RUSSIA: Court Acquits Madonna Of Threatening National Birth Rate By Promoting Homosexuality

The Guardian reports:

It is the country that has sent members of the punk band Pussy Riot to crumbling prison colonies and its richest man to an isolated northern jail. But Russia met its match on Thursday when it attempted to silence the world’s biggest pop star.
Madonna was widely criticised in Russia this summer for voicing support for Pussy Riot during a Moscow concert and speaking out for gay rightsduring a performance in St Petersburg. A senior official called her a “moralising slut” for the former, and nine claimants brought a $10.7m lawsuit against her for the latter.
On Thursday a court St Petersburg ruled against the plaintiffs, members of various conservative groups who argued that Madonna’s comments violated a new law banning the promotion of “homosexual propaganda” to minors and would lead to the destruction of the nation. Violation of the law is punishable by fines of up to 500,000 roubles (£10,000).
During a day-long hearing, the court examined YouTube footage and was shown screenshots of Madonna’s Facebook page as proof that the material girl was crazy for gay rights. “I am here to say that the gay community and gay people here and all around the world have the same rights – to be treated with dignity, with respect, with tolerance, with compassion, with love,” Madonna said during the performance in August, as concert-goers waved gay pride flags and flashed pink wristbands the pop star had handed out as symbols of support.
The claimants argued that Madonna’s performance would adversely affect Russia’s birthrate and therefore its ability to maintain a proper army. They cited posts on the Facebook page condemning the law as proof she had prior knowledge of the potential criminality of expressing herself.
Madonna ignored repeated requests to attend the hearing, held in a tiny courtroom in Russia’s second city. “St Petersburg’s laws were brutally violated,” one of the claimants, Marina Yakovlyeva, told the court, news agencies reported. “In the coming years, this type of violation could become the norm. But we have created a precedent – any artist coming to our city will know now what laws exist.”
Russia has been harshly criticised over the law, which has also been adopted in eight other regions. Some MPs have floated introducing it on a federal level. Adoption of the law in St Petersburg, long seen as Russia’s most westernised city and its cultural capital, has led to a global outcry. All Out, a gay rights group, as called on travellers to boycott St Petersburg. The Canadian government has issued advisories to gay citizens planning to take a holiday there.
The judge in the case, Vitaly Barkovsky, deliberated for more than an hour before delivering his verdict, but appeared to treat the case with scepticism from the start. After one claimant, Vitaly Orlovsky, said Madonna’s concert would prompt the divorce rate to skyrocket, Barkovsky asked him why he was suing no alcoholics, since alcoholism was a well-known cause of divorce in the heavy-drinking country.
Vitaly Milonov, a local MP who has led St Petersburg’s anti-gay campaign, accused Madonna of showing no respect for the court and said the star’s actions answered the question “who’s that girl”. “You can see what kind of person she is – for her, Russia is a cow from whom she can come and get milk – that is, money – and then leave, while not following our laws,” he told the Guardian.

NEW YORK CITY: Madonna Served Summons To Appear On Gay Propaganda Charges In Russia

Joe.My.God. reports:

Russian anti-gay activists yesterday served a summons at Madonna’s New York City home, demanding that she appear in St. Petersburg for trial on charges that she violated that city’s ban on public utterances of support for LGBT people.Russia Today reports: 

The pro-Kremlin group Trade Union of Russian Citizens wants the Material Girl in court for blasphemy and for damaging the cultural foundations of St. Petersburg. Nine activists filed a suit against the pop star after her concert on August 9. They are seeking 333 million rubles (around US$10 million) from Madonna and from the company that organized her show. All the fuss is because of Madonna’s actions on the stage. The pop diva started her show asking fans to raise their hands with pink bracelets, which they were given on the entrance, in support of homosexual rights. It is, however, illegal to promote homosexuality in St. Petersburg. The local law, which bans so-called “propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexualism and transgenderism, and pedophilia to minors,” was passed in March this year. “She insulted believers’ feelings, she promoted homosexuality when there were children at the concert and this is forbidden in St Petersburg. We, the residents of the cultural capital, suffered a colossal moral damage,” union spokesperson Darya Dedova was quoted as saying.

