MOSCOW, October 2 (RIA Novosti) - A Moscow court rejected on Friday a claim filed by gay activists against the capital's mayor, Yury Luzhkov, for using what they say is an offensive word during a televised program.

During the Facing the City talk show on the TV-Center channel in June, Luzhkov used the word "fags" when referring to members of the gay community.

Nikolai Alekseyev, an activist who has attempted a number of times without success to organize a gay parade in Moscow, said that no one should be allowed to offend any group of people or individual.

"In making such a ruling, the court risks making rudeness the law," Alekseyev told RIA Novosti on Friday.

A TV-Center representative said there was no offense or defamation to any concrete plaintiff in Luzhkov's use of the word.

"This whole process is extremely politicized. Their goal is publicity, I don't see any other purpose," the representative said.

Alekseyev had filed a suit against the mayor for one kopek and said he plans to appeal the court's decision.

"We were refused the right to have a linguistic expert [research the word] and I'm sure that that expertise would have proven that what the Moscow mayor said is offensive," Alekseyev said.

Moscow authorities have previously cited security factors as a reason for banning gay parades and have said that "the overwhelming majority of society does not approve of the gay philosophy and lifestyle."

Authorities have branded gay parades "Satanic" and warned they would stop any attempt to hold an unauthorized parade.

An attempt to hold an unauthorized parade to coincide with Moscow's hosting of the Eurovision Song Contest in May was swiftly dispersed by police, while a march in May 2007 saw participants attacked by members of radical groups. More than 30 people were briefly detained.

Activists have called the bans illegal and threatened to sue the authorities through the European Court of Human Rights if need be.