MOSCOW, February 22, 2008 (GayRussia.ru)  –  Young homophobic communist Pavel Tarasov, who 18 months ago infamously said that a “good faggot is a dead faggot”, has surfaced as a staffer for Communist presidential candidate Gennady Zyuganov.

As a representative of the communist leader, Mr. Tarasov took part recently in debates between presidential candidates on Russian national TV channel.

He also participated in the anti-gay riots in Moscow during the city’s two Gay Prides in 2006 and last year, helping to disperse gay men and women with a group of young homophobic communists.

Wearing a red T-shirt with communist symbols, Mr. Tarasov was at the head of homophobic mob which shouted on the streets: “Death to faggots!”

In 2006 photographs of Tarasov and his comrades appeared on the Internet against a background of nationalists and Cossacks dispersing LGBT demonstrators.

During last year’s Gay Pride, he appeared again on the Moscow streets with his friends and made homophobic statements in front of the cameras.

Mr. Tarasov has published reports on his anti-gay riots on the official homepage of Youth Communist Union.

His most notorious homophobic statement was made in 2006 at the official forum of young communist homepage.  In October 2006 he declared: “Faggots need to attract attention to themselves so that they could be regarded as gays, not as faggots.  [A] Good faggot is a dead faggot!”

In addition, Mr. Tarasov is running for municipal election in Moscow on March 2, the same date as the presidential election.

The Communist Party of Russian Federation is still one of the most homophobic parties in Russia.  Its leader Gennady Zyuganov says that homosexuality contradicts to Russian national traditions.

Communist member of State Duma Vitor Ilyukhin recently supported criminal penalty for homosexuality in Russia.

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Posted: 22 February 2008 at 13:30 (UK time)