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Belarusian Gay Group Launches ‘Unregistered’ Magazine Restricted to Just 299 Copies

■ The flyer for tonight's launch of GAY: Good As You magazine at Club 6A in Minsk.

MINSK, February 27, 2010 (GayRussia/UK Gay News)  –  A new “unofficial” gay magazine is to be launched this evening at Club 6A, the only gay club in Minsk.

The magazine, GAY: Good As You, is targeted at the gay community initially in Minsk, will be published every two months and is a free publication.  It will be available in both Belarusian and Russian languages.

Chief-editor Sergey Praded, who at the end of last year was one of three gay activists fined for staging a demonstration outside the Iranian Embassy in Minsk, explained that organising such project in Belarus was not an easy task.

“Unfortunately, the authorities have refused to register our magazine, making it unofficial –and preventing us from printing more than 299 copies, according to the law.

“But we hope to be able to circulate a few in other cities by April,” he added

Mr. Praded also said that the project, which involves a team of ten volunteers, is the result of local networking.

“After the successful LGBT Conference that we organized last September in Minsk with the IDAHO Committee and the Russian LGBT group GayRussia, we made some good contacts with key Embassies and this project is already the first result.”

According to the GayBelarus Website, the magaine “intends to aquaint the public with the problems of the LGBT community [in Belarus] and to discuss serious problems”.

The first issue will be distributed locally in Minsk from this evening and will be online at www.gaybelarus.by from tomorrow (Sunday February 28).

SEE ALSO

Minsk Court Dismisses Appeal of Two Gay Activists Fined for Holding Unsanctioned Picket.  Minsk City Court today dismissed the appeal of two Belarusian gay activists against the decision of the local court, which held them responsible for organising an unsanctioned picket in front the Iranian Embassy in Minsk last December.  (January 19, 2010)

Gay Activists Fined for Taking Part in Human Rights Demo Near Iranian Embassy in Minsk.  The chairman of LGBT Human Rights project, GayBelarus, Sergey Androsenko, received a Christmas present earlier this week from the Belarus authorities.  He was fined the equivalent of a month’s pay – 875,000 Belarus Roubles when found guilty of organising a three-person demonstration against the execution of gays in Iran close to the Iranian Embassy in Minsk.  (UK Gay News, December 25, 2009)

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