Russian President Vladimir Putin will soon sign into law a bill that bans “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations.”Īimed at protecting children, the new law will introduce fines for demonstrations and literature that publicly promote gay rights. Petersburg by banning Pride parades and outreach programs for LGBT teenagers. Two decades later, the country is about to follow St. Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993. Nationalists hurled stones at the bus, which sped off when two windows were shattered. The activists illegally demanded equal rights for LGBT people, and by publicly doing so, they broke a city bylaw that is about to become national law.Įight anti-gay protesters crawled over a police barrier, punching activists to the point of bleeding before being arrested.Īfter half an hour, riot police linked arms and ran the Pride participants into a police bus. Steps away, an angry crowd of nationalists about three times as large yelled insults and demanded police arrest the group. Petersburg’s fourth Pride parade dodged stones, smoke bombs, plastic bottles and eggs. Only a simple police fence kept them from the violence and hostility of a much larger crowd, and most of their country. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA-A group of 50 people bravely held rainbow flags at a park Saturday afternoon.
