Russian Gays Attacked on Coming Out Day in Moscow
By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis

One of our Russian LGBT friends, Andrew Obolensky, emailed us recently with news about Russian Orthodox Christians harassing his advocacy group, The Rainbow Association, on October 10th. The good news is that no gays were seriously harmed and a lecture took place in spite of the harassment, but the bad news is anti-gay forces acted with impunity and no repercussions from the police.

He's requested that we share this information:

"This Friday a group of homophobes attacked the Sakharov Center in Moscow and beset it for more than 2 hours. Their goal was to disrupt the event organized by the local LGBT community, dedicated to the International Coming Out Day and attended by more than 50 people.

"On October 10, Sakharov Center, which promotes human rights for all Russians, was hosting an annual interactive meeting titled 'Be Open – And Your World Will Get Broader'.

"Soon after the beginning several dozens of aggressive religious homophobes headed by Dmitry Enteo, alias Dmitry Tsorionov, showed up. They brought the posters and Orthodox icons and started to scream hateful slogans, trying break into the building. They started to throw eggs at the participants who were on their way to the event, threatening physical violence. Meanwhile, the homophobes were giving interviews to the media claiming that the organizers of the meeting are molesting children at this meeting.

"After half an hour, a police squad arrived. They inquired, what are the goals of the event, who allowed this event to be held, and if this event violates the 'gay propaganda' law. The police did not allow anyone from leaving the building unless the participants who their documents in order to prove there was no minors present at the venue.

"This controversial behaviour of police was appreciated by the leader of the homophobic attackers Enteo who on his Twitter account welcomed the cooperation between the police and the Orthodox activists.

"The crucial thing is that despite the attack and the violations on the part of police (some media quoted police saying that the behaviour of the homophobes was peaceful'), the annual interactive meeting was a success. The organizers received very positive feedback from the participants. And thanks to the efforts of the staff of the Sakharov Center and the LGBT activists, homophobes did not make it inside of the building and nobody was hurt."

As you well know, Michael has long been active as a global organizer for gay human rights and while the troubles of our friends in Moscow in recent days aren't an issue in the District 8 Supervisor race, we feel it's important to give attention to this incident on Friday.

The #VotePetrelis team salutes the bravery of our LGBT friends who every day take steps that demand protection of their human rights and show the world that gay Russians are out, loud and proud!

 The attackers gathering outside the LGBT meeting.

 LGBT Russians and allies conducted their lecture inside the center as planned.

Remnants of eggs that hit a gay leader are visible on his head and jacket.

UN Secretary General Zapped in SF: "Gay Rights Issue is Very Sensitive"

(Photo credit: Clinton Fein of Annoy.com. Kindly give him credit, if you re-use his photos.)



(ZombieTime.com captured the event on video and has posted it YouTube.)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 26, 2007
Contact: Michael Petrelis at (415) 621-6267


MEDIA ADVISORY

GAYS DISRUPT UN SECRETARY GENERAL BAN KI-MOON
AT MEETING IN SAN FRANCISCO

BAN SAYS: "GAY RIGHTS ISSUE IS VERY SENSITIVE"

SAN FRANCISCO (July 26) -- A group of activists staged a protest at an evening meeting at the Fairmont Hotel featuring the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, in order to protest the unconscionable, murderous silence of the United Nations concerning continued violence and executions globally which specifically target gays and lesbians. Ban was speaking before the World Affairs Council of Northern California, as San Francisco is considered the birthplace of the UN.

The nonviolent protesters twice interrupted Ban’s speech, first standing on their seats, chanting "Break the silence! Talk about about gays!” while holding up signs which read “Gay Rights Are UNiversal", capitalizing the letters UN to drive home the point that the UN has not accepted its responsibility to monitor and defend the human rights of gay and lesbian people worldwide.

UN Secretary General Ban replied, "That is most unusual welcome for me . . . As Secretary General, I'm supposed to answer all questions . . . The gay rights issue is very sensitive."

The protesters included Michael Petrelis and Hank Wilson, longtime LGBT activists, who were escorted out of the hotel and questioned by U.S. Secret Service agents.