In the event that Madonna is found guilty, much less even appears for trial, an additional 50% of the $10M suit would, by law, be levied in order to further protect St. Petersburg from “homosexuals and pedophiles.” 

NOTE: The lawsuit appears to be a civil action from local crackpots and not an official action of the government, although the plaintiffs surely have their support.  The above-linked article does not mention if Madonna was home when the summons was served.

VIDEO:  Here’s Madonna speech from that show.

Madonna Gets Fined For Supporting Gay Rights At St. Petersburg Concert

Queerty reports:

Madonna is facing charges for speaking out on behalf of LGBT people in St. Petersburg at her concert last night, flouting the city’s gay-propaganda ban. After telling fans at her MDNA gig to “show your love and appreciation to the gay community,” she was fined 5,000 Rubles (or about $150).
We think she can cover it.
As previously announced, pink wristbands were distributed to concertgoers before the show. Madonna also wore a black bra with the phrase “No Fear” written on her back.
Vitaly Milonov, the assemblyman who introduced the city’s recent anti-gay law, was the one to submit  an application to file charges. “[Madonna] testified that she does not care about the legislation of St Petersburg,” Milonov said.
The organizers of the MDNA world tour, meanwhile, could be fined up to 500,000 Rubles ($15,700).
Gay rights activist Yury Gavrikov isn’t impressed with Madonna’s mouthing off. He told Gay Star News he wishes the Material Matron would have canceled her tour instead.
“Madonna as an artist and many other stars are using human rights issues for them to promote shows and make money. We don’t respect this idea. We wanted to protest the hypocrisy of the stars.’
If you want to really do something, you have to not just talk about problems, you have to do something that is politically important, powerful. Meeting with the mayor of St Petersburg or breaking out of the Russian tour is a way to attract more attention.”
‘Madonna will leave St Petersburg and she will forget about all these problems.”

Madonna Announces Pro-LGBT Pink Wristband Demostration At Saint Petersburg Concert

U.S. State Department Issues Warning About Madonna’s Concerts In Russia

Joe.My.God. reports:

At last night’s concert in Moscow, Madonna announced support for the jailed female punk band Pussy Riot, which is presently on trial for an anti-Putin concert staged in a church. 

Pop singer Madonna donned the trademark balaclava worn by punk band Pussy Riot during a concert in Moscow to demand Russia free three group members on trial for bursting into a Russian Orthodox church and singing a protest against Vladimir Putin. The U.S. singer also stripped to a black bra to show the band’s name written on her back in support of Pussy Riot’s protest in Moscow’s main cathedral against close links between the president and the clergy. “I know there are many side to every story, and I mean no disrespect to the church or the government, but I think that these three girls - Masha, Katya, Nadya - I think that they have done something courageous,” Madonna said to loud cheers from the crowd at Moscow’s Olympiysky Stadium on Tuesday night. “I pray for their freedom,” she said.

Madonna has also threatened to denounce anti-gay bills in Russia, but that apparently did not happen last night.

Russia: Police Arrest Eight Activists At Saint Petersburg LGBT Rights Rallies

Joe.My.God. reports:

Yesterday only a handful of brave activists defied the St. Petersburg ban on public pro-gay demonstrations and almost all of them were arrested.

• Three rally organizers were arrested Saturday at a park in Russia’s second city, and five others were detained at a later rally attempt near the landmark Smolny complex, Russian news agencies reported. Only six people showed up for the second rally, and the three arrested at the first attempt were the only participants. Although homosexuality was decriminalized after the fall of the Soviet Union, disdain for gays remains strong in Russia. Some rally attempts provoke violence by opponents. St. Petersburg passed a law in February calling for fines of up to 500,000 rubles ($15,000) for spreading “homosexual propaganda.”

