Gay support from wife of Moscow homophobe
The wife of Moscow Mayor’s spokesman Sergei Tsoi has surprised gay activists in Russia by saying she might attend the Pride event her husband’s boss has banned.
Pop-singer Anita Tsoi told a newspaper that she enjoys playing gigs in gay clubs, and defended gay people against the Mayor’s accusation that they are “satanic.”
Last month her husband Sergei Tsoi came to prominence when he was caught on TV camera verbally and physically assaulting the organiser of Moscow Pride at a London press conference.
The incident has been shown repeatedly on Russian television and is being investigated by the Metropolitan police.
At the beginning of this month the mayors of London, Paris, Berlin and Moscow held their annual meeting.
Yuri Luzhkov, the Moscow mayor, was asked several questions at the press conference about his decision to ban Moscow Pride last year and his vow not to allow the event to take place this year.
Mr Alexeyev exclusively told PinkNews.co.uk how he was pushed and threatened by Mr Luzhkov’s press officer, Mr Tsoi, when he attempted to fly a Moscow Pride banner in the press room.
His wife Anita Tsoi told Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper she might go on the still-banned Pride march:
“If it takes place, perhaps I will. But currently, as I see, it is not very actual now.
“The point is every one has to be in safety. Although I think the more brilliant, exciting and interesting it is, the more joyful the life is. Especially now, when the life is quite dull and sever. I am lady-show and love all funny and positive things.”
The Moscow mayor is facing a lawsuit from Mr Alexeyev, after he called gay people “satanic.”
Mr Luzhkov’s decision to ban last year’s Pride march is to be challenged before the European Court of Human Rights later this year, and his pledge to ban this year’s march will be challenged in the Russian courts.
Mr Alexeyev has vowed that the Pride event will go ahead on May 27th, and has urged LGBT people from across the world to come to Moscow to show their support.
Ms Tsoi seems to have pro-gay feelings, despite her husband’s actions:
“Among gay people I know lots of nice and serious guys. They have good jobs, they have normal positions in different professional domains. And they are not looking like monsters. And privacy is a personal matter,” she said.
