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A Refracted Rainbow: Attacks and Bans on Gay Pride Parades (Updated)

6-13-2011

by Fighting Discrimination Program

As we enter the “Pride Season,” with LGBTI events planned across the globe, we’ll update this page with news from gay pride marches threatened by private violent acts and state restrictions.

Split: Gay Pride Under Attack (c) Vojko Bašić/CROPIX

  • (6/23/11) In Saint Petersburg, Russia, city officials denied a permit for a Slavic Gay Pride event. Meanwhile, in Moscow, police detained more than a dozen people, mostly women, holding solo pickets and distributing leaflets in support of gay rights. The Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Kostyuchenko, who made headlines by coming out as lesbian in May, was among the detained activists.
  • (6/12/11) In Split, Croatia, thousands of ultranationalist supporters gathered to protest the town’s first gay pride on June 12. Counterdemonstrators quickly overpowered the police, throwing rocks, firecrackers, bottles, and trash at the marchers. While the police created a buffer zone to protect the marchers, the organizers felt this was not enough to prevent violence, which left five people injured. At least one hundred counterdemonstrators were detained in Split. Croatia’s President and Prime Minister condemned the violence in Split, which came only a day after the country received a final approval for its entry into the European Union in 2013. A further investigation into the attacks has begun. On June 18, a second Croatian pride parade was held in Zagreb. Over 2,000 people attended and no incidents of violence were reported.
  • (6/11/11) In Warsaw, Poland, the police worked to protect the pride demonstration on June 11. Counterdemonstrators tried to throw firecrackers and shouted antigay slurs, which did not stop the parade. Last year, the police similarly had to intervene to protect the marchers in the city that has a decade-long history with gay pride events (including two episodes when the parade was banned in 2004 and 2005, in violation of three articles of the European Convention on Human Rights).
  • (5/28/11) In Moscow, Russia, the authorities denied permission for a Moscow gay pride event for the sixth consecutive year in May. City officials cited numerous letters from public officials, religious organizations and private citizens urging the authorities to prohibit a demonstration. Similar bans were pronounced illegal by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in October 2010. On May 28, a small gay rights demonstration was attacked, leaving several injured, by a crowd of ultranationalist / Orthodox / neo-Nazi supporters. The attackers were not found; instead, the police detained thirty demonstrators who rallied for gay rights in Russia.

Why Pride Parades?

Gay pride parades offer an opportunity for many LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex) individuals to exercise the right to freedom of expression. First organized in New York City in commemoration of the Stonewall riots, pride parades have come to symbolize the resistance to intolerance and bigotry that surround LGBTI people in their daily lives.

Some governments continue restricting peaceful demonstrations by denying permits to organizers of pride marches. While such restrictions are damaging and unacceptable, the authorities have a positive obligation to protect those who exercise their right to free assembly. Thus, LGBTI individuals’ legal right to organize pride events must not be either hindered by government officials or impeded by violent attacks of private individuals.

Despite significant improvements over the past decade, we continue to witness both restrictions and violent attacks on pride parades. Gay pride parades and events, particularly in Eastern and Southeastern Europe and in the former Soviet Union have resulted in political diatribes attacking people of minority sexual orientations from political and other leaders, inadequate police protection, and acts of harassment and violence against the participants. Police is often the difference-maker when counterdemonstrations gather to protest against the pride marches.

See more: Human Rights First and LGBTI rights.


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Posted in Blog | 3 Comments »

  • http://no.com mario

    Your Attacking Croatia? in face of you defending EU and Serbia—aggression on Coatia. Shame on you and EU petty threats and blackmails. Your organization that can barely utter the word “genocide” while hundreds of thousands and butchered in Croatia, Bosna, Darfur, Somalia and Rwanda. You UN and EU calling “Genocide” a “ethnic cleansing” Cleansing? Cleansing?

    Cleansing (thoroughly clean)
    • rid (a person, place, or thing) of something seen as unpleasant, unwanted, mission to cleanse subversives.
    • free (someone) from sin or guilt.
    • archaic (in biblical translations) cure (a leper).

    Shame on you and EU,UN…! We can live nice in Croatia with no community to which you belong to.

  • Johnny Mnemonic

    this is a shame for croatia, i feel bad about the happening in split. This region of our contry is known to be a difficult place for such a happening. In my opinion I’m shure that this was well organized by the hooligans and anti EU propagandists. I feel sorry that all croatians have to suffer from this incidents. I hope that the world will recognize the situation as it is and support croatia by the fight against discriminization. I’m shure that most of croatian people will share my opinion, they just need education on this subject. The major problem is that this people think that accepting the gays will turn the whole country to a gay community. Heteros think when they support the gays they may be also threated bad. The only soulution is to mobilize a lot of representative people to show them that there is nothing to be afraid from and nothing will change for them if they support the minoritys. At the moment there are only two sides, gay or not gay, there is no space for heteros which has nothing against gays, this space must be created by croatian goverment, citizens and this should be supported by the EU not only be convicted!

  • henri bartos

    Guay is a dirty word and these people that go with it are also dirty .you think the usa are giving a good
    example wrong people in high places like senators,etc.wich influnce most of the young people .
    do not be fooled this is a sicknes like they say you are born like that right you are born sick.just imagin 2 people of the same sex making love this is disgusting .we should wipe out this sickness one way or the other.there are things we will not learn from countries like russia poland,but this thing i am 100% with these countries .kill it before it spreads more.