SGN Page 48

Friday
June 15, 2007
Vol 35 Issue 24

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Sunday, Oct 12, 2008

General Gayety by Leslie Robinson

A pink iron curtain
by Leslie Robinson - SGN Contributing Writer In great swaths of the world, spring makes Gay people think of Pride, the annual mixture of party and politics. In Eastern Europe, spring makes Gay people think of Pride, the annual mixture of bans and brutality. Freedom might've come to Eastern Europe, but official and unofficial forces are striving mightily to see that it doesnt come to everybody. Look at the goings-on in teeny Moldova, formerly part of the Soviet Union. Local authorities banned a Gay Pride march in the capital city of Chisinau for the third straight yeardespite a ruling by the Moldovan Supreme Court that the previous year's ban was illegal. Ruling? What ruling? About 20 exasperated Gays staged a protest. Some 30 counter-protestors hurled insults and eggs. The Gays tried to lay flowers at the Monument to the Victims of Repression, but police prevented that, so they laid them at the feet of the police. Not a bad second choice, symbolism-wise. Boris Balanetkii, leader of Moldova's Gay activist group GenderDoc-M, said that "we will do our best to ensure that next year's public demonstration by the LGBT community will take place not just as a protest action but as proper Pride Parade." In this country we debate whether Pride still has a purpose. In that country it represents freedoms they've never had, the right to assemble and to free speech. Along with an unparalleled opportunity to scope each other out. Moldova has hope of seeing a real Pride, if Poland is any indication. No, I haven't been swilling Polish vodka. Yes, Poland has been in the news lately over a government plan to make it criminal to "promote homosexual propaganda" in schools; also, the children's rights watchdog suggested an investigation into whether "Teletubbies" character Tinky Winky promotes homosexuality to pint-sized Poles. Jerry Falwell lives. But in addition to all this came the news that over 5,000 people marched in Warsaw's first legally sanctioned Pride parade. In 2004, 2005 and 2006 the mayor nixed parades. That mayor, Lech Kaczynski, is now the president of Poland. The only good thing about that is Poland's capital city has a new mayor, and she said yes to the parade. Hanna Gronkiewicz Walz pointed to the recent decision by the European Court of Human Rights that her predecessor acted in illegal and discriminatory fashion by banning the marches. Maybe the marchers passed the president's residence and blew a big kiss to Kaczynski. The Warsaw parade had a heavy police presence, and in the Latvian capital of Riga, police and riot police outnumbered both Pride-goers and protestors. Roughly 500 folks marched in a parade in a Riga park. If this sounds like small Latvian potatoes to you, don't scoff yet. In 2005 Latvians held their first Pride, and about 150 marchers faced some 1,000 opponents who threw bottles and rotten eggs. In 2006 Riga officials banned the parade, so organizers held meetings instead, and Christians, neo-Nazis and ultranationalists pelted attendees with rotten food and human feces. To think my greatest problem at Pride is finding a parking place. In April a Latvian court ruled that last year's ban had been illegal, clearing the way for this year's event. With such history, no wonder Linda Freimane of Mozaika, the group organizing Pride, said, "If we don't do it again this year then we give in to the illegal, violent forces who can limit other people's rights just by smothering them." I don't have space to tell you about the Russian capital's recent experience, but by now if I shorthand Moscow you'll get the gist: supremely homophobic mayor . . . Pride banned . . . Gays presented petition . . . eggs, kicks, punches . . . police arrested Gays . . . from Russia with no love. Leslie Robinson suspects Eastern European Gays have developed an allergy to eggs. E-mail Leslie at LesRobinsn@aol.com, and read more of her columns at www.GeneralGayety.com.

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