Nikolai Alexeyev

British actor Stephen Fry on Thursday clashed with the Russian politician behind a controversial law in the second city of Saint Petersburg that activists see as violating the rights of gays.

The Moscow City Court on Thursday upheld a lower court's ruling banning Gay Pride parades in Moscow until the year 2112. ?The Moscow City Court on Thursday upheld a lower court's ruling banning Gay Pride parades in Moscow until the year 2112. The ruling comes after gay rights activists attempted an end run around City Hall by submitting last year requests to hold such events for the next 100 years. The court dismissed the requests and issued a 100-year ban on Gay Pride parades, Gayrussia.ru reported. Nikolai Alexeyev, who helms GayRussia, told the website that he would appeal the decision to the European Court on Human Rights in Strasbourg. ?This ruling reminds us that Pride is every bit as meaningful today as it was after Stonewall in 1969 ? millions around the world are still fighting for the basic right to live openly and love who they choose,? Andre Banks, executive director of human rights group AllOut.org, said in a statement. ?Much like that memorable summer, this fight will con

Moscow police Sunday thwarted an attempt to hold a small gay pride rally in the Russian capital, arresting both homosexual activists and anti-gay conservatives who showed up, an AFP correspondent said.

Nikolai Alexeyev was among the roughly dozen activists arrested Sunday attempting to hold a Gay Pride parade in downtown Moscow. Nikolai Alexeyev was among the roughly dozen activists arrested Sunday attempting to hold a Gay Pride parade in downtown Moscow. The administration of Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin had rejected the activists' application to hold a Gay Pride event in the city for the seventh year in a row. Organizer Alexeyev said the rally would be staged without the city's authorization. The event was supposed to celebrate the 19th anniversary of the decriminalization of gay relations in Russia, RIA-Novosti reported. The activists were arrested outside the Moscow City Duma (City Council). The Moscow Times reported that three of those arrested were Orthodox Christian activists who planned to disrupted the protest. Other reports showed a man holding a rainbow flag being physically attacked by an anti-gay rights demonstrator. Former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov aggressively shut dow

The administration of Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin has rejected an application to hold a Gay Pride event in the city. The administration of Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin has rejected an application to hold a Gay Pride event in the city, marking the seventh consecutive rejection for gay rights advocates in Moscow. The event, a May 27 march from the downtown Turgenevskya metro station to Revolution Square, was supposed to celebrate the 19th anniversary of the decriminalization of gay relations in Russia. Gay activists have challenged previous rejections in the European Court of Human Rights. In 2010, the court agreed that such bans were illegal. ?We'll appeal in the Tverskoi court on Monday, we disagree with the refusal,? gay activist Nikolai Alexeyev told Ria Novosti. ?We'll hold the rally in any case.? Former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov aggressively shut down any unauthorized pro-gay demonstrations, which he called ?Satanic acts? and ?one of the factors in the spread of HIV infection.? Lu

The White House on Sunday denounced the arrests of 18 gay activists attempting to hold a Gay Pride parade in Moscow. The White House on Sunday denounced the arrests of 18 gay activists attempting to hold a Gay Pride parade in Moscow on Saturday. Among the detained were Americans Lt. Dan Choi and Andy Thayer and France's Louis-Georges Tin. Police also arrested 14 opponents. ?We note with concern that in Moscow on Saturday, May 28, a peaceable demonstration of Russians advocating for the rights of gays and lesbians, joined by international supporters, was forcefully disrupted by counter-protesters, and that Russian security forces then detained people from both groups, including American citizens. Some protestors were seriously injured according to media reports,? U.S. State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner said. ?Freedom of assembly is a fundamental right all members of the OSCE committed to, including in the Moscow declaration and as recently as the Astana summit. As nationwide l

Moscow police arrest 18 people, including Dan Choi, Andy Thayer and Louis-Georges Tin, at Moscow Gay Pride parade. Americans Lt. Dan Choi and Andy Thayer and France's Louis-Georges Tin were among the 18 arrested Saturday attempting to? hold a Gay Pride parade in Moscow, the AP reported. Maxim Kolosvegtov, a police spokesman, told Russian news agencies that 14 opponents were also arrested. The administration of Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin last week rejected an application to hold a Gay Pride event in the city, stunning gay rights activists who were led to believe that authorities would allow the event to proceed for the first time in six years. Officials cited a risk to public order in announcing their decision. Activists made two attempts to hold demonstrations: one at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside the Kremlin and later outside Sobyanin's office. Nikolai Alexeyev, who helms Moscow Gay Pride, told CNN that an ultra-Orthodox group attacked them as soon as they unfurled their b

Moscow has authorised the city's first gay pride parade after seeing similar unsanctioned rallies degenerate into mass arrests and Western condemnation, organisers said Tuesday.

