Submitted by bastian on 26 March, 2007 - 12:15.
From March 26 till 31, 2007 the Russian Week against Homophobia will take place for the first time. Actions in the framework of the week will be carried out in many cities of Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Voronezh, Krasnodar, etc.). It will become a peculiar continuation of the European Week against Homophobia in the framework of the "All Different – All Equal" campaign, the central events of which were held in Warsaw in March 3–5.
The Movement in defense of the rights of LGBT "LGBT-rights", the Youth Network against Racism and Intolerance (YNRI) and the Movement of civil actions "GROZA" acted as the initiators of the Week against Homophobia in Russia with the support of the Russian LGBT-Network and a number of regional and inter-regional organizations and groups.
The problem of homophobia (intolerance towards the LGBT citizens: lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals) in Russia, as well as in a number of other European countries, is more than critical, being fuelled by the speeches of some politicians, religious leaders and other public figures, who speculate on this topic for their own goals. This leads to a systematic violation of the rights of the LGBT persons and their discrimination.
"The week against homophobia is a peculiar (concentrated in time) effort to attract public attention to the problem of homophobia and its danger for the entire society. It's an opportunity to answer the homophobic rhetoric by creating the space without discrimination and hatred towards people. An important feature of this Week is the fact that it's for the first time that not only the LGBT-organizations speak out against homophobia, but also the anti-fascist, human rights and other civil organizations do so", – says the Week against Homophobia coordinator – Tatyana Serpukhova.
The main elements of the Week will be the enlightenment actions (discussions, roundtables, video-shows, presentations, information actions, seminars, etc.), and also the collection of signatures under the "Manifest against Homophobia". "The threat for the modern society may be only the hatred and violence towards everything unlike and different, but not Love… Only the solidary actions of a great number of people may influence the preservation and prevalence of the values of Dignity of each Human being and his rights and freedoms in any society" – reads the Manifest. One can get acquainted with the "Manifest" and join it at the official site of the European Week against Homophobia in Russia: www.ewaho.lgbtrights.ru .
Additional information about the Week against Homophobia can be obtained from the workgroup:
By e-mail: homo-euroweek@googlegroups.com
On the site: www.ewaho.lgbtrights.ru .
