The mayor, the church and Oscar Wilde’s grandson
Moscow gays and lesbians first made a show of strength 19 years ago, forming a small column of about 20 people and unfurling rainbow flags at an anti-fascist march in Moscow in December 2005. Shortly beforehand, the organisers had formed a Moscow gay pride committee, with a view to holding Russia’s first ever pride event the following year.
That spring, they applied to the Moscow Mayor’s office for a permit, proposing the parade take the same route as the previous year’s anti-fascist protest, but their application was rejected.
Moscow’s then-mayor Yury Luzhkov personally ensured there would be no gay parades in Moscow as long as he was in charge, a stance that was enthusiastically supported by Patriarch Alexy II, then head of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as Russian nationalists and other concerned citizens.
According to one opinion poll conducted at the time, 77% of respondents approved of the ban. But the activists refused to give up and decided to proceed in secret with the march despite being refused a permit.