WTF Russia? Madonna, Pussy Riot and the 100 year ban on gay pride.

It’s a scary time for our brothers and sisters in Russia. I can barely imagine what it would be like to be living in  country that is becoming an increasingly scary totalitarian society. Then again if the LNP get in on a federal level here in Australia, god only knows how backwards this country will become. There is a lot of LGBTIQ news coming from Russia and it saddens me to say none of it is good.

A group of ten anti-gay activists are currently suing Madonna after the singer was heard praising equality during her recent concert in St. Peterburg, where  there is a law that bands “homosexual propaganda”, which includes vocally saying nice things about LGBTIQ people.

According to the activists, Madonna’s pro-gay comments has caused them  ”moral suffering” and so according to them they’re each entitled to one million big ones.

“[Madonna] had been warned with words that she should behave in line with the law and she ignored it. So we will speak in the language of money,” plaintiff Darya Dedova reportedly said, according to Reuters.

Another activist worried that Madonna’s LGBTIQ-friendly ways would impact Mother Russia’s procreation rate, “Maybe someone does not see the link but after Madonna’s concert maybe some boy becomes gay, some girl becomes lesbian, fewer children are born as a result and this big country cannot defend its borders – for me it causes moral suffering.”

*rolls eyes*

The group claim that the money will be donated to an orphanage, however I find it highly unlikely they will see the money let alone St. Petersburg see the $17,000 that they fined Madonna for the same very appearance.

Now if the Russia wasn’t crazy enough,  3 woman from the punk collective known as Pussy Riot face two years in prison after being found guilty of “hooliganism” for a recent protest against President Vladimir at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral.

NBC News reports:

“Our imprisonment is a clear and distinct sign that the whole country’s freedom is being taken away,” said member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova. 

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, say their protest on Feb. 21 was intended to highlight the close ties between the Russian Orthodox Church and state, and not to offend believers.

Their feminist punk collective has about 10 members who appear in public in ski masks for anonymous impromptu performances they describe as a form of protest art.

The three members have been held in jail since shortly after the appearance in the cathedral, awaiting the trial, which saw a parade of state witnesses say they were traumatized by the church performance, which prosecutors called an abuse of God.

With Brisbane Pride just around the corner it saddens me to share the news that will never be another legal gay pride held in Moscow during our lifetimes. Moscow’s highest court has ruled that the city’s 100 year ban on LGBT pride parades still stands. However equality activist Nikolay Alexeyev, won’t go down without a fight promising to continue to fight for the civil rights of not not just his own but other’s too.

BBC News reports:

[Alexeyev] had gone to court hoping to overturn the city council’s ban on gay parades.

He had asked for the right to stage such parades for the next 100 years.
…
On Friday he said he would go back to the European Court in Strasbourg to push for a recognition that Moscow’s ban on gay pride marches – past, present and future – was unjust.

The Moscow city government argues that the gay parade would risk causing public disorder and that most Muscovites do not support such an event.

It’s truly heartbreaking to hear news such as this in this day and age. My heart goes out to those in Russia. Stay strong, care for each other and keep fighting the good fight!!!