News on Yuri Luzhkov

Moscow OKs First Gay Pride March

2011-04-26T08:30:11Z

Moscow authorities on Tuesday agreed to allow for the first time a Gay Pride march to proceed

Moscow authorities on Tuesday agreed to allow for the first time a Gay Pride march to proceed, The Moscow News reported.

Gay rights activists were jubilant at the news. “This is a crippling blow to Russian homophobia on all counts,” Nikolai ...

Moscow gays hold first unimpeded rights protest

2010-10-13T14:34:00Z

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A small group of activists held the first gay rights demonstration in Moscow without hindrance from city authorities on Friday, saying there had been a change of policy since the dismissal of Mayor Yuri Luzhkov.

Luzhkov, an opponent of gay rights, was sacked after 18 years i...

Police break up gay rally in Russian capital

2010-09-21T16:30:59Z

Russian police disperse gay rally in Moscow, detain at least a dozen protesters

Police dispersed a gay rally Tuesday and detained at least a dozen protesters in the Russian capital.

The two dozen demonstrators had been protesting the policies of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who has called homosexuals "satanic" and thwarted attempts to hold a gay pri...

Abduction Was 'Really Frightening', Says Russian Gay Activist Nikolai Alekseev

2010-09-21T13:13:37Z

Prominent Russian gay activist Nikolai Alekseev, who was abducted Wednesday by security officials, said the ordeal was 'really frightening'

Prominent Russian gay activist Nikolai Alekseev (also spelled Alexeyev), who was abducted Wednesday by security officials, said the ordeal was “really frightening,” the AP reported.

Alekseev is the organizer of Prominent Russian gay activist Nikolai Alekseev was arrested Wednesday at Moscow's Domodedovo airport

Prominent Russian gay activist Nikolai Alekseev (also spelled Alexeyev) was arrested Wednesday at Moscow's Domodedovo airport, Russian news agency Moscow street Saturday, flouting the city authorities' ban on a gay pride event in a "cat and mouse game" with police.

The activists, led by Russian Nikolai Alexeyev and also including British campaigner Peter Tatchell and German MP Volker Beck, ran...

Moscow Mayor Vows To 'Crack Down' On Gay Parades

2010-04-16T07:21:46Z

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov vowed on Monday to 'crack down' on gay parades

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov vowed on Monday to “crack down” on gay parades, UKGayNews.org.uk reported.

“For several years, Moscow has experienced unprecedented pressure to conduct a gay pride parade, which cannot be called anything but a Satanic act,” Luzhkov said. “We have prevented ...

Drag queen movie challenges Russian attitudes

2010-04-16T09:42:37Z

Resplendent in pink satin and ostrich feathers, a drag queen runs through a tumbledown Russian village, miming to Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive".

Just one of the startling scenes from "Jolly Fellows" (Veselchaki) -- the first mainstream Russian film about drag queens in a country where gays still face an uphill struggle to have basic rights recognised.

The bitter conclusion of the film is that survival is far from gu...

Russian Gay Activists Disappointed With Clinton

2010-04-16T09:49:31Z

Russian gay activists say they are disappointed with Secretary Clinton for not raising the issue of anti-gay sentiment in Russia

Russian gay activists said Wednesday they were disappointed with U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton for not raising the issue of anti-gay sentiment during a two-day trip to Russia.

Gay activists hoped Clinton would use the unveiling of a statue of gay icon Moscow's veteran mayor in a ruling that they described as a blow to human dignity in Russia.

The suit had been filed after Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, speaking on television in June, called Russian gay activists seeking to organize a gay pride parade "g...

Russia gays to take mayor to court over "queer" jibe

2010-04-16T11:58:48Z

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Gay rights activists in Moscow plan to take the city's rampantly homophobic mayor to court for insulting their dignity during an interview in which he said "queers" undermined a morally healthy society.

A Moscow court rejected a previous case made by gay rights campaigners against 72-year-old mayor Yuri ...

As Russia Gay Pride Nears, Tensions Escalate

2010-04-16T15:54:15Z

Gay activists in Russia prepare for gay pride celebrations in May; to include Eurovision support

An unfolding of events in Russia's gay rights movement threatens to bring tensions to a dramatic climax at a popular European singing contest.

The annual Eurovision Song Contest and gay pride events will coincide this year in Moscow. Gay activists say they will ask Eurovis...

Moscow Police Spying On Gay Groups

2010-04-16T16:07:29Z

A Russian gay website claims Moscow police chief Pronin is spying on gay groups ahead of a gay pride parade

Moscow Police Chief Vladimir Pronin is allegedly spying on gay and lesbian groups via various electronic media, reports the Moscow-based website Gay Russia (www.gayrussia.ru).

The website has publis...

Moscow Mayor Warns Gay Pride Organizers

2010-04-16T13:51:46Z

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov has warned gay pride organizers not to stage their annual demonstration

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov has as much as warned gay pride organizers not to stage their May 16 gay pride and march celebration planned to coincide with the finale of the Eurovision song contest to be held in the city, reports the This week: HIV linked to gay rights, recalcitrant demonstrators get dressed down, and hello 'Ciao'

Inciting fear and hatred of gays and lesbians doesn't seem to take a holiday.

In Russia, only days after the world united against HIV during the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day, Moscow mayor Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov attends a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to mark Defenders of the Fatherland Day in Moscow. Russia's president fired Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov on Tuesday, ending the 18-year reign of a man who gave the crumbling capital a glamorous facelift but was maligned for...

Russia Luzhkov

2010-09-28T00:30:28Z

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov reacts during the Unesco's early childhood care conference in Moscow, Russia, on Monday, Sept. 27, 2010. Yuri Luzhkov, who has been Moscow's mayor for the last 18 years, is back from his vacation and said he wouldn't resign despite a widely reported public power struggle with