Petrelis Files

(Our gay Russian brother Nikolai Alexeyev, on the left, attempting to stand up for tolerance and equality.)







Gay Russians Open Fiscal Books After Pride March Attempt

Doug Ireland, longtime gay journalist who does more to bring attention to foreign gay human rights abuses than some US organizations, writes on his blog today about the latest troubles facing Nicolas Alexeyev, one of the primary organizers of Moscow's recent attempt to stage a gay rights march last month.

Seems as though other gays in Moscow, led by gay bar owners, have hurled unfounded accusations at Alexeyev and his group:

Moscow Pride 2006 has just published the complete budget for its operations -- showing how it spent its money and where it came from. Nicolas Alexeyev and the Russian organizers of the events took out personal loans to help finance Moscow Pride, despie which it was forced to run up a substantial deficit of nearly 28,000 Euros. Publishing their budget and their sources of financing is a remarkable example of responsible organizational transparency (would that our U.S. gay organizations were as open about their spending.) This was a necessary step, since some gay bar owners with sinister motives have slanderously accused Moscow Pride organizers of pocketing some of the monies.

On the one hand, it's striking that gay struggles in many parts of the world have to contend with bar culture and the sometimes unsavory characters who own the establishments where we gather to socialize, and occasionally organize actions from. Or in the case of the drag queens and street activists at the Stonewall Inn way back when, bars have also been targets of our anger.

On the other hand, kudos to Alexeyev for answering his critics online and also posting a financial accounting of May's aborted gay rights parade. As Ireland points out, we could such accountability and transparency from American groups. Remember the all the questions raised about the Millenium March in Washington in spring of 2000? Some of the questions stilled have not been answered. Oh, well. Such is the American gay way of political organizing.

If our groups want to see how gays in other countries provide fiscal openness linked to parades and organizing, they should have a look at Alexeyev's site and the information shared. Good example of transparency we in the US might want to adopt.