At the beginning of the month, we reported on ties between Russian skinheads, the Russian Orthodox Church and Russian Muslims in the Russian ant-gay movement.   Police had to hold back protestors from the three groups trying to disrupt a gay event at a local nightclub.  Meanwhile, Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov refused to issue a permit for a gay pride march, scheduled for this Saturday.

Now a Moscow court has upheld Luzhkov's decision.  And Luzhkov freely acknowledges that the real reason Moscow is the only major world capitol without a pride parade is for morality:

?I believe that such a parade is inadmissible in our country above all for moral considerations. People should not make public their deviations," he said

Well, that's a nifty bit of advice. 

Not content to just verbally demonize homosexuals, Muscovites have taken anti-gay hatred to a level that must be giving Fred Phelps multiple orgasms.

Organizers of a weekend LGBT conference say they intend to march on Saturday despite the ruling. The conference has attracted gay leadership from throughout Europe.

Russian Patriarch Alexy II has denounced the planned festival and parade, and the leader of Russia's Muslims has called for a "violent mass protest" if gay leaders go ahead with Pride celebrations. 

This is an excellent moment to point out that the Christian faction appears to be less violent than the Muslims, a fact that I'm sure many of our wonderful wingnuts here in the US would be quick to exploit.  That's utter bullshit.  The Patriarch should be denouncing those who promote VIOLENT protest, not those who want to conduct a march.  But he doesn't.  Because he is just as much a part of the anti-gay violence as those who are more open about it.  Welcome to the slippery slope of religious based hatred.  Watch your mitre on the way down.

Just for good measure, a group of extreme nationalists attacked an LGBT conference on Friday (remember the time zone difference).  They invaded a speech given by Oscar Wilde's grandson, pelted him with eggs and sprayed an unidentified gas in the room.  There were no reported injuries.  And the conference resumed.

From the site Gay Russia

The Moscow Gay Pride Festival will not be cancelled CLICK FOR PROGRAM