2007 Hate Crime Survey - Companion Survey on Homophobia - Assaults on Gay Pride Parades and Events in Eastern Europe

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The year 2006 saw a greater visibility for the LGBT community, although that visibility was met in some cases with a correspondingly greater level of intolerance. Gay pride parades and events organized in a number of countries in eastern Europe resulted in homophobic comments from political and religious leaders, poor police protection, and acts of harassment and violence against those taking part in the parades.

Criminal justice officials generally responded inadequately to the threats of violence and to the violence itself, making some arrests, but following through with few if any criminal prosecutions against the individuals responsible. The infringements of criminal law - which included incitement to violence in the run-up to the events as well as verbal attacks, harassment, and physical assault during the events - were generally seen by police and public officials as little more than hooliganism, or an issue of public disorder, rather than as serious crimes motivated by discrimination. Human Rights First is unaware of any cases in which charges brought resulted in more than small fines or made any reference to the bias motivations inherent in these verbal and physical attacks.

In light of the difficulties encountered in the past few years in the organization of such parades, the International Gay and Lesbian Association of Europe (ILGA-Europe) released a publication in September 2006 on "Prides against Prejudice: A toolkit for pride organizing in a hostile environment." In its summary of recent events in Central and Eastern Europe ILGA-Europe reported that 10 marches or demonstrations were banned; leading politicians used inflammatory language on at least ten occasions; Pride demonstrations or related events faced violence on at least thirteen occasions; the police failed to provide adequate protection on seven occasions; and police had twice broken up peaceful demonstrations. The same report highlighted the role of political and religious leaders in opposing gay pride marches:

Religious leaders have played a leading role in opposing Pride, sometimes inciting hatred and opposing freedom of assembly and speech for LGBT people, often in partnership with extreme right-wing groups. Local and national politicians have used the danger of public disorder as a reason for banning marches, after having themselves used language likely to encourage extremist opposition.

These developments have been accompanied by widespread concern at rising levels of intolerance and violence against the LGBT community.[15]

In 2006, there were gay pride parades and events in five Eastern European cities accompanied by varying levels of violence.

Moscow

In Moscow, in late February 2006, several months before the proposed date of the parade, Sergei Tsoy, the Moscow mayor's spokesperson, said that "the Moscow government is not even going to consider allowing a gay parade," claiming that the proposed event has "evoked outrage in society, in particular among religious leaders." Tsoy added that the mayor "was firm that the city government will not allow a gay parade in any form, open or disguised, and any attempts to organize an unsanctioned action will be resolutely quashed."[16] Some religious leaders also publicly expressed vehement disapproval of the proposed parade.

As expected, the gay pride parade originally planned for May 27 to commemorate the 13-year anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality was not authorized by Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov amidst pressure and threats of retaliation from extremist groups and from some religious leaders. Luzhkov commented that his decision to ban the parade could serve as an example to foreign countries and that "the West has something to learn from us and should not race along in [allowing] mad licentiousness."[17]

Two gay pride actions did take place - a flower laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Alexander Gardens followed by a rally outside the Moscow Mayor's office. In both events, participants were grossly outnumbered by skinheads, extreme nationalists, and Russian Orthodox believers who chanted homophobic slogans, such as "Moscow is not Sodom" and "No faggots in Moscow." Police did little to protect the gay and lesbian activists taking part in these events and several people, including Volker Beck, a German Member of Parliament, were attacked and injured.[18]

After considerable pressure, police did consider pursuing incitement to violence charges against the perpetrator of the attack on Volker Beck. Russian law prohibits incitement to violence "on the basis of sex, race, nationality, language, origin, relationship to religion as well as the affiliation to any social group," but does not explicitly refer to sexual orientation. The possibility that "any social group" might apply in this case was ruled out when police consulted an "expert" from the Moscow State University, who declared that "sexual minorities cannot be considered a social group and certainly cannot be considered as a social group on the basis of gender, but rather belong to a deviant social group as do criminals, drug addicts and others whose behavior deviates from social norms."[19] Thus, it appears unlikely that anyone will be held responsible for the attacks against Volker Beck or against any others at the gay pride events who suffered at the hands of violent protesters.

Bucharest

On June 3, 2006, some ten people were injured when the Gay Pride Parade in Bucharest turned violent. Some one thousand protesters disrupted the parade - in which several hundred people were taking part - by breaking through a police line and attacking marchers. The police had to resort to the use of tear gas to restore order and to disperse the crowd of protesters. Some 50 people were arrested in connection with the disorder. Even prior to this outbreak of more serious violence, crowds of protesters lining the streets along the parade route pelted marchers with eggs, stones and plastic bottles.[20]

Warsaw

During the weekend of June 10, 2006 activists in Poland organized the Equality March. In the previous two years, the parade had been banned, even though it went ahead both years. This year's parade was officially sanctioned and brought together several thousands activists, who were met with some protests, including from some who threw eggs at the marchers. Further violence was prevented by the police. The parade took place in what some gay rights activists are calling "an atmosphere of hate" created in part by homophobic statements and policies of the country's new conservative leadership.[21]

In the run-up to the parade, Wojciech Wierrzejski, a Member of Parliament from the ultra-conservative League of Polish Families party, criticized the event and encouraged the use of force during the march, stating that: "If deviants begin to demonstrate, they should be hit with batons."[22] His comments were subsequently condemned as incitement to violence in a June 15 resolution of the European parliament on the rise in racist and homophobic violence in Europe.

Riga 

On July 22, 2006, in Latvia's capital Riga, anti-gay demonstrators hurled feces and eggs at gay rights activists and their supporters who were leaving a church service in the Latvian capital on Saturday. Dozens of protesters had gathered outside the Anglican church in Riga where gay activists were attending a service. A handful of the protesters lobbed eggs and emptied bags of feces on the churchgoers as they walked out the building. Police reportedly did little to stop the attacks. Earlier in the week, the city authorities had refused to grant a permit for a gay pride parade, citing security reasons. A court later upheld that ban.[23]

Also on July 22, in connection with the gay pride events, anti-gay protesters surrounded a hotel in central Riga where gay rights activists were holding an event and a press conference. Police provided some protection from the protesters to those leaving the hotel, although a number of attacks were nonetheless reported.[24]

Tallinn

On August 13, 2006, during Estonia's Gay Pride Parade, some 20 anti-gay protesters armed with sticks and stones attacked the parade as some 500 gay-rights supporters with rainbow-colored flags made their way through the streets of Tallinn. A parade spokeswoman said about 12 people were injured. She also criticized the police. "There were too few police present so they could not really handle the violent attack."[25]

Executive Summary | Introduction | Violent Homophobic Attacks  | Assaults on Gay Pride Parades and Events in Eastern Europe  | Statistics on Violence based on Sexual Orientation  | Endnotes