LGBT Group Plans NYC Protest of Russia's Inaction on Chechnya Abuse of Gay Men

A protest will be held Saturday in front of the Russian Consulate in New York City in response to the reported murder and torture of gay people in the Republic of Chechnya. The peaceful demonstration is being organized by RUSA LGBT.

RUSA LGBT is calling on all who are outraged by the Russian government of President Vladimir Putin for not acting on the news of human rights violations in Chechnya. Reports have recently surfaced claiming gay men are reportedly abducted, unlawfully kept in detention centers, tortured, and, in some cases, killed. The Russian-speaking American LGBTQ group is asking protestors to bring pink flowers and protest signs to 9 East 91st Street in Manhattan, near the Russian Consulate at 3 p.m.

"Russian authorities have failed in their obligation to prevent and prosecute homophobic violence," reads a statement on RUSA LGBT's Facebook Page. Growing numbers of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people have been attacked and harassed across Russia in the lead-up and aftermath of the adoption of the federal anti-LGBT "propaganda" law in June 2013. The law effectively legalized discrimination against LGBT people and cast them as second-class citizens."

Formed in 2008, RUSA LGBT is a US-based network of Russian-speaking LGBTQ immigrants, their friends, allies, and loved ones. Since 2008, RUSA LGBT has welcomed many LGBTQ immigrants, asylums and asylum seekers from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan and other countries of the former Soviet Union. RUSA LGBT group welcomes everyone who has ties to the Russian-speaking LGBT community to join the group and to get involved.

For information, visit www.rusalgbt.com