Russian Human Rights Ombudsman Meets With Gay Group

Russia’s human rights ombudsman, V.P. Lukin, met with members of the Russian LGBT Network on July 15 and received a “discrimination monitoring report” prepared by the network and the Moscow Helsinki Group. Lukin reportedly said that GLBT people are entitled to the same rights as anyone else and “if rights of specific people are violated due to their orientation, we are ready to protect their rights.” LGBT Network Chairman Igor Kochetkov said he was very pleased with how the meeting went. “This is the first time a representative of the Russian government officially met with ... Russian LGBT activists,” Kochetkov said. “We can safely say that the results exceeded our expectations. We very much count on further collaboration with the ombudsman.” Numerous cases are pending at the European Court of Human Rights over Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov’s repeated bans of gay pride and other gay events. There also are cases against other Russian cities that have blocked gay events. Full Story from SF Bay Times

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