The authorities do not see the need for such events

The Moscow City Hall is not going to allow a march of representatives of sexual minorities to take place in the capital on May 25. The City Hall's decision will be officially announced on Wednesday.

Photo: Vasily Maksimov, Kommersant / buy photo

“From our point of view, there is no need for such events in the city,” Alexey Mayorov, head of the regional security department of the Moscow City Hall, told Interfax . Officially, the organizers of the action will announce the decision of the mayor's office on Wednesday. Earlier, the mayor's office stated that the authorities' position on gay pride parades has not changed.

“Some collective farmer sits in the mayor’s office and decides whether Moscow needs gay pride parades or not. Decides for everyone,” Nikolai Alekseev, one of the applicants for the action of LGBT representatives, wrote in his microblog on Twitter , adding that Mayor Sergei Sobyanin may overtake former mayor Yuri Luzhkov in the number of gay pride parades banned in Moscow.

Tomorrow: Luzhkov - Sobyanin 5:3. The latter is catching up with the former in terms of the number of bans on gay pride events in Moscow. I think he will have time to overtake. Yura, come back!
— Nikolai Alexeyev (@n_alexeyev) May 14, 2013

“It turns out that public events in Russia are now held “out of necessity,” and not according to the law. And this “need” is determined by the official,” added Mr. Alekseev.

What actions were planned by representatives of the LGBT community?

On Monday, May 13, LGBT activists submitted an application to hold a gay pride parade in Moscow on May 25. The organizers chose Myasnitskaya Street as the venue for the procession, and Revolution Square for the rally. According to the mayor's office, the authorities' position on gay pride parades has not changed. Previous similar actions were not approved by the authorities and took place without authorization. Read more

Will gays be allowed into Hyde Parks?

As the head of Moscow’s regional security department, Alexey Mayorov, said, despite the fact that gay pride parades in the capital will not be coordinated in the near future in order to avoid a “big fight,” representatives of the LGBT movement can hold rallies in Hyde parks. “It all depends on what they come with, what they will promote and how it relates to the requirements of Russian legislation,” he said. Read more

Dmitry Tikhonov

Moscow City Hall will not allow gay pride parade