeyev under attack by far right anti-gay extremists and police in Moscow

Interview with Nikolai Alexeyev, leader of Slavic Pride, speaking from Moscow on the eve of IDAHO and Eurovision.

Thousands of lesbians and gays around the world will be celebrating the Eurovision Song Contest final in Moscow this weekend.

But for Moscows gay community it’s an opportunity to demand their rights before the worlds media. Although it isn’t illegal to be gay in Russia, there is endemic homophobia, and gay-bashing by far-right extremists, skinheads and religious fanatics of the Orthodox Church. Gay life is only possible at all in the major cities, and deeply closeted.

Slavic Pride will take place this year to coincide with the song contest (and the International Day Against Homophobia), with a parade through Moscow on Saturday. Organiser Nikolai Alexeev is inviting all gays and lesbians, their friends and supporters visiting Moscow for Eurovision, to join the locals in the parade. Activists from the USA and Britain have already said they will be there.

Participating is not without risk. Officially, the march has been banned. The British Foreign Office is warning gay and lesbian tourists of potential violence.

This will be the fourth year that a pride march in Moscow will go ahead in spite of a ban. It will probably also be the fourth year that participants are attacked by violent thugs and priests. An anti-gay protest has been given official approval.

The police will, as usual, be present in large numbers, but will probably once again do nothing to protect the marchers. Except that this time there will probably be many members of the world press there, too.

Nikolai is also asking audience members and artists appearing in the Song Contest to wear gay pride symbols in support. The Dutch entry has threatened to boycott the contest if there is anti-gay violence on the streets of Moscow and the authorities fail to protect the marchers.

Listen to Nikolai on the Rainbow Report tonight May 14.

ASK EUROVISION TO HELP

You can do your part: contact Eurovision and ask them to cancel the broadcast if the authorities fail to protect gays and lesbians at the Slavic Pride parade. Ask them to allow demonstrations of support for gay rights by song contest participants.

Eurovision Director General - Jean Reveillon - ebu@ebu.ch

Stefan Kuerten - Eurovision Operations Department - kuerten@eurovision.net

Jeff Dubin - News & events - dubin@eurovision.net

Svante Stockselius - Song contests unit - stockselius@ebu.ch

ALSO TONIGHT

Also on tonights show: Melbourne gets its first gay rugby union club, and the census starts counting married gay couples.

UPDATE: Melbourne Gay Rugby is looking for players, a coach, fundraisers, marketers, administrators and supporters - and a name!

Email melbournegayrugby@gmail.com, SMS 0424 108 708 or check out Melbourne Gay Rugby on Facebook.

The Rainbow Report, Joy 94.9 FM in Melbourne and streaming worldwide www.joy.org.au, 1900 – 2000 hrs Australian Eastern Standard Time. Podcasts available at the website or via iTunes.

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Posted By: Doug Pollard - Category: censorship, discrimination, equality, gay lesbian politics, equal rights, popular culture, religion, social commentary

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The Inauguration Prayer You Weren't Allowed to Hear or See - Obama Team says 'we stuffed up'

January 19th 2009 19:21

The invisible and inaudible Bishop Gene Robinson

Conspiracy or stuff-up - the jury is out, on why out-gay Bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson, was missing from the broadcast of "We Are One" Really Long Link for up to date info.

So here is Bishop Robinson's wonderful invocation, in full:

A Prayer for the Nation and Our Next President, Barack Obama By The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire

Opening Inaugural Event, Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC, January 18, 2009

Welcome to Washington! The fun is about to begin, but first, please join me in pausing for a moment, to ask God’s blessing upon our nation and our next president.

O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…

Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Bless us with discomfort – at the easy, simplistic “answers” we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

Bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be “fixed” anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.

Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.

Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.

Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.

And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.

Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people.

Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.

Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.

Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.

And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking FAR too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.

AMEN.

Update: Obama says 'it was our fault' - Really Long Link

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Posted By: Doug Pollard - Category: TV, US politics, censorship, equality, gay lesbian politics, equal marriage, equal rights, religion

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Don’t let them kill the kids

July 24th 2008 07:59

Gay Straight Alliances Save Lives

If there’s one thing that gets me steaming mad it’s those so called compassionate loving etc. pseudo-Christians who try to block sex ed from including gay topics, oppose gay-straight alliances in schools, and generally try to keep kids in ignorance and fear.

And now this, which really has me infuriated

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