Russian president fires anti-gay Moscow mayor

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has fired Moscow’s mayor, Yury Luzhkov, who banned Pride parades and labelled the events “satanic.”

Yury Luzhkov (photo by A Savin)

The New York Times reports that Medvedev sacked Luzhkov in the wake of an escalating feud. While the mayor “endured sustained criticism for reigning like an autocrat, muzzling dissent and allowing blatant corruption to flourish,” it seems that Luzhkov’s criticism of the Russian president was the final straw.

Moscow Pride organizer Nikolai Alexeyev, who was recently kidnapped and pressured to withdraw a complaint against Luzhkov at the European Court of Human Rights, says he has no plans to drop the case.

“My only regret is that he will not be around to face
the music over Strasbourg,” Alexeyev told the Moscow News. “
I hope that the new mayor will be a more European
mayor and will understand that Moscow has to become a real European
city and will have to accept the features of a European city, because
Luzhkov really broke his teeth on the issue of international parades
and he broke Moscow’s international reputation on this issue.”

And the question remains: will Luzhkov’s successor be any more gay-friendly?

Read more:

Keep Reading

The new generation of gay Conservative sellouts

OPINION: Melissa Lantsman’s and Eric Duncan’s refusals to call out their party’s transphobia is a betrayal of the LGBTQ2S+ community

Over 300 anti-LGBTQ2S+ bills have been introduced this year. This doesn’t mean we should panic

OPINION: While it’s important to watch out for threats, not all threats are created equally. Some of these bills will die a natural death

Xtra’s top LGBTQ2S+ stories of the year

The best and brightest—even most bewildering—stories from a back catalogue brimming with insight

Elon Musk and Texas attorney general Ken Paxton are suing Media Matters. Here’s why queer and trans people should care

OPINION: When politicians and the rich leverage the power of the state to quell dissent, we all lose