Job Cohen: "A mayor is only a real mayor if he supports all citizens of the city"
Early March, Job Cohen, the Mayor of Amsterdam, wrote to Yuri Luzhkov - his Moscow counterpart - asking him not to ban the planned Moscow Gay Pride.
“A mayor is only a real mayor if he supports all citizens of the city. The smaller a group, the more protection they deserve by the authorties, in a safe environment,” - wrote Cohen to Luzhkov.
His letter was sent shortly after the meeting of the “M4” last February in Berlin which gathered the mayors of the London, Paris, Berlin and Moscow to talk about environement at a 2 days seminar.
Joint press conference at the closing of the meeting was a hard time for Luzhkov when he declared homosexuality as “unnatural” while seating next to gay mayors of Paris and Berlin.
A day before, Ken Livingstone, gay friendly Mayor of London already called him to change his opinion about gay prides.
Yesterday Cohen wrote to the Mayors of Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius, Warsaw, Prague, Vienna, Lisbon and Dublin as well as to Franco Frattini, European Commissioner for justice.
Frattini took part in the EU parliament session last January which passed a resolution against homophobia in Europe.
In his letter, Cohen says he is "concerned" by measures in some cities to ban gay demonstrations.
He calls on mayors to "adhere to the Universal declaration of human rights, and to do everything in your political power to open up marriage for same-sex couples and safeguard the right of public demonstrations in your city".
The Moscow Gay Pride - a “premiere” in Russia, a country in which such event never passed until now – is due to take place in a month from now, on May 27th on the 13th anniversary of decriminalization of same-sex relations in Russia.
Organizers say they will apply to the Moscow city hall 15 days before the event as per Russian laws.
“We have good faith that Yuri Luzhkov will allow the event," - they claim.
The Gay Pride is part of a broader festival which also includes a Nordic Cultural festival, a conference of Merlin Holland, Oscar Wilde’s grandson, as well as the International IDAHO conference against homophobia and a party with the French singer of the 80’s Desireless.
GayRussia.Ru
