Commentary

News came from Brussels on Friday afternoon that the Chisinau city authorities had, for the third year running, banned a Gay Pride public event.

Making this news more incredible is the fact that the ban on this year’s Pride comes just months after the Moldovan Supreme Court ruled that last year’s ban by the city authorities was illegal.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that the reason the Chisinau city authorities banned the public parts of Gay Pride  were possible public disorder – and the promotion of sex which was contrary to Christian values in Moldova.

Sources in Brussels say that the public Gay Pride event could well turn into a protest of the violation of human rights by the Chisinau city authorities.

UK Gay News has being trying to contact the Moldovan LGBT organisation GenderDoc-M since Friday to get further details – and to find out exactly which events planned for their “Rainbow over the Nistru – 2007” Gay Pride event due to be held between April 27 and 29 have been banned.

However, communication with GenderDoc-M has been hampered as the IP address that this organisation uses for email has been “blacklisted” by an organisation called SORBS because they received one spam email apparently sent from the same IP address.

Research over the weekend suggests that SORBS is a self-appointed – and apparently unregulated – group that will arbitrarily “blacklist” IPs without checking whether the “blacklisting” is justified.

This is unlike reputable organisations like the Swiss-based SpamHaus organisation which runs checks with “owners” of IP addresses before blacklisting.

Unfortunately, the internet service provider Telemedia Group in Moldova, which provides internet facilites for GenderDoc-M, subscribes to the SORBS blacklist.  Appeals to Telemedia Group to “de-list” the IP address have so far fallen on deaf ears.

SEE ALSO

Banning of Gay Pride in Chisinau Unlawful – Supreme Court.  The Supreme Court of the Republic of Moldova ruled today that the refusal of the Chisinau city hall to authorise the gay and lesbian solidarity march in the city last year was unlawful.  Article also in Russian on this page   [UK Gay News, February 13, 2007]

Moldova Reminded That Right to Freedom of Assembly for Gays Is Prerequisite to EU Accession.  As the start of the so-called Pride Season 2007 comes closer on the LGBT community calendars, the European Parliament’s Intergroup on Gay and Lesbian Rights is focusing its attention on the situation in Moldova, an applicant State for European Union membership.  [UK Gay News, December 21, 2006]

Moldovan Capital Refuses Gays Permission to Assemble for Pride.  News that the mayor of Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, has turned down a request for a demonstration outside the Parliament building has drawn criticism from the International Lesbian and Gay Association Europe (ILGA-Europe).  [UK Gay News, April 29, 2006]

Moldovan  Authorities Ban Gay Rally Outside Parliament.  Just days before the fourth Pride event to be staged in the Moldova capital, organizers received a set-back when they were refused permission to hold a rally outside Parliament.  [UK Gay News, May 18, 2005]

 

LINK

GenderDoc-M website

 

Posted: 16 April 2007 at 01:00 (UK time)