In over 13 Russian cities, the Week against Homophobia has just begun. It takes places from March 23 to 29. Petersburg does not make an exception and is, as always, in the vanguard of the antihomophobic campaign. This year, the Week against Homophobia is timed to the “Memorial year to homosexual victims of political repressions” announced by the Russian LGBT network.
Title 121 of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) Criminal Code (”Law on the criminal liability of buggery”), according to which voluntary sexual relations between men of full age were henceforth taken as criminal offence, was passed on March 7, 1934. From imcomplete sources, we can estimate that about 250,000 people were sued according to this law in the RSFSR, not counting thousands of men and women undergoing forced psychiatric “healing from homosexuality”.

Repealing unfortunate law 121 in 1993, the Russian government has still not apologized to those who were persecuted for 60 years. They are not even mentioned in Russian Federation’s law “On the rehabilitation of victims of political repressions”. Even more so, no one knows about the fact that, for their orientation, many famous Soviet scientists and artists were jailed.

In today’s Russian society homophobia is spreading. Some politicians fight for the reintroduction of the law or the introduction of a law which would outlaw “homosexual propaganda”. Up to now, people here suffer and perish - above all exclusively because of their orientation. Searches and arrests in clubs are carried through, cultural events are banned, secretly neo-nazi assaults on all “fags” are encouraged. People are blackmailed because of their homosexuality - as if we weren’t living in democratic Russia, but in a wild country.

Homophobia concerns everyone. People are isolating themselves from their close ones, relatives, friends, not letting one another into their lives. Homophobia makes life emotionally poorer.

In Petersburg the Week is organized by:

- Interregional Public Movement “Russian LGBT Network”

- NGO “LGBT organization ComingOut”

- LGBT film festival “Side by Side”

- Service “Nuntiare et Recreare”

- Public organization “Gender-L”

- “LesbiPARTY”

Contacts:

Official site WAH 2009: http://rwaho.lgbtnet.ru

Group VKontakte: http://vkontakte.ru/club1712762

Coordinator of the Week 2009: valery@lgbtnet.ru; +7-906-229-25-60 Valery Sozayev