Petrelis Files

Names of Arrested Russian Gays to be Read at 3/3 SF Pussy Riot Rally

(Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, rear, and Maria Alyokhina, front, are taken into custody by Russian police during a protest in Moscow on Feb. 24, 2014. Credit: Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.)

When LGBT activists and supporters of Pussy Riot gather on Monday, March 3 at 7 pm outside Davies Hall in San Francisco to show solidarity as the St. Petersburg Philharmonic makes its local concert appearance, the names of arrested or detained Russian gays, feminists and human rights defenders so far this year will be read aloud. We will also include the names of foreigners, such as Vladimir Luxuria, the Italian transgender politician detained during the Sochi Olympics. Please join us and promote the Facebook page.

This Kremlin-funded philharmonic is headed by Yuri Temirkanov who endorsed Vladimir Putin's 2012 reelection and was feted by the Russian president in December on his 75th birthday, and the activist group Gays Without Borders has requested a pro-LGBT statement from the philharmonic. We hope to learn before the concert what the positions are of Temirkanov and the philharmonic regarding the anti-gay propaganda laws and harassment of Pussy Riot members.

With the tremendous assistance of Amy Bergquist, staff attorney with the Advocates for Human Rights based in Minnesota, I've started a list of names that will be spoken at the March 3 rally. If you know of additional names that should be listed, please either email me their details or leave a comment with the info.

People of all sexual orientations and gender identities prosecuted, threatened by government agents or detained under the anti-gay propaganda law:

- Maria Alyokhina. One of the Pussy Riot women bashed and detained in Sochi, then detained two weeks later in Moscow supporting defendants in the Bolotnaya Square protest case.

- Anna Annenkov. Arrested in Moscow with ten others on the eve of the Olympics for attempting to display a rainbow flag in Red Square.

- Anonymous lesbian teenager. She was found guilty of violating the law publicly coming out and was hospitalized after her father beat her.

- Dmitry Isakov. This activist protested the law in Kazan and was fined 4,000 rubles in January after a teenager saw photos of Isakov’s protest online and filed a complaint.

- Elena Kostynchenko. Arrested in Moscow with ten others on the eve of the Olympics for attempting to display a rainbow flag in Red Square.

 - Elena Klimova. On January 31, Russian authorities charged her with violations of the propaganda law because she launched the Deti-404 site for LGBT youths.

 - Pavel Lebedev. In January, police arrested this young activist for waving a rainbow flag as the relay brought the Olympic torch through Voronezh.

- Vladimir Luxuria. A transgender leader from Italy, she was twice detained during the games for hold a "Gay Is OK" sign and wearing rainbow apparel.

- Maria. A government commission threatened to sue the 14-year-old after she held a one-person picket in the town of Kyatkova to protest the propaganda law.

- Olga Mazurova. Arrested in Moscow with ten others on the eve of the Olympics for attempting to display a rainbow flag in Red Square.

- Alexei Navalny. Anti-corruption blogger and Putin opponent, detained in February at the sentencing of democracy activists arrested in 2012 in the Bolotnaya Square protest case.

- Knicks Nemeni. Attempted to march in Moscow with a banner demanding gay inclusion at the Olympics, as the games began.

- Tarja Polyakova. Attempted to march in Moscow with a banner demanding gay inclusion at the Olympics, as the games began.

- Lynn Reid. Nationality unknown. She tried to march in Moscow with a banner demanding gay inclusion at the Olympics, as the games began.

- Anastasia Smirnova. Russian lesbian leader. Attempted to march in Moscow with a banner demanding gay inclusion at the Olympics, as the games began.

- Daria Starshinina. Attempted to march in Moscow with a banner demanding gay inclusion at the Olympics, as the games began.

 - Alexander Suturin. In late January, a court in Khabarovsk fined this newspaper editor 50,000 rubles for publishing an interview with an openly gay teacher.

- Nadezhda Tolokonnikova. The other member of Pussy Riot bashed and detained in Sochi and Moscow supporting defendants in the Bolotnaya Square protest case.

- Gleb Warrior. Attempted to march in Moscow with a banner demanding gay inclusion at the Olympics, as the games began.

- Ulrika Westerlund. Swedish national, attempted to march in Moscow with a banner demanding gay inclusion at the Olympics, as the games began.