The Vyatka diocese recommended that the priest who spoke out against the gay pride parade apologize “for the harsh tone of his statements”

On March 5, the mass media of the Kirov region reported that the activists of the Interregional Movement for the Protection of the Rights of Homosexuals were preparing an application for holding a gay pride parade in the region. A protest against the holding of this event was made by the head of the missionary department of the Vyatka diocese, priest Evgeny Smirnov.

"Obviously, all the rights and demands demanded by homosexuals are exotic wishes and cannot be legislated. Open propaganda of what all traditional religions call vice and sin, we, as Christians, can only call madness," his appeal to Governor Nikita Belykh.

Soon the statement of Father Eugene was withdrawn by the Vyatka diocese. "The appeal was not agreed upon either with the diocese itself or with Bishop Chrysanth," told Kommersant Priest Alexander Balyberdin, secretary of the Vyatka diocese, . According to him, the head of the missionary department was recommended to apologize "for the harsh tone of statements."

Later it turned out that the Interregional Movement for the Protection of the Rights of Homosexuals was not planning any actions in the Kirov region. In the region, information about the forthcoming gay parade is regarded as a provocation against the governor.

Sources

• Rostova I., Sukhonin Yu. Nikita Belykh will not accept the gay parade // Kommersant. 2009. March 20.