Moscow Pride '06 : 25 - 27 May 2006
120 delegates from 25 different countries took part to the first Moscow Pride Festival
2006 marked the organization of the first Moscow Pride. Despite the threats received by the organizers and despite several attacks of gay venues on April 30 and May 1, the festival took place as initially planed by the organizers. The aim of the initiative group was to host a grandiose event opened to anyone to show that gays and lesbians issues could be discussed openly. The main part of the festival took place at the Moscow Swissôtel, a 5 star hotel. Several events were organized among which: a Nordic-Russian Homo Festival, a lecture by Oscar Wilde's grandson, the conference of the "International Day Against Homophobia" (IDAHO), and the Moscow Pride protest.
The initiative group applied to conduct a picket in front of the Moscow City Hall and a March in the streets of Moscow. The request was turned down by the city authorities due to "the inability to protect the participants during the public action". The organizers challenged the ban in court. A day before the planed march and picket, a judge of the Tverskoy district court confirmed that the Mayor's decision was taken according to the law. In September, the Moscow City Court gave a similar decision. Nikolai Alekseev filled a complain against Russia in January 2007 at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. In March 2007, the Supreme Court confirmed the legality of the ban. The Russian justice denied to consider the precedent made by the European Court in the case "Baczkowski and Others vs Poland" in which the ban of the Warsaw Pride was judged as breaching the European Convention on Human Rights. As of August 2009, the Moscow Pride ban has not yet been considered by the court. The Court has still not taken a decision of admissibility.
A few hours before the Moscow pride went ahead, the participants of the conference debated and adopted the "Moscow Human Rights Appeal". Today, you still have a chance to add your name to the text endorsed by more than 750 individuals online (sign>>>).
Instead of a march for the rights of sexual minorities, Moscow Pride took place in the form of a large gay bashing by nationalists and the police. With over 5'000 media reports noted in Google News few yhours after the event, the world put an eye on Queer Moscow on May 27, 2006. According to Doug Ireland, a US gay journalist, over 1 billion around the world heard of Moscow Pride '06.
The 3 days of the festival can be watched in "Moscow Pride '06", a documentary which gives a vivid and very exclusive testimony of the first Moscow Pride Festival. It shows images of the different events that took place between May 25 and May 27 including some dramatic images of the gay bashing which took place on May 27 during the attempt to stage the Gay Pride March in the streets of Moscow. Premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2007, the film directed by Vladimir Ivanov and produced by Nikolai Alekseev, was screened in London, Paris, Brussels, Strasbourg, Luzern, and Moscow. The DVD of the Moscow Pride ‘06 Festival is available in a 12' short version in addition to the standard 84' version (more>>>).
In June 2006, the initiative group published the realized budget of the Moscow Pride '06 festival (download).
May 15th 2006 Press Conference at Press Center "NewsInfo"
Moscow Pride '06 Festival
Program of the festival (download)
“OSCAR WILDE. HOMOSEXUALITY & HOMOPHOBIA THROUGH THE CENTURIES”
Thursday, 25 May 2006, 6pm – 8.30pm @ State Library of Foreign Literature
The lecture of Merlin Holland, grandson of Oscar Wilde took place at the State Library of Foreign Literature exactly 111 years after the culmination of the trial of his grand father. Wilde was sentenced on May25th, 1895 to two years of hard labour. Even though so much time passed, homophobia is still rife in today’s society. On this occasion, the two books Trial of Oscar Wilde and Son of Oscar Wilde have been edited in Russian version. Merlin Holland also took part to a signature session at the MOCKBA book shop on Friday May 26th 2005. Ironically, the shop is located right in front of the city hall of Moscow, on the street were anti-gay actions took place the next day during the unauthorized Moscow Pride.
Merlin Holland at the Library of Foreign Literature
NORDIC RUSSIAN HOMO FESTIVAL
Thursday, 25 May 2006, 9am – 6pm @ Swissôtel Krasnye Holmy (Download program)
The Nordic Homo Council and the International Gay & Lesbian Culture Network (IGLCN) organized the stage one of their 2006 conference in Moscow. Cultural performances mixed with exhibitions, movies and lectures took place the whole day at the Swissotel Krasnye Holmy. In the afternoon, the Russian Project Ars-Juventutis, made some presentations of cultural works by Russian artists.
Delegates from Denmark
1st INTERNATIONAL “IDAHO CONFERENCE”
Friday, 26 May 2006, 9am – 6pm @ Swissôtel Krasnye Holmy (Download program)
Saturday, 27 May 2006, 9am – 12pm @ Swissôtel Krasnye Holmy (Download program)
Created by Louis-Georges Tin, world expert in the issues of homophobia, IDAHO stands for International Day Against Homophobia. Moscow was the first city to host an IDAHO conference wich managed to gather 120 activists from 25 different countries. In 2006, Russia was the special focus of IDAHO.
Louis-Georges Tin, Pr. Robert Wintemute, one of the leading world experts in sexual orientation discrimination issues and Nikolai Alekseev, lawyer, expert on legal aspects of homosexuality were co-presidents of the conference. The Moscow Appeal for Human Rights was signed by all the participants at the closing of the conference during a press conference to which over 50 journalists and 16 TV took part.