Moscow authorities on Tuesday agreed to allow for the first time a Gay Pride march to proceed. Moscow authorities on Tuesday agreed to allow for the first time a Gay Pride march to proceed, The Moscow News reported. Gay rights activists were jubilant at the news. ?This is a crippling blow to Russian homophobia on all counts,? Nikolai Alexeyev, head of Moscow Pride, said. The former administration of Yury Luzhkov banned such events for the past five years and aggressively shut down any unauthorized demonstrations. Last January, Luzhkov vowed to ?crack down? on gay pride parades. ?For several years, Moscow has experienced unprecedented pressure to conduct a gay pride parade, which cannot be called anything but a Satanic act,? Luzhkov said. ?We have prevented such a parade and we will not allow it in the future. Everyone needs to accept this as an axiom.? ?It is high time to crack down on the parade with all the power and justice of the law, instead of talking about human rights,? he adde

Sergei Sobyanin immediately vowed to crack down on the corruption that critics allege blossomed under his powerful predecessor but the opposition slammed the selection process as a pre-ordained farce.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The European Court of Human Rights said on Thursday it had fined Russia for banning homosexual parades in Moscow, marking a victory for the country's marginalized gay community.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A small group of activists held the first gay rights demonstration in Moscow without hindrance from city authorities on Friday, saying there had been a change of policy since the dismissal of Mayor Yuri Luzhkov.

Gay rights activists said they held their first sanctioned picket in Moscow on Friday following the sacking earlier this week of openly homophobic Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, who called gay parades "satanic."

Police detain anti-gay protesters at Russia's first-ever sanctioned gay rights rally. Moscow police on Friday detained several gay rights opponents at the first sanctioned gay rights protest in years, marking a sharp reversal of policy after last week's dismissal of the city's notoriously intolerant mayor.

Russian gay rights activist says he was seized by agents, pressured to withdraw court cases. A prominent Russian gay rights activist who vanished from a Moscow airport this week said Saturday he is back in the capital after being held for more than two days by men he believes were state security agents.

Russian gay rights activists detained at St. Petersburg museum after unannounced rally. Russian police on Saturday detained several gay rights activists in a public courtyard within St. Petersburg's noted State Hermitage Museum, apparently for holding an unsanctioned rally.

Five gay rights activists were arrested on Saturday at an unsanctioned gay pride protest in Russia's second city of Saint Petersburg, an AFP correspondent reported.

Six gay activists were arrested Saturday attempting to hold an unsanctioned gay pride rally in St. Petersburg, Russia.. ??Six gay activists were arrested Saturday attempting to hold an unsanctioned gay pride rally in St. Petersburg, Russia. About 30 gay rights activists gathered in a public courtyard within the city's State Hermitage Museum and chanted ?Homophobia the shame of the country? and ?Marriage rights without compromises.? Police quickly swooped in to collar six people, who offered little resistance. The demonstration comes after St. Petersburg officials followed in the steps of three other Russian cities ? Moscow, Tambov and Ryazan ? in banning such demonstrations, gay newssite UKGayNews.org.uk reported. Two applications by the St. Petersburg Gay Pride committee outlining six separate parade routes were rejected by authorities. But on Thursday, City Hall OK'd a demonstration to be held on the same day by the group Molodaya, the youth wing of the United Russia party helmed by

2 short gay pride parades take place in Moscow amid strict policing, no arrests reported. Two Gay Pride parades were held without arrests in Moscow on Saturday, the first time the notoriously intolerant Russian authorities have not intervened since the inaugural attempt to hold the event in the capital in 2006.

Gay rights activists vowed on Thursday to go ahead with a gay pride demonstration in Moscow this weekend, despite a ban by the city authorities.