Lord Provost of Edinburg asked to stop anti-gay St Petersburg bill
January 24, 2012
Auferstehungskirche in St.Petersburg
A coalition of groups is calling on the Lord Provost of Edinburgh – a twin city to St Petersburg – to protest the latter city’s vehemently homophobic “propaganda” law.
Last year lawmakers in Russia’s second largest city passed the “gay propaganda” law on a vote of 27 to 1.
International condemnation ensued, forcing further vote on the bill to be postponed last November.
A coalition of Amnesty International Scotland, Equality Network, Scottish Youth Parliament and NUS Scotland LGBT have banned together to demand that the Lord Provost utilize his diplomatic powers to bar the legislation from becoming law.
The position of Provost is equivalent to that of mayor in many towns and cities.
The law would prohibit “public actions aimed at propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality, and transgenderism among minors.”
Critics say the law would effectively target any public event held by the LGBT community.
“Throughout Russia, we have witnessed a clampdown on freedom of expression of LGBTI individuals, NGOs and activists,” said Shabnum Mustapha, Amnesty International’s Programme Director in Scotland.
“There has been harassment, intimidation and interference with gay prides and other public events; as well physical violence and the detention of peaceful demonstrators by the police. To seek to ‘legitimise’ this discrimination and oppression of the LGBTI community through legislation is appalling.”
Nathan Sparkling, NUS Scotland’s LGBT Officer, said: “Legislation such as this will only further marginalise LGBTI people and must be stopped – in St Petersburg and throughout Russia. The notion that Russia’s youth are somehow being converted through ‘propoganda’ would be laughable if the repercussions weren’t so dangerous.”
Critics further argue that the role of a twin city carries the weight of addressing human rights violations.
“The twinning of St Petersburg and Edinburgh provides the Lord Provost with a legitimate platform from which to raise grave concerns about the treatment of the LGBTI community and to call on the Governor of St Petersburg to oppose the legislation,” said Tom French, Policy Coordinator for the Equality Network.
“Failure to do so would be tantamount to condoning this draconian and extremely harmful legislation.”
Image by Yoky
