Petrelis Files

Global Gay Leader:
'I Support the Death Penalty'

At a time when Uganda is still considering a death penalty bill against homosexuals, and there are seven countries that already have laws on the books that allow for state-sanctioned executions of homosexuals, a prominent international gay leader last month declared he favors the death penalty.

None other than the nutty and controversial gay Russian leader Nikolai Alexseev wrote a column last month for the German site queer.de in which he stated, via a Google translation:

[Gay German politician Volker Beck] has criticized me here, such as I have told him that I support the death penalty.

This provocative remark and others in his column generated five-pages of comments, several of which took Nikolai to task for his endorsement of state-sanctioned killing. I know of no other international gay human rights leader who openly supports this barbaric practice.

One German blogger, Steven Milverton, is taking Nikolai to task for his outrageous embrace of executions:

Google translation of Milverton's spot-on criticism: "In a last month queer.de published paper acknowledged Alekseev, to support the death penalty. This raises the question of how someone who does not even respect the fundamental right of a person to life, can get involved credible to the other rights of gay and lesbian people."

Good question, and one day Nikolai might address the matter of why he maintains his backward view on executions.

Myself, I feel this is the best time to re-state that I adamantly oppose the death penalty, have staged several protests to back up my words and want Uganda to toss its proposed death penalty legislation into the dust bin. It is inconceivable to me that any human rights advocate would endorse executions and I hope Nikolai reconsiders his position.