Thirty minutes later, George Duvoisin, a gay youth advocate, wearing a large rainbow flag draped over his shoulders, rose up and asked Ban, "What about gay rights, and specific language in UN documents for gays and transgender people to protect against violence and discrimination?"

The San Francisco action heralds a series of demonstrations across the world in August to ban anti-gay violence across the world. August 3 and 4 have been cited as the Global Days of Gay Solidarity, with protests planned for cities across the globe.

“The UN has been silent for far too long, as our gay brothers and lesbian sisters are aggressively selected for human rights violations, torture and execution across the globe, simply due to their sexual orientation,” said Petrelis, who organized the protest.

“In the last year alone, our brothers and sisters have been maimed and slaughtered in too many incidents around the world,” said Hank Wilson. “This includes the violent attacks on gays in Eastern European pride marches; the killings of Jamaican gays; and the ongoing executions of gays in Iran. The United Nations never fails to speak out against injustice and human rights violations as they happen, but they are criminally silent when it comes to the murders of lesbians and gay men.”

George Duvoisin acknowledged that the UN had made a modest recent gesture towards support for gays and lesbians. On July 23, the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) granted consultative status on Friday to two nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that address human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

In addition to the alarming homophobic incidents cited by the activists, ongoing injustice against gays and lesbians continues across the world. Same-sex relationships are illegal in more than 70 countries, with consenting adults facing jail terms ranging from one year to life imprisonment, and even execution in six countries.

Examples of homophobic persecution include: Execution of gay males (or those perceived to have had same-sex relations) in the aforementioned Iran and Saudi Arabia. Nigeria, Uganda and Malaysia punish same-sex relations with maximum penalties of ten years to life imprisonment.

Queer-bashing mobs and death squads target gays for violence and murder in Jamaica, Iraq and parts of Brazil and Mexico. Even the formation of organizations to promote legal equality for gays and lesbians are illegal in certain parts of the world.

The San Francisco action heralds a series of demonstrations across the world in August to ban anti-gay violence across the world. August 3 and 4 have been cited as the Global Days of Gay Solidarity, with protests planned for cities across the globe. More info on the Aug 3 and 4 action is located here.

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SF & New York Staging June 5 Gay Human Rights Solidarity Vigils at Russian Consulates

(Peter Tatchell, UK human rights leader, on right in blue shirt, about to be punched by homophobic thug in Moscow.)

Gay human rights activists on Tuesday, June 5, in two US cities will take to the streets in front of Russian government facilities and say to Vladimir Putin, "Human rights for gays and all Russian peoples!"

These actions are in response to the violence and human rights violations perpetrated against gay and lesbian Russians, and their allies, on the streets of Moscow on May 27.

If you've not yet checked out the web site for the brave gays and lesbians of GayRussia, please do so. You'll also find much background information and further links through Rex Wockner and Doug Ireland's blogs.

On June 5 in San Francisco this veteran activist, along with the head of my church, Pastor Robert Goldstein of St. Francis Lutheran Church, will stand in front of the Russian Consulate, located at 2790 Green Street, between Baker and Broderick Streets. This will be a short vigil and speak out, from 4:00 to 5:00 pm.

Also on June 5 in New York City longtime advocates Brendan Fay and George Plagionos will gather at the Russian Consulate, located at 9 E. 91st Street, right off Fifth Avenue. Brendan and George will hold their action from 12 noon to 1:00 pm. You can reach Brendan via email: brendan@stpatsforall.com , or phone: 1-718-721-2780.

All people concerned with human rights anywhere, and of course, those who worry a little more for gay and lesbian people in Russian and all the world's countries, are asked to join us and stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of Moscow and all of Russia.

(UK Performer and activist Right Said Fred, with a bloody eye after he was slugged.)

New Republic's Blog: Gay for Pay -- U.S. State Dept, IGLHRC & Paula Ettelbrick

The executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, Paula Ettelbrick, is facing well-deserved scrutiny and criticism over her stewardship of the group from James Kirchick on The Plank, the blog for the New Republic.

Before I share excerpts from Kirchick's post, I want to cast some light on how Ettelbrick was able in 2006 to not only serve as the head of IGLHRC, which, given the horrors gays and lesbians face daily around the planet should take up all if not most of her waking hours, but she also found lots of time to teach not at just one top-ranked college, but two.

