“Come on guys, it’s all finished now. Let’s go to the metro and then you all go home!” the police good-naturedly exhorted the young men in their black leather jackets.
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| The police arrested 120 participants in the gay parade |
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“In a minute, we’ll just finish smoking and then we’ll go,” the youths agreed, lighting up along 24th and looking round in search of any “gays” walking on their own.
At this moment some participants in the gay forum, who had not been spotted by the crowd, were walking quietly through the crowd with the mournful expressions of Decembrists, trudging along to do their forced labour. This was all accompanied by the religious procession of old women with icons who were continuously walking backwards and forwards from Pushkin Square to the lines of Special Police by Tverskaya.
In the end everyone seemed happy. The police officers who had quelled the disturbances without any particular problems. The journalists who had snapped a load of dynamic shots. The gay contingent who had secured the sympathy and support of European politicians and the public. And young people who had shouted and caused trouble without being punished.
Sexual minorities in politics:
Bertrand Delanoe – Mayor of Paris. He has openly declared his homosexuality. Before him the most famous gay city administrator was the Mayor of Winnipeg in Canada, Glenn Murray. In October 2002 a certain Azedine Bercan carried out an assassination attempt on the Parisian mayor, wounding him. He explained his attack by saying that he doesn’t like politicians and he especially doesn’t like homosexuals.
Klaus Wowereit – Mayor of Berlin. Practically the first high level German politician to openly declare his untraditional sexual orientation. He said, “I’m gay – and it’s great”, which has become an every-day phrase in Germany .
Pier-Kristian Foss – ex-Minister of Finance in Norway. He became well-known as the first Norwegian minister to openly declare his unorthodox sexual orientation.
David McReynolds – American left-wing politician, the first gay person to run for the post of US president. In 1980 he managed to garner 6898 votes, but at the 2000 elections only 5602.
Meanwhile there are rumours about Tarja Halonen, the President of Finland’s sexual orientation. She is married to Dr. Pentti Arajarvi. But in 1980-1 Tarja Halonen was chairman of the SETA organization, the main force fighting for the rights of gays, lesbians and bisexuals.
Denis Belikov for Moskovskiy Komsolets
Translated by James Platt
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