Petrelis Files

Moscow's July 19 Protest Over Iran's Gay Hangings

For the third year in a row, members of Russia's LGBT community will commemorate Iran's barbaric hanging of two gay teenagers in 2005. Nikolai Alexeyev made the announcement about a picket next week through the Interfax news agency:

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." . . .

Activists in San Francisco will also be in the streets on July 19 to call for an end to Iran's mistreatment of LGBT people in the Islamic Republic. Click here for more info on the San Francisco action, along with photos from the hanging of the Iranian gay teenagers. For more info on the gay Russian organization, click here.