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Piriou called for European Union countries to “get tough”
with Poland and condemn the country’s efforts to breech the rights of Polish
gays.
A small group of Polish gays was
among the demonstrators, including Tomasz Szypula, the secretary-general of
the Warsaw-based Kampania Przeciw Homofobi (Campaign Against Homophobia).
“We are very touched with the
tremendous support, understanding and compassion coming from friends from
all over the Europe,” Szypula told the crowd, saying he was speaking on
behalf of all gays in Poland.
“It is significant that values of
equality, fraternity and liberty egalité are still in danger in our common
home –; Europe.
“Polish LGBT people respect the
democratic choice of Polish society to choose Mr. Lech Kaczynski as the
President of the Republic of Poland. But like our French and European
friends Polish LGBT people would like to condemn the use of “hate speech”
and homophobic statements used by the Law and Justice party during
parliamentary and presidential elections in 2005.
“Gay and lesbian rights are human
rights – the Polish President and Prime Minister must not be allowed to
forget that,” he said.
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Tomasz Szypula is interviewed by Polish Television |
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Kursad Kahramanoglu, the Turkish
co-secretary-general of the International Lesbian and Gay Association
promised that both ILGA and ILGA-Europe would constantly be reminding Poland
of its duty to assure the rights of its gay citizens, in accordance with
European law.
“We will hold Poland to account
before all the institutions of the European Union,” he promised.
Before the demonstration, all roads
to the Paris embassy were sealed by the police. It looked as though there
would be more police than demonstrators, but participants continued to
arrive, many taking time-off from the ILGA-Europe annual conference being
held in the city.
The protest attracted the media,
including a news crew from Polish Television, French gay publications
Tetu and Illico, and Pink TV.
The demonstration was peaceful, with even the French
group ActUp, famous for its ‘robust’ action, limiting itself to a large
banner that suggested the new President of Poland was “a homophobe”
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■ As darkness
fell, ActUp members show what they think of the new Polish President |
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LINKS
GayRussia.ru website (English language)
Click link below for further information on Moscow
Pride
 |
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Recent Articles
(go to
Archive main page
for full archive search)
October
31:
France/Russia:
French Communist Party
Supports Moscow Gay Pride. The
first-ever Moscow Pride and gay Festival has the support of the French
Communist Party, it emerged at the weekend.
October
29:
Dobson Lawyers Get Tough With Gay Christian Church as Presiding Bishop Is Installed.
The installation of the Presiding
Bishop of a predominantly-gay Christian denomination took an unexpected
twist today when lawyers for Dr. James Dobson’s “Focus on the Family”
insisted they cease using the name of their new ministry to persons with HIV
and AIDS.
Gay Arts
Festival in Liverpool Gets Underway. November 2005 is
the month that Liverpool will again play host to the hugely successful Homotopia. After launching a pilot programme in November last year. On
offer are a wide variety of events, events including film, theatre, comedy,
heritage, cabaret and art. The festival runs from October 31 to November 14.
October
27:
UK:
Civil Partnership:
Gays in Northern Ireland Have Two-Day Start on Rest of UK.
The first registrations for Civil Partnerships in the United Kingdom will
take place on Monday December 19 in Northern Ireland – two days before
England, Scotland and Wales – the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP) in
Belfast said today.
Pasolini: First English Translation of 1964 Poem by Famed Gay Italian Poet,
Filmmaker. November 2 will be the 30th
anniversary of the death of Pier Paolo Pasolini – and to commemorate his
disappearance, one of his major poetic works Victory has been
published for the first time ever in English translation.
October 26:
UK/Nigeria:
Nigeria: Outrage! Protests Teen
Lesbians ‘Brutal Caning’. The London-based gay human rights
group Outrage! has protested the recent sentencing of six young girls, one
said to be as young as 12, to 90 strokes of the cane following accusations
of lesbianism.
USA:
New Estimate Suggests
25 of 2,000 US Casualties in Iraq May Have Been Gay.
As reports circulated yesterday that American casualties in the war in Iraq have reached
2000, statistician Gary Gates estimated today that more than 25 of those
killed were gay or lesbian.
October
25:
France/Russia:
Russian Public Opinion Shows Support for
Gay Equality. A majority of Russians think that gays should
have equal rights, a poll has revealed.
October
20:
France/Russia:
Plans for IDAHO Meeting to Be Revealed in
'Gay Paree'. Details of the first-ever
meeting of the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) are to be
unveiled in Paris next week – in the ‘Mayor’s Auditorium’ of the
historic Hôtel de Ville (City Hall)
Russia:
Likening Gays to
Fascists Made Me So Furious. Commentary by
Nikolai Alekseev of GayRussia.ru on
his trip to Krasnodar. When I saw the slogan at the
anti-gay protest in Krasnodar that organisers of next year’s Moscow Pride
want revenge for fascist’s defeat over 60 years ago, I was not just amazed –
I was furious.
October 16:
Russia:
Krasnodar’s Anti-Gay
Protest Turns Out Low Key Under Watchful Eye of Militia, by
Nikolai
Alekseev.
Yesterday’s anti-gay protest in Krasnodar was banned by the authorities on the
technicality that one of the groups organising the demonstration had been
ordered by the courts to be closed down. So there was one obvious question I had when I arrived at
the monument to the Black Sea Kazak Army in the city and found the local law
enforcement officers there.
October 15:
Russia:
Anti-Gay Protest Goes
Ahead in Krasnodar Despite Ban - Only 30 Turn Up. Anti-gay
protestors defied a ban imposed by the Krasnodarski region authorities and
rallied as promised in Krasnodar today. Earlier in the week, organisers of
the “patriots-homophobes” demonstration had predicted that 500 would turn up
to protest the staging of a Gay Pride in Moscow, some 1,500 kilometres away.
October 13:
Russia:
Anti-Gay Demo in
Krasnodar Banned by Authorities. Authorities in the Krasnodarski region of Russia have said this evening that
they will not authorise the anti-gay demonstration in Krasnodar on Saturday.
Russia:
Protest Against Moscow
Gay Pride in City 1,500 km Distant.
A demonstration against the proposed first-ever Moscow Gay Pride festival,
scheduled to be staged in May next year, will take place on Saturday
(October 15) in Krasnodar, some 1,500 km (950 miles) from the Russian
capital and close to the Black Sea.
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