“No protesters, no bomb threats, no provocations, and no venue cancellations.” That was one description of this year’s successful ninth annual QueerFest in St. Petersburg from Polina Andrianova, leader of the Russian LGBT group Coming Out. Continue reading
LGBT rights activists celebrated as the annual QueerFest festival in St. Petersburg got under way without harassment. Continue reading
LGBTIQ residents of St. Petersburg, Russia, were victims of more than 100 human rights abuses last year, including two murders, nearby two dozen hate crimes, and 28 detentions of activists, the LGBTIQ rights group Coming Out says. Continue reading
Police in St. Petersburg, Russia, gave LGBT demonstrators a pleasant surprise: In contrast to previous years’ harassment, police on May 17 protected 300 LGBT people and allies at a rally celebrating the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia. Continue reading
QueerFest 2016, the 8th international LGBTI pride festival of Russia, has concluded on a high note, the festival announced in a press release. Songwriter and performer Sian Evans (of KOSHEEN) sang all-favorites, wished audiences to be themselves, to love and to stay strong, at the closing concert that gathered hundreds of spectators at the venue … Continue reading
News items in this recap mostly were excerpted with slight modifications from two published round-ups of the world’s LGBTI-related news– UNAIDS’s Equal Eyes and ILGA’s LGBulleTIn. Physical attacks and arrests Police arrested about 20 activists supporting the LGBTI community during the annual May Day parade in St. Petersburg, Russia. Two days before the march, Meduza … Continue reading
The Los Angeles Times reports: Activists turn tolerant St. Petersburg into homophobic city By Mansur Mirovalev Timur Bulatov calls himself a “homophobic wolf,” and last summer he found his prey. Dr. Dmitry Isaev led a commission of psychiatrists in St. Petersburg that approved hundreds of sex-change operations. To Bulatov, he was “a henchman of LGBT … Continue reading
Despite its reputation for anti-gay fervor, Russia is home to many supporters of LGBTI people and many advocates for LGBTI people’s human rights. Hundreds of them marched through St. Petersburg on May 1, as Queer Russia reported: Rainbow May Day in St. Petersburg draws hundreds of LGBTs and allies despite threats and curses. On … Continue reading
This month in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Straight Alliance for LGBT Equality presented its booby-prize Golden Enema awards for outrageously anti-gay statements and action. Winners included two homophobic American preachers — Scott Lively and James David Manning — along with Russian officials, a Russian journalist and a Russian singer. This is the group’s announcement of … Continue reading
The organizers of QueerFest in St. Petersburg, Russia, say the 10-day event was a success, despite interference and threats of violence from police and anti-gay extremists. This is their account: Saturday, September 27, Russian “QueerFest” closed with a discussion on art and civil citizenship, and a final concert “St. Petersburg against Homophobia”, visited by 300 … Continue reading
