On May 27, the attempt to organize the first Gay Pride march in Moscow was cut short. Banned by the Moscow authorities, the demonstration was marred by about a hundred arrests, while skinheads attacked dozens of activists with shouts of "Moscow is not Sodom!" Nevertheless, Nikolai Alekseev, the leader of the organization for the defense of gay rights in Russia, GayRussia, is not discouraged.
INTERVIEW
How did you first become active in this campaign?
NA: My doctoral dissertation dealt with "the legal framework of discrimination based on sexual orientation." Unfortunately, my proposed subject was rejected by the examining committee of the state faculty of Moscow, who expelled me. Not wanting to stop there, however, I took the matter before the European Human Rights Court at Strasbourg.
How did you become one of the foremost representatives of the gay movement?
NA: The gay community was not being offered any perspectives, apart from the possibility of some commercial opportunities profitable to a minority. Therefore I established an informational site, gayrussia.ru, to provide a representative voice for our cause, and also launched the Russian edition of the International Journal Against Homophobia (IDAHO), which was begun in France by Louis-Georges Tin.
What is the history of the gay community in Russia?
NA: There is no historical evidence from the Czarist period. Under Stalin, homosexuality was used as a pretext to send opponents of the regime to the gulags. In spite of all this, even in the soviet era, a little gay bar existed right in the center of Moscow, only a few meters from the town hall!
Today have things changed?
NA: At the beginning of the 1990s police raids on gay bars and clubs were frequent. Then, on May 27, 1993, homosexual relations were decriminalized by President Yeltsin, who wanted to anchor Russia securely in the framework of the Council of Europe. In reality, we began a policy of "nyet, nyet" which translates as "neither improvement of status nor criminalization." Putin's political advisors do not know how to address the question of homosexuality.
Was the violence at the Gay Pride march proof of the homophobia which exists in Russian society?
NA: The pronouncements of religious dignitaries and ultranationalists are often interpreted by journalists and social critics as evidence for pervasive homophobia in our society. But these are false conclusions and apply only to a minority of the population. The counter-demonstrators were a bunch of babushkas [grannies] and provincial skinheads transported to Moscow by bus. They were paid 10-20 euros apiece to show up.
Do you intend to organize a second Gay Pride demonstration?
NA: We certainly do. Now that we know what our opponents are capable of, I can promise you that in the coming year there will be a series of spectacular, peaceful actions. So keep your calendars open!
Interviewed by Guillaume Roche
From l'Humanite
Translated for Political Affairs by Peter Zerner