For the spring 2007 semester, Ettelbrick will be teaching a sexuality and the law course at NYU.

I mention her part-time professorial work because at a time when USA gays and others beyond our borders hunger for leadership from IGLHRC for calls to action to combat the abuses gays suffer worldwide, we may be asking too much of Ettelbrick, considering her teaching gigs on top of also running the world's largest gay-operated human rights organization.

Now let's get to The Plank's post:

Case in point, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (whose knee-jerk anti-Americanism has been discussed before at TNR ) has refused to publicize the State Department's annual report on human rights, specifically its pertinence to gay rights abroad. Every year, State issues such a report and makes an effort to include countries' treatment of gays as part of a broader analysis in human rights trends. The latest controversy over IGHLRC is detailed in The Bay Area Reporter, a gay newspaper in San Francisco.

One really should read the BAR story to see how convoluted Ettelbrick's ways are. She tells the paper her group works throughout the year with State to improve the annual human rights report, but when it's released, she can't be bothered directing her communications director to issue a statement about it and educate everybody about how to use the report to raise awareness of antigay abuses globally.

More from The Plank:

Ettlebrick, who seems unable to open her mouth about the horrendous treatment of gays overseas without throwing in a line about how awful her own country is, said, "Who is the U.S. to issue a report on every other government in the world on its human rights activities, especially in light of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib?" Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo (the former a disgrace and the latter hardly so) should not rise to the level of epic disasters responsible for utterly destroying America's moral authority. But they have, largely because of individuals like Ettlebrick, who suffer from a serious case of moral obtuseness.

I disagree with Kirchick's contention that Gitmo is not a blot of shame for the USA, but nonetheless, his points about IGLHRC's leader are most valid. These are his final thoughts on all this:

As a supposed gay rights activist whose job it is to monitor how her brothers and sisters are being treated around the world (especially the third world), Ettlebrick ought to stick to her job. Last month, I wrote that that IGLHRC "does not really do much." Here is further confirmation of that assertion.

Even left-wing gays are taking IGLHRC to task. Michael Petrelis, a Green Party activist in San Francisco, said, "I grieve for my community and how it doesn't demand consistent, quality gay advocacy on crucial global gay rights abuses from our paid advocates." Indeed, the job of highlighting the State Department's report, in relation to gay issues, has been left to the decidedly unpaid D.C. activist Rick Rosendall, who does a fine job here.

Two years ago, Ettelbrick lauded the State Department report and its many gay citations. She told the Washington Blade: “Anytime a government acknowledges the human rights situation of LGBT people that’s a good thing."

Yes, Paula, you are so right with that thinking and for the life of me, I can't understand why your organization prefers silence to surround the latest State report over raising your voices about the annual human rights survey, and using it to advance international respect for gays and lesbians.

We need an international gay and lesbian human rights group that is not held hostage to the twisted political machinations and ideology of a leader who is more suited to the confines of a classroom, rather than the world stage where she should be putting gay rights first, America-bashing second, on her agenda.

Webcast: European Parliament Debate on Anti-Gay Nigeria Law, Mar 15, 11am NY/8am SF Time

This news alert was sent to me this evening and is well-worth sharing:

Dear Mr. Petrelis,

You might be interested to know that the European Parliament is having an emergency debate on Thursday March 15 on the anti-gay law in Nigeria. It should start at around 4pm Strasborg France time, which is 11 am New York time.

There are three items to be discussed in the hour allocated for emergency debates - Nigeria being the last one.

If you are interested in a parliament that is actually debating the situation - with or without the permission of HRW! - you can see it live by going to this link. You will get the English language soundtrack (there are some 20 languages used in the European Parliament, but like the UN, there is an English feed of everything.

All Gay/HIV Citations in New State Dept Human Rights Report Available on the Web

Every reference in the latest annual State Department human rights global survey of either abuses or advancements of respect for the human rights of gays and people with HIV/AIDS has been culled by Rick Rosendall of GLAA, the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance based in Washington.

