Politics
Thursday March 30, 2006
See today's LifeSiteNews stories
Moscow Gay Pride Ban Rebuked by Council of Europe
Terry Vanderheyden
STRASBOURG, March 30, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The president of a congress of the Council of Europe has written to Moscow Mayor Yuri Mikhailovich Luzhkov, strongly recommending that he revise his stance and allow a “Gay Pride” parade originally planned for May this year.
President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities at the Council of Europe, Giovanni di Stasi, charges that the ban is a violation of the Council’s Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
“The Congress was . . . concerned when it was recently brought to its attention that a Gay Pride march – scheduled to take place in Moscow from 24 to 28 May this year – had been banned by the authorities,” di Stasi stated in his letter, according to a Mosnews.com report. “I would be very grateful, Mr Mayor, if you could envisage to review your decision, and convey to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities further information in this respect.”
The Council of Europe, distinct from the European Union, was formed in 1949 and is representative of 46 countries throughout central and Eastern Europe. Russia is set to take over presidency of the Council in May.
In a letter of congratulations to Luzhkov for banning the parade, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexis II described the position of the Orthodox Church saying, “the Church has invariably supported the institution of the family and condemns untraditional relations, seeing them as a vicious deviation from God-given human nature.”
Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berl Lazar compared the offence that the proposed parade would have to observant Jews and all religious people in the country as akin to that felt by Muslims over the Prophet Mohammed caricatures depicted in European newspapers. “I would like to assure you, that the parade of homosexuals is not less offensive to the feelings of believers than any caricatures in newspapers,” he said.
The Congress of the Jewish Religious Organizations and Associations in Russia made a statement in support of Mayor Luzhkov’s decision last week. “Such parade is not a demonstration but propagation of a sin,” said the statement by Chairman Rabbi Zinoviy Kogan. “We are in solidarity with the Russian Orthodox Church, not only for the present, but also for the future of our country.”
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Russian Jewish Leaders Join Orthodox in Supporting Moscow Mayor’s Ban on Gay Pride
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/mar/06032705.html
Russia’s Chief Rabbi: Perverse Gay Pride as Bad as Anti-Religious Cartoons
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/feb/06021706.html
Patriarch Alexis II: Homosexuality a "Vicious Deviation From God-Given Human Nature"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/mar/06031706.html
Back to TopSHARE THIS STORY: E-mail Print Newsvine Digg Reddit Del.icio.us Facebook
Latest Headlines
- Texas Bishop Repents Publicly for Catholic Hospital Which Was Doing Sterilizations
- Poll Shows a Solid Majority of Canadians Want Legal Protection for Unborn Children
- Interview: Bishop Explains Why a Bishop "Would Consider It a Privilege to Die to End to Abortion"
- Christian-Founded Dating Website eHarmony Forced to Cater to Homosexuals
- Italian Government Must Act Fast to Define Food and Hydration as a Human Right to Save Eluana: Prominent Italian Lawyer
- Brazilian Christian Censored and Fined for Making "Homophobic" Remarks in Book
- Grandmother's Account of Traumatizing Experience with Abortion Moves Jamaican Parliamentarians to Tears
- Bush Pushes Ahead with Regulations to Protect Doctors’ Conscience Rights
- Levant Acquitted after Republishing Letter by Pastor Previously Found to Be “Hate Speech”
- The Death of Catholic Culture and the Election of Barack Obama
- Brazilian Psychologists Prohibited from Helping Catholic Church Screen Out Homosexual Priesthood Candidates
- Letters to the Editor for Friday, November 21, 2008
- US Election Message to Catholic Bishops Part III: The Broken Window Strategy
Most Read this Week
- Italian Nuns Refuse to Kill Eluana
- Lawsuits Proliferate Demanding Proof of Obama's Natural-Born Citizenship before Electoral Vote Count
- Charleston Priest Tells Obama-Supporting Catholics to Confess before Receiving Communion Again
- Christian Prayer Group Sexually and Physically Assaulted by Homosexual Mob
- Mormons, Knights of Columbus Face Chilling Threats and More Vandalism for Prop. 8 Support
- The Coming "War" Between the Obama Administration and the Catholic Church
- Vatican Cardinal: "A New World Order is Gaining Ground"
- Arnold Schwarzenegger's Wife: I'm "a Catholic in Good Standing" But Also Pro-abortion and Pro-Homosexual
- Update: Nationwide Homosexual Anarchist Organization Behind Attack on MI Church Planning Further Disruptions
- Martin Luther King's Niece: Obama Election Heals "White Guilt" at the Cost of Life and Family
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.