Russia: Saint Petersburg Judge Rules “LGBT Event Ban Unlawful” 

Pink News UK reports:

A judge in St Petersburg has ruled that bans on gay events put in place by officials under city’s ‘gay propaganda’ legislation were unlawful, it has been reported.
Coming Out St Petersburg said the Smolninsky district court had handed down a decision yesterday saying the authorities lacked the competence to determine whether the events would amount to propaganda before they took place.
It also denied the officials’ standing to cancel events, saying they only had authority to suggest alternative times and places for rallies.
The two planned events were for the Day of Silence on 7 March and the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia on 17 May.
The group said the reasoning for the decision would be made public on 12 June.

RUSSIA: Nikolai Alexeyev, First Activist Fined For Violating Ban On “Gay Propaganda” In St Peterburg

Joe.My.God. reports: 

The first person to be fined under St. Petersburg’s ban on “gay propaganda” is renowned activist Nikolai Alexeyev.

• A St. Petersburg court handed down its first conviction under the city’s new anti-gay law on Friday, ordering a leading gay activist to pay a 5,000-ruble fine for his picket against the law. The district court ruled that Nikolai Alexeyev had promoted homosexuality among minors by picketing City Hall with a sign reading, “Homosexuality Is Not a Perversion” on April 12. As proof of its verdict, the judge read out statements from several people who had expressed concern to the court that Alexeyev’s actions might harm their children, Interfax reported. Alexeyev denied wrongdoing in court, saying, “I do not know what it means to promote homosexuality, and I do not admit my guilt.” He said his protest had aimed to show that homosexuals have the same rights as other people.
  

Alexyev plans to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

Russia: Activists Arrested In Saint Petersburg At Protest Over “Gay Propaganda” Ban

Russia: LGBT Activists - We Won’t Be Silenced

Russia: Two Activists Arrested After Protesting St. Petersburg’s Anti-Gay Law

The Advocate reports:

Two gay activists stood up against St. Petersburg’s draconian new antigay law and were promptly arrested.

Alexei Kiselyov and Cyril Nepomnyashiy staged individual protests Thursday in front of the Palace of Youth Creativity. Holding signs saying “Gay — this is normal,” the men voiced anger at the city’s new antigay law, which bans “propaganda of homosexuality to minors” but is widely seen as an indictment of anything LGBT-related.

The two activists face up to 15 days in prison for taking part in a “public event that was not authorized by the city authorities and of disobeying the lawful demands of police officers,” according to GayRussia. The men will be represented in court by prominent Russian LGBT activist Nikolai Alekseev.

“They are only trying to convey to the public capital scientific truth that homosexuality is not a disease but a natural and normal sexual orientation,” Alekseev told Gay Star News. ”But yesterday’s arrests show that this prohibition is being broadly construed, enforcing the denial of the right of freedom of expression for LGBT people.”

Madonna Posts About Saint Petersburg, Russia

Moron Of The Week: Vitaly Milanov

For threatening Madonna, saying that if she queer things up he’ll be taking measures under Sain Petersburg’s new “Gay Propaganda Law”, which he himself sponsored.

Madonna Could Be Arrested If Queers Up (How Could She Not?) Concert In Saint Petersburg

Pink News UK reports:

The author of the St Petersburg anti-gay bill has said that he would want Madonna charged under that law, should she speak out against it during her forthcoming concert in the city.

His strongly-worded comment comes in the light of the pop singer’s comments on her Facebook page, posted this Wednesday, where she pledged “to support the gay community” and speak out against “this ridiculous atrocity.”

Vitaly Milanov, who sponsored the legislation, and is an ally of Mr Putin, told the Russian Interfax news agency that he was “ready to personally suffer a couple of hours of her concert” in order to “control its moral content.”

Madonna’s comments were triggered in their turn by an opinion piece written by the Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen, urging the singer, along with Mercedes-Benz and PepsiCo, to boycott the city that would penalise, as the bill terms it, “the propaganda of male homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality and transgenderism among minors.”

