Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov has again lashed out at gay men and lesbians, calling them “homos” and their Pride parades “demonic.”
Appearing on a TV program earlier this month, Luzhkov reportedly said: “There are two reasons gay pride parades are unacceptable in Moscow. First and foremost, public morality does not accept such parades, public morality does not accept those homos.”
Secondly, he said: “If they gather together, assuming they are allowed to hold a parade, other people will simply kill them. There are radical Christians in Moscow who stand strongly against such demonic manifestations, as they say.
“There were attempts made [in May] to hold the gay parade during the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. We had to isolate about 19 radical Christians who intended to attack those homos.”
On 16 May, riot police broke up an attempt to stage the fourth annual gay pride parade in Moscow, arresting up to 80 participants, including gay leader Nikolai Alekseev, British gay leader Peter Tatchell and Chicago gay activist Andy Thayer.
Luzhkov previously has called gay Pride parades “satanic” and “weapons of mass destruction,” and has officially banned them each year.