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(Moscow) A Moscow judge ruled Friday that mayor Yuri Luzhkov did not act illegally when he refused to issue a permit for a gay pride march.
Organizers of a weekend LGBT conference say they intend to march on Saturday despite the ruling. The conference has attracted gay leadership from throughout Europe.
Moscow is the only major world capital not to have a pride parade. In denying the parade permit Luzhkov said he was concerned about potential violence.
But on Russian Radio on Friday he cited moral reasons for the ban.
“I believe that such a parade is inadmissible in our country above all for moral considerations. People should not make public their deviations," he said
Conservatives and Russian Orthodox and Moslem leaders have led a pressure campaign against the march.
Russian Patriarch Alexy II has denounced the planned festival and parade, and the leader of Russia's Muslims has called for a "violent mass protest" if gay leaders go ahead with Pride celebrations.
Earlier this month police had to form a human chain to hold back more than 150 skinheads and Russian Orthodox Church supporters from rushing a gay event at a Moscow club.
The club was to have held a party and rally in support of the pride celebrations
Skinheads hurled tomatoes and plastic bottles at the gays while members of the Church held religious icons and prayed. One gay man was reportedly beaten unconscious.
The parade ban could further tarnish Russia's image abroad. Russia now holds the rotating presidency of the Council of Europe and the EU has condemned Luzhkov for refusing a parade permit.
As the LGBT conference got underway on Friday members of an extreme nationalist group disrupted a speech by the grandson of Oscar Wilde.
About 20 people burst into the hall where Merlin Holland was speaking and began shouting nationalist slogans and throwing eggs at him.
They then sprayed the room with a gas that has not been identified. The hall was quickly evacuated and there were no reported injuries.
The conference later resumed.
©365Gay.com 2006
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