Following the successful HAPPENING at Brighton Pride on Saturday, August 3 organised by controversial artist and poet Vince Laws to highlight the concerns of gay and gay owned business owners in Brighton and Hove at the treatment of LGBT people in Russia, Adam Brooks, licensee of the Bedford Tavern is organising a group of supporters to join him at the national demonstration in London this Saturday, August 10.
Adam said:
“We have all just had an amazing Brighton Pride but there are LGBT people on this planet who are not allowed to host Pride. In Russia people are being tortured and even murdered for simply being who they are.
“I intend on making my voice heard and a few of us will be attending the demonstration in London on Saturday. If anyone in Brighton would like to join us we will be meeting at The Brighton Tavern at 11am with an aim of getting the train to Victoria at 1149am.
“We will attend the demonstration and the head to Halfway to Heaven for afternoon drinks and cabaret with Rose Garden.”
Adam has created a facebook page to co-ordinate Brighton Protestors arriving at the demonstration together.
To view, CLICK HERE:
Due to the large response from London’s LGBT community on facebook the Protest has been moved for safety reasons from outside the Russian Embassy to a more visible location at Richmond Terrace, Whitehall, Westminster close to Downing Street.
The protest has been moved primarily to ensure there is space to accommodate everyone safely.
The Russian Embassy is located down a private road, which is not accessible to the public. At the best, protestors could have lined the street along Bayswater Road, and with the numbers now indicating on Facebook that they will be attending, that was not considered safe.
The nearest tube station is Westminster or Embankment.
In 2012 The Russian government banned all gay pride events throughout the country for the next 100 years.
In 2013, the government adopted a trifecta of anti LGBT bills basically criminalising homosexuality. One bans the distribution of propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations to minors. This law imposes heavy fines for using the media or internet to promote non-traditional relations.
Secondly, the government made it illegal for the adoption of Russian children by gay couples or any single person who comes from a country that recognises marriage equality.
Thirdly, a bill has just been passed giving authorities the rights to arrest foreign nationals whom they suspect being LGBT or pro gay and detain them for up to 14 days.
There is talk in the Russian media of the next step being the removal of children from Russian homes, natural or adoptive, from parents who are, or are suspected of being LGBT.
We are witnessing imagery in
The international media have been highlighting violence towards LGBT people and there is growing evidence that the new laws are being broadly interpreted by the Russian public and by the legal system to unfairly and violently persecute, intimidate and vilify LGBT people.
Protestors are calling on David Cameron, the UK Parliament and the G20 to urge the Russian government to repeal these laws and to provide the same level of human rights protection to all of its citizens regardless of their sexuality and gender.
Protest Details:
Static protest and signing of register of protest in support of LGBT people in Russia
Date: August 10, 2013
Location: Richmond Terrace, Westminster SW1A 2JL
Time: 1.00pm to 4.00pm
To view the facebook page, CLICK HERE:
You must be logged in to post a comment.