Moscow Pride: Banned, Bloodied ... But Back!

KENILWORTH, 2 NOVEMBER 2006 — The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) is hosting a panel discussion meeting and film presentation focusing on homophobia at Moscow Pride in May this year, and in other Eastern European countries.

The public meeting will be held at 7.30 pm on Friday 10 November at Conway Hall Humanist Centre, 25 Red Lion Square, Holborn, London, and all are welcome.

Nikolai Alekseev

GALHA has lined up five panellists for the event including the courageous Russian gay activist Nikolai Alekseev, who is being flown in from Moscow for the meeting and as guest-of-honour and speaker at the group’s annual lunch.

Nikolai Alekseev is a lawyer who lives and works in Moscow. He is the founder and head of Project Gay Russia and the executive secretary of the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO). He has been actively challenging homophobia in Russia for the last four years and took a leading role in Moscow Pride. Since then he has been very active in campaigns in other Eastern European countries, notably Latvia.

The other panellists are Andy Harley (a gay journalist who took part in Moscow Pride), Derek Lennard (a former GALHA chairperson who was at Moscow Pride and spoke at the IDAHO conference which coincided with it) and Peter Tatchell (human rights campaigner who was also at Moscow Pride).

Jason Pollock, executive director of Pride London, who has worked with ILGA-Europe to produce a document entitled Prides against Prejudice: A toolkit for pride organising in a hostile environment, will round off the panel.

The GALHA membership lunch, at which Nikolai Alekseev will be presented with an award, will take place on Saturday 11 November at Chez Gerard on London’s South Bank. The award is being made “for his courage in challenging homophobia in Russia and beyond”.