Madonna's Russian Revolution: Her "Freedom Fight" Against Anti-Gay Law - The Daily Beast ================= OP ok when I read the title, I though, Oh no, not another one, how may revolutions does it take a single person to find who you truely are? Then I read the first sentence and thought, OKey, this is different, but also very sad. Read the whole thing on the web, but basically boils down to, anything that could be related as gay is banned, even holding hands in public! :bang: ================== The authors of a Russian law banning the promotion of homosexuality to minors has drawn a good deal of criticism from gay rights groups worldwide. But they face their biggest challenge this summer. A few weeks from now Madonna is scheduled to play the Sports Complex stage in St. Petersburg, the city where the law was enacted. Madonna has hinted strongly she will speak out in protest, if not flaunt the law itself. Russia’s already tattered civil-rights reputation could hardly be helped by castigation from the top-selling female recording artist of all time. The city’s legislators have expressed concerns about the possibility of Madonna—who famously kissed Britney Spears on national television in 2003—of getting undressed, or worse, saying something in defense of Russian gay rights before an audience of possible minors. Disrobing, depending on how it is done, apparently might be construed as a promotion of gay sex. The author of the law banning the dissemination of information on homo-, bi- and transsexuality, Vitaly Milonov, has not decided whether he will personally attend the concert to see if Madonna breaks it. “I heard at the concerts on this tour she pulled off her tights, and we will not have that here,” Milonov told the Russian news agency Interfax. “We warn the organizers of the concert so that everything goes well. Otherwise they will face the harsh laws of St. Petersburg.” Soon after the bill was signed into law by St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko, a former KGB agent and ally of Putin, a group of friends, writers, photographers, designers, and architects sat down to discuss its consequence over drinks at Zavtra, a restaurant in downtown Moscow. To them it was obvious that the bill demonstrated three faces “of corruption, of censorship, and of state fascism,” as the journalist and gay activist Masha Gessen, one of the group, said. It obliges abusers to pay $170 fines, and authorizes brief detentions. Disturbingly, in a country where homosexuality was a criminal offense in the Soviet era, it could well allow some of that mentality back into police work. The law, depending on how it is interpreted, could allow police to grab more or less anyone who said or showed “gay propaganda” to young people. That could be interpreted to include holding hands while walking in public.
