Russian Gay Community Will Picket the Embassy of Iran to Protest Against Executions of Homosexuals

July 10, 2008 in Alexeyev, Execution, GLBT, Gay, Gay Life, Gay Rights, Homophobia, Homosexuality, Iran, LGBT, Nicolas Alexeyev, Nikolai Alekseyev, Queer, Russia

Russian gay community will picket the Embassy of Iran to protest against executions of homosexuals
Moscow, July 7, Interfax – Activists of Russian gay movement intend July 19 to picket the Embassy of Iran in Moscow for the third time to protest against prosecution of sexual minorities in that country.

“We sent letters to the President of Russia and Iran ambassador to Russia, and we picketed the Embassy of Iran in Moscow. This year should not be an exception. We need to continuously remind the state authorities [of Iran - IF] that the death penalty must be abolished,” Nikolay Alexeyev, the picket and Moscow gay parade initiator, said Monday to Interfax-Religion.

Russian gay community organized similar pickets in 2006 and 2007, on the day of execution by Iran authorities of two teenagers charged with homosexual relations in 2005. Alexeyev said that members of Russian gay movement had from the start “made continuous protests against this medievalism.”

Alexeyev also said that the notification of the picket at the Iran Embassy would be forwarded to the prefecture of the Central Administrative District of Moscow “in accordance with the applicable law and within the stipulated deadlines.”