Closing Press Conference (R. Sanchez, E. Murzin, N. Baiev, N. Alekseev, E. Debrianskaya, LG. Tin, V. Beck)
MOSCOW PRIDE MARCH
Saturday, 27 May 2006, 2.30pm – 3.30pm @ Tverskaya Street
After the local court confirmed the decision of the Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, not to allow the Moscow Pride, the initiative group took the decision to replace it by two separate actions. Participants were invited first, to come individually to bring flowers to the Tomb of the unknown soldier, to commemorate the memory of gays who died during the war in the camps, and second to a picket located right in front of the Moscow City Hall. The request for this picket had been made previously by the Green Party of Russia and no negative answer had been given by the City Hall. Read the report of the pride written by Peter Tatchell.
Police arresting Nikolai Alekseev near the tomb of the unknown soldier and Eugenia Debrianskaya in front of the City Hall
“LA VIE EST BELLE” – CLOSING PARTY
Saturday, 27 May 2006, from 10pm @ Club 3 Monkeys
The party which included a 45 minutes show by French singer DESIRELESS was cancelled by the owner of the gay club 3 Monkeys with a little three hours notice. It was impossible at such short notice to schedule a new location within the same evening. Organizers of the Moscow Pride Festival do not only regret the financial loss that this last minute decision created for the budget of the festival, but most of all, the lack of reliability of gay infrastructure in Moscow. No other gay venues in Moscow were closed on the same night. Erkki Otsman, Estonian singer, was supposed to open the show with a 15mn performance.
DEBRIEFING SESSION
Sunday, 28 May 2006, from 6pm @ Bar Club 12Volt
Local and foreign activists met in the Bar 12 Volt and organized a debriefing of the various events that took place. Activists said that they were happy that they took part to the First historical Moscow Pride and all were ready to come again next year for the second edition.
REPORTS FROM DELEGATES
Robert Wintemute, Professor of law at King's College, London and co-chair of the Moscow IDAHO conference gives a full summary of the Festival
IGLYO coverage of Nordic Russian Homo Festival, IDAHO Conference and Pride march.
Delegate Pass of the '06 Festival
THANKS FROM THE ORGANIZERS TO...
Our first thoughts goes to the people who helped us in Russia and who joined us in our march for equal rights since 2006.
In this respect we want to thank two Russian politicians who showed their strong involvment : Edward Murzin, Member of the Regional Parliament of Bashkortostan and Nikolai Khramov, leader of the Russian Radicals.
We also thank Vasili Adrianov from Youth for Democracy and Reforms of Kaliningrad.
We received also some very strong support outside Russia.
We thank the Mayors of Paris, Berlin, London, Geneva and Amsterdam for their support.
We than the European Politicians who expressed their support to our cause especially Sophie in't Veld, Member of the European Parliament and Volker Beck, Member of Bundestag, who came to Moscow to attend the first unauthorized Moscow Pride.
We thank Peter Tatchell from OutRage! who made us the big honour to be with us in Moscow.
We deeply thank all our friends who came to Moscow from 20 different countries especially to take part with us in the Moscow Pride '06 : Clémentine Autain (Vice Mayor of Paris), Pierre Serne (Head of the LGBT Group of the French Green Party), Yves de Matteis (Municipal Councillor of Geneva), Philippe Lasnier (Advisor of the Mayor of Paris), Jean-Luc Roméro (French Regional Councillor), Robert Wintemute (Professor of Law), Merlin Holland (Writter), Andy Harley (Journalist), Claus Brandt (Lawyer), Dr Thomas Norpoth, Francis Lamberg, Kurt Krickler (HOSI Wien), Tomasz Baczkowski, Lukasz Palucki (Warsaw Pride), Catherine Tripon (L'Autre Cercle), Derek Lennard (IDAHO-UK), Briand Bedford (Chief Editor Spartacus Guide), Bill Schiller (IGLCN), Maxence de Barros (IGLYO), Sergio Lo Giudice (Arcigay), Jacques Teyssier (LSVD), John Fisher (ARC International), Vanja Hamzic, Svyatoslav Sheremet (Gay Forum Ukraine), Jean-Nicolas Tretter (IGLCN USA).
Anti-riot police arresting Philippe Lasnier, advisor to Paris Mayor
INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN OF SUPPORT
European LGBT activists coordinated protest actions in front of the Russian Embassies of London, Paris, Warsaw, Wien and Stockholm on March 2. The activists aimed to protest the homophobic speech made on February 22 by the Mayor of Moscow during the Berlin press conference of the "M4" meeting (meeting of the Mayors of Paris, Berlin, London and Moscow). Yuri Luzhkov faced live critics from the Mayors of Paris and Berlin after answering to journalists that homosexuality is "unnatural". The previous day, the Mayor of London, pressed by several LGBT organizations, leaded by GALHA, has urged Mr Luzhkov to let the Moscow Pride take place.
Peter Tatchell (OutRage!) at the London Protest