The excerpts from the 2006 report, on all countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, makes for very depressing reading, but that is minor compared to the almost-daily bashings, second-class treatment, stabbings, social and legal disrespect and even death faced by our brothers and sisters across the planet.

Click here to read the 2006 gay/HIV excerpts, and click here for the 2005 version, and go here for the 2004 excerpts.

This latest State Department report is a living tool that gay rights advocates, lawyers and people seeking asylum, not just in the USA but other nations as well, use to gain asylum from governments and societies that violate the human rights protections of gays.

The report is also a vital document local activists in many countries use throughout the year to generate news attention to promote gay tolerance and equality, and to educate politicians everywhere about the myriad problems gays globally are dealing with.

In addition to expressing my sincere gratitude to Rosendall for excerpting the pertinent gay and HIV/AIDS citations of the report, I must also publicly thank the well-respected State Department employees who performed the research necessary to draft such a comprehensive summary and wrote it.

It's alway important to recognize the appropriate federal workers and their dedication to making the annual report the valuable document that it is for all the world's citizens concerned with human rights for everyone, but especially for gay and HIV/AIDS activists, whose issues are too often overlooked by international government agencies and NGOs.

These are the State Department people I salute and who deserve kudos from the gay and AIDS communities:

Within the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, the editorial staff of the Country Reports Team consists of:

Editor-in-Chief - Stephen Eisenbraun;

Office Directors - Bruce Connuck, Nadia Tongour, and Francisco Palmieri;

Senior Editors - Jonathan Bemis, Daniel Dolan, Stephen Eisenbraun, Jerome L. Hoganson, Sandra Murphy, Elizabeth Ramborger, and Julie Turner;

Editors - Kulsum Ali, Joseph S. Barghout, Kate Berglund, Sarah Buckley, Laura Carey, Elise Carlson, Ryan J. Casteel, Cheryl Clayton, Sharon C. Cooke, Susan Corke, Stuart Crampton, Tamara Crouse, Frank B. Crump, Mollie Davis, Douglas B. Dearborn, Cortney Dell, Lauren DiSilvio, Joan Garner, Saba Ghori, Karen Gilbride, Elliott Gillerman, Lisa Heller, Victor Huser, Stan Ifshin, David T. Jones, Simone Joseph, Salman Khan, Anne Knight, Catherine Kuchta-Holbling, Lawrence Lesser, Jessica Lieberman, Gregory Maggio, Michael Michener, Jennie Munoz, Daniel L. Nadel, Catherine Newling, Emily Oswell, Peter Sawchyn, Amy Schmisseur, Patricia Meeks Schnell, Sonam Shah, Wendy Silverman, Melissa Sims, James Todd, Terry Tracy, Nicole Willett, Whitney Wilson, Suzanne Yountchi, and Robert Zuehlke;

Contributing Editor - Lynne Davidson;

Editorial Assistants - Elyse Bauer, Adrienne Bory, Karen Chen, Carol Finerty, Maureen Gaffney, Sylvia Hammond, Noel Hartley, Laura Jordan, David Perez, Lindsay Robinson, Nicole Bibbins Sedaca, Julie Short, Nora Vacariu, Emily Weaver, Eva Weigold, and Melike Yetken;

Technical Support-Linda C. Hayes, Paul Skoczylas, and Tanika N. Willis.

HRC, IGLHRC Release on State Department's Gay/HIV Citations in Human Rights Report

"_____________________________," said Joe Solmonese and Paula Ettelbrick, leaders of the Human Rights (sic) Campaign and the International Gay Lesbian Human Rights (sic) Commission, on the new annual human rights survey from the U.S. State Department and the inclusion of many gay and HIV citations.

What do we get from the HRC and IGLHRC and their million dollar budgets and nicely compensated staffs on the incredibly valuable State Department report for 2006? Silence.

Last year, under pressure from bloggers and activists, HRC and IGLHRC, on the day the 2005 report came out, were certainly aware of it, examined the survey, then geared up their respective p.r. machines to show the community how on-top of things they are. But this year, neither gay "human rights" organization can be bothered to call our attention to the new State Dept report.

I grieve for my community and how it doesn't demand consistent quality gay advocacy on crucial global gay rights abuses from our paid advocates.

