European Court Fines Russia for Banning Gay Parades
BBC: The European Court of Human Rights has fined Russia for banning gay parades in Moscow, in an important victory for the country's gay community.

A leading activist, Nikolai Alexeyev, brought the case after the city authorities repeatedly rejected his requests to organise marches.

The Moscow authorities had argued the parades would cause a violent reaction.

But the court in Strasbourg said Russia had discriminated against Mr Alexeyev on grounds of sexual orientation.

It said that by refusing to allow the parades, the authorities had "effectively approved of and supported groups who had called for (their) disruption".

"The mere risk of a demonstration creating a disturbance was not sufficient to justify its ban," the court said.

It ordered Russia to pay Mr Alexeyev 29,510 euros ($41,090) in damages and for legal fees.

"This is a crippling blow to Russian homophobia on all accounts," Mr Alexeyev said after the verdict was announced.

"The authorities now have to ensure the security of peaceful gay activists, and must allow our protests to take place in Moscow or any other city in Russia. We will be applying to hold a sixth gay pride event in Moscow in May 2011," he told the BBC's Russian service. >>> | Thursday, October 21, 2010

Spain's Queen Sofia Objects to 'Gay Marriage,' and Parades
Photo of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia courtesy of SpiegelOnline International
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: The royal family in Spain enjoys a guarded popularity because it tries to keep out of politics. But a new biography of the queen reveals a regal hauteur -- and Catholic bias -- on matters from Hillary Clinton to the phrase "gay marriage."

A new book about Spain's Queen Sofia has caused an uproar among gays and lesbians because of the monarch's sniffy opinions regarding pride parades and gay marriage.

Leaks from her new biography, The Queen Up Close, appeared in the newspaper El País on Thursday, and the normally reticent queen surprised many people by opening her mouth about political matters.

"I can understand, accept and respect that there are people of other sexual tendencies, but should they be proud to be gay?" she says in the book by journalist Pilar Urbano, which is officially published on Sunday, her 70th birthday. "Should they ride on a parade float and come out in protests? If all of those who aren't gay came out to protest we would halt traffic."

She also objected to the term "gay marriage," although the Spanish parliament legalized same-sex marriages in 2005.

"If those people want to live together, dress up like bride and groom and marry, they could have a right to do so, or not, depending on the law of their country," she said, "but they should not call this matrimony, because it isn't. There are many possible names: social contract, social union." >>> msm – with wire reports | October 31, 2008

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