NEW YORK CITY: Queer Nation Disrupts Meeting Of Moscow City Leaders

Via press release:

Gay activists directly confronted Russian government officials over that country’s anti-LGBT laws during a forum to promote US investment in Russia, disrupting a panel promoting investment in Moscow. One after another, three members of Queer Nation rose to question the panelists. “In my experience, anti-gay bigots are dishonest and corrupt as well,” said Queer Nation member Duncan Osborne to the panel. “What assurances can you give investors that their money will be safe in a country with minimal, if any, rule of law?”

The protestors were met with disdain by the panelists from the Moscow Department for Foreign Economic and International Relations. The head of the department, Sergei Cheremin, laughed openly at the protestors’ questions. “This is not funny,” Mark Milano, another protestor, told the audience. “You should be divesting, not investing in Russia.” “Gays will be the cultural death of Russia,” one American audience member shouted back. The protestors were escorted out one by one by five security guards. There were no arrests.

The protest took place at the Princeton Club at 15 West 43rd Street. The meeting, “Invest in Moscow: Doing Business in Russia’s Capital,” featured leading Moscow government officials. For the past eight years, Moscow has banned LGBT pride marches and demonstrations. This year, Moscow’s highest court barred such events for 100 years. When LGBT activists have defied the bans, Russian police have responded with violence and have allowed Russian nationalists and religious conservatives to attack LGBT activists with impunity.

Other clips from the protest are here and here.