“Gergiev, Your Silence is Killing Russian Gays”
by Melanie Nathan, Ocytober 10, 2013.
New York, NY (October 10, 2013) — Tonight, four members of the LGBT rights group Queer Nation disrupted the performance of the Mariinsky Orchestra, led by world-renowned conductor Valery Gergiev, demanding that Gergiev oppose the Russian government’s attacks on LGBT Russians and that Russia end its war on LGBT Russians.
Queer Nation members chanted, “Gergiev, Your Silence is Killing Russian Gays!” before the Carnegie Hall performance began. The protesters, who were met mostly with applause but also with some boos, were led away by security guards. There were no arrests.
Gergiev, the artistic and general director at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, is a longtime Putin friend and supporter. Gergiev has been honored by the Russian government and by the Russian Orthodox Church, both of which championed Russia’s anti-gay laws. Gergiev campaigned for Putin in 2012. The Mariinsky Theatre has received hundreds of millions of rubles from the Russian government.
“Valery Gergiev should not be able to perform without being called out for his vocal support of Russia’s anti-gay president,” said John Weir, one of the protesters. “Gergiev’s silence about Putin’s anti-gay laws is killing lesbian and gay Russians. We’re here to break that silence.”
Earlier in the evening, Queer Nation protested in front of Carnegie Hall. Demonstrators, including several Russian gay men and women, carried a 60-foot rainbow flag that read “Support Russian Gays” and held placards. Protestors also handed out informational flyers to arriving audience members and passersby.
On October 4, Queer Nation wrote to Clive Gillinson, Carnegie Hall’s executive and artistic director, asking that Carnegie Hall condemn the Russian government’s attacks on LGBT Russians. He declined, adding that “musical events are not the appropriate setting for political statements.”
The protest at Carnegie Hall is the latest in a series of high-profile demonstrations against the Russian government’s anti-gay laws. On September 23, four protestors from Queer Nation delayed the start of the Metropolitan Opera’s Opening Night Gala at Lincoln Center, where Gergiev conducted Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.
In June, the Russian government enacted legislation that effectively bans any pro-LGBT statement in public or private and on the Internet. In July, a law banning adoptions of Russian children by people from any jurisdiction that allows same-sex marriage took effect. Currently, the Russian parliament is considering legislation that would remove children from any Russian household that is headed by a gay or lesbian parent. There has been a sharp rise in anti-LGBT violence in Russia.
Queer Nation is a direct action group dedicated to ending discrimination, violence and repression against the LGBT community.
READ MORE from my early suggestions – 10 Best Actions against Russian anti-gay law, which I wrote when the protests against Russia first began:
![speaker mel nathan](http://oblogdeeoblogda.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/africanhrc.png?w=300"%20alt="africanhrc"%20width="300"%20height="300"%20/></a>)
PoochParkWear customizes hoodies and t-shirts, the good, the naughty, the in between, whether proud or quirky let them be seen. We also offer biker jackets, croc or pleather collars, a variety of collar charms, and our special Zinja beaded collars made by a co-op of HIV-positive South African women, the Sisonke women who weave the beads onto the collars.
Only FOUR protestors? Where are the rest? Congratulations to those who showed up, but we need a lot more feet on the ground if we are to avoid looking like “fringe” elements.
Derek only 4 disrupted the event. In protests of this kind, where tickets are expensive, you will find the majority of the protestors outside and a few chosen to go inside to disrupt the event.