Wednesday 20 May 2009

Statement on Slavic Pride and Peter Tatchell


Yesterday Peter Tatchell was writing in Comment is Free in the Guardian about what happened last Saturday in Moscow and the reaction of the Russian LGBT community. I replied there with a press release which I issued yesterday as a European Parliamentary Candidate for London. Peter has sent a message of thanks. The Greens across Europe are also responding to this situation.


The statement is as follows:


Responding to the attack on Peter Tatchell and the attempt to stage a Slavic Pride March in Moscow, Green European Parliamentary Candidate for London, Joseph Healy said: “ As a gay man and a supporter of the right of all citizens to freedom of expression, I am shocked and horrified at the behaviour of the Russian authorities in suppressing a Gay Pride March in Moscow, while allowing an anti-gay protest to go ahead.


I call upon the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, to contact his opposite number in Moscow, Mayor Luzhkov, to protest about this oppression of LGBT people in Russia. I salute the courage of Peter Tatchell and totally support his efforts in Moscow. Green MEPs in London and across Europe will continue campaigning for LGBT rights in Russia and across Eastern Europe and will not let up until Russia’s LGBT citizens have full freedom of expression under the terms of the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Russia is a signatory.”

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