HRC is supposed to be looking out for our concerns and moving gay laws forward in Congress, which they're failing at, and it should also be working with State and other federal agencies.

And of course IGLHRC is allegedly the USA-based group doing nothing but global gay rights works, which never seems to include developing contacts at State and promoting the Dept's resources on our brothers and sisters globally.

Two days ago I contacted both groups and asked what they'd be saying or doing about the State report.

HRC has sent me releases on how they found a video of Bob Hattoy's 1992 DNC speech and how they just got around to saying "thanks" to brave straight GOP pols in Wyoming.

And IGLHRC's spokesman for some reason think I wanted his group to comment on a State report on Iran. Hello IGLHRC? The report in question is about ALL nation's, not just Iran, but clearly IGLRHC is clueless about it and has no intention to read it.

These are the emails from HRC and IGLHRC in response to my request for their comments on the new State Dept report:

In a message dated 3/7/2007 2:57:37 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, Christopher.Johnson@hrc.org writes:

Good news: we were finally able to locate video for Bob Hattoy’s groundbreaking speech at the 1992 Democratic National Convention. There’s a link to the video and a special tribute to Bob at www.hrc.org. We also uploaded it to YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUashmbh1zQ

Chris

________________________________________
Christopher Johnson | Director of Public Affairs
Human Rights Campaign
1640 Rhode Island Ave. NW |Washington, DC 20036
202.216.1580 ( | 202.716.1628 mobile

christopher.johnson@hrc.org | www.hrc.org

And this is the message from IGLHRC:

In a message dated 3/8/2007 8:33:58 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, halizadeh@iglhrc.org writes:

Dear Michael,

Thanks for your messages and sorry for not getting back to you earlier, since due to weather condition in New York, I was working from home yesterday and was not able to access my phone messages.

IGLHRC currently doesn't have any plan to issue a response to the State Department's report on Iran. If in the future we feel there is a need for a public statement on Iran, I will definitely email you our communications.

Warmest Regards

-----------------------------

Hossein Alizadeh

Communications Coordinator

International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission

80 Maiden Lane- Suite 1505

New York, NY 10038

USA

Phone: + 1 212-430-6016

Fax: + 1 212-430-6060

Email: halizadeh@iglhrc.org

Web: www.iglhrc.org

State Dept's Latest Human Rights Report Issued Today; Are Gay & HIV Citations Included?

For a number of years, Rick Rosendall of the Gay Lesbian Activists Alliance in DC, and yours truly, as unpaid volunteers interested in global gay issues, have done what we can to both pressure the State Dept to monitor and foster respect of human rights for gays around the globe, and to include the abuses and advances of gay people in the annual human rights report.

Neither Rick nor I, nor our brother across the pond, Peter Tatchell, who has greatly assisted us in our work as USA gays committed to working with our State Dept to benefit gays globally, is part of a group with millions of dollars and paid executives and researchers.

Click here to read about some of our work on improving the annual human rights report from State in 2005.

Go here and also click here for the two places on the web where you can read all of the gay and HIV citations from last year's annual report.

And if you click here, you'll find the 2004 gay and HIV citations, excerpted from the annual report.

So far today, the Human Rights Watch, the International Gay Lesbian Human Rights Commission, the Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and Amnesty International have yet to post notices on their sites about the overall report, or the gay and HIV citations.

I've contacted people at those organizations and asked them to let me know when they'll examine the report for its gay content, or lack thereof, and also if they have any plans to excerpt every gay and HIV reference in the new State Dept report.

It is my fervent hope I will hear back from all the groups about how they are coordinating reading the report, analyzing it, using it to benefit our brothers and sisters around the globe, and who should be thanked at the State Dept for including all the gay and AIDS references.

To read the State Dept briefing with Paula Dobriansky and Barry Lowenkron, undersecretaries for human rights and labor practices, click here.

Secretary Rice's short remarks on the new report are posted here.

Finally, and most importantly, click here to start reading the full country-by-country reports.

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NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN RIGHTS

Among grossly overlooked issues in this country are Native American Indian rights; luckily there are some organizations in place to help the Native American cause.