Reactions to Madonna’s statements have been mixed among gay rights activists in Russia. Nikolai Aleksev, the head of the advocacy group Gay Russia, wrote in his blog: “The law will stay in force, Madonna will leave and the Russian LGBT-community will be humiliated even more.” He also vowed to picket the concert, accusing the self-reported “freedom fighter” of exploiting their struggle for money, and urging her instead to cancel her shows.

Another group, the Russian LGBT Network, has however spoken out against these tactics. According to ABC News, Igor Kochetkov, chairman of the network, has said that the singer’s words in support of gay rights to millions of her fans in Russia would do more good than any boycott.

Her concerts are like Gay Parades! Full of queer dancers and all her hits are like gay anthems! How could she not queer things up? Why don’t they just ban her shows? it’s moronic to expect things to be different. She’s a Gay Icon, for Cher’s sake! This guy is only looking for trouble. I expect Madonna to cut this bitch. She’ll get away with it somehow. I mean, I don’t thing Madonna would be putting a foot anywhere near prison.

Madonna Will “Speak Up” For The Gay Community At Saint Petersburg Concert

Bloomberg News reports: 

Madonna’s first tour in Russia drew the ire of orthodox Christian activists. Now she vows to defy a new law against promoting homosexuality when she performs in President-elect Vladimir Putin’s hometown in August.

“I will come to St. Petersburg to speak up for the gay community and to give strength and inspiration to anyone who is or feels oppressed,” the pop star said by e-mail late yesterday. “I’m a freedom fighter.”

The law, signed March 7 by St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko, a Putin ally and former KGB officer, bans lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered “propaganda” that could give minors “the false perception that traditional and nontraditional relationships are socially equal.”

Homosexuality was outlawed in the Soviet era and wasn’t decriminalized in Russia until 1993. Seventy-six of the 193 members of the United Nations deem homosexuality illegal, according to Human Rights Watch. At least five countries, including Iran, impose the death penalty for consensual same-sex relations, the New York-based advocacy group says.

Madonna, ranked the 8th highest-earning celebrity in Forbes magazine’s 2010 list with estimated earnings of $58 million, plans to return to Russia for the third time with a concert in Moscow on Aug. 7, followed two days later by St. Petersburg. Tickets for both performances range from 1,500 rubles ($51) to 50,000 rubles apiece, according to PMI Corp. and Euro Entertainment, the organizers of the events.

‘Ridiculous Atrocity’

“I don’t run away from adversity,” Madonna, who has used her fame to support gay rights, said in the e-mail. “I will speak during my show about this ridiculous atrocity.”

Madonna’s first show in Russia six years ago was marred by protests of Russian Orthodox activists who objected to her performance of the song “Live to Tell,” which she sang while wearing a crown of thorns and dangling from a cross.

During the singer’s second visit in 2009 on the Sticky and Sweet tour, a Communist group urged her to sing a revolutionary anthem like the Marseillaise as she performed near the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, which was stormed by the Bolsheviks in 1917. The palace now houses the Hermitage Museum.

The Russian Orthodox Church, the dominant religious body in a country of 143 million people, considers homosexuality a sin. About 69 percent of Russians identify themselves as Orthodox, according to a poll last August by the Moscow-based Levada center.

‘Propaganda Among Minors’

“There’s lots of criticism from the media community about this law, but somehow most of the media forget about this crucial word — minors,” said Vladimir Vigilyansky, a spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchy, by phone. “It’s about propaganda among minors, not about banning homosexuality itself.”

Russia, which is preparing to host the Winter Olympics in 2014 and the soccer World Cup in 2018, was chastised for the legislation by Canada, which issued a warning to its citizens who plan to travel to St. Petersburg to avoid “displaying affection in public, as homosexuals can be targets of violence.”

The former imperial capital, founded by Peter the Great in 1703, is the country’s top tourist destination and a host city for the World Cup. About 2.3 million foreigners visited the city in 2010, the last year for which government data is available.