On April 24 and 25, 2010 there was Day of Silence in Russia. Day of Silence is an international protest against discrimination, harassment and abuse faced by lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders (LGBTs) and the silencing of these problems.

This year 31 city participated in the Day Of Silence in one way or another: Abakan, Arkhangelsk, Vladivostok, Volgograd, Voronezh, Vyborg, Glazov, Yekaterinburg, Ivanovo, Izhevsk, Kazan, Kaliningrad, Kemerovo, Kirov, Krasnodar, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Novokuznetsk, Oboyan, Omsk, Perm, Petrozavodsk, Pskov, Samara, St. Petersburg, Severodvinsk, Syktyvkar, Tyumen, Cheboksary, Chelyabinsk, Cherepovets. For the first time Ukraine took part in the Day Of Silence this year. It was held in Kharkov.

Most cities took part with a Silent Flashmob. Participants with their mouths taped shut passed through the streets of their cities giving out leaflets. Reaction of the passers-by was calm and even friendly. People eagerly took flyers from the participants.

Though there were some unpleasant events as well. In Syktyvkar for instance the organisers had to move the Day of Silence to April 23, as they received threats from neo-nazi organisations in the city. On April 24 at the place announced by the organisers there was in fact a big crowd of aggressive people intending to interfere with the Day of Silence.

There were about 300 participants in the action this year.

According to the coordinator of the Day of Silence in Russia, “Our Day of Silence was successful, as we managed to involve people in 21 new city to join the action. The most important is that in most regions people took initiative and responsibility in their own hands, not waiting for some organisations to do so. This is exactly how the spirit of the Day Of Silence manifests itself: In personal responsibility for building a world without homophobia.” Valery Sozaev hopes that this event will contribute to the ending of silence and hatred that face LGBT people.

In some cities Day of Silence was supported by various LGBT and human rights organisations. In particular by Youth Human Rights Movement (Voronezh), Memorial (Syktyvkar), Rainbow House (Tyumen), Liga (Volgograd), Krug-Karelia (Petrozavodsk), in general the action was coordinated by the Russian LGBT Network and LGBT Oranisation Coming Out (St. Petersburg).

Let us remind that Day Of Silence is carried out in Russia since 2008. Three cities participated in it then: St. Petersburg, Novokuznetsk, Yaroslavl. In 2009 there were already nine cities participating in the Day of Silence. In St. Petersburg there were over 100 participants then, they went with their mouths taped shut all along Nevsky prospect in a Silent Flashmob. That 4 times exceeded the number of participants in the 2008 Day Of Silence.

Day of Silence in Russia website: http://dayofsilence.lgbtnet.ru

Contacts:

+7-906-229-25-60 Valery Sozaev

nuntiare@gmail.com

Translated by Olga Lenkova