Police in St. Petersburg arrested two gay rights activists on Thursday for violating a new local law that bans "gay propaganda" among minors, police said.
The law, which came into force on March 17, caused a divided reaction among Russians, where anti-gay sentiment remains strong. Russian LGBT groups have requested support in the West against the law that made the "promotion of homosexuality" an administrative offence. The influential Russian Orthodox Church backed the law.
Picket organizers confirmed on Thursday that the two men had been detained in St. Petersburg for picketing against the law that activists have called "homophobic."
“On April 5, a resident of the Krasnodar region and a resident of the Lipetsk region were detained for picketing on their own,” a source in the city police said.
He said the men were detained for the slogans they carried, which he said the law qualifies as "public actions aimed at promoting sodomy, lesbian culture and bisexuality among minors."
A gay rights organization said in turn that the two men remained under arrest, although police said protocols on the administrative offense had been completed. GayRussia.Ru quoted the men’s lawyers as saying there was no propaganda in the men’s actions.
"They just tried to deliver a message that homosexuality is not an illness but a normal sexual orientation," GayRussia.Ru said.
After the law was passed, gay activists asked leaders in the West to ban the author of the law, legislator Vitaly Milonov, and Governor Georgy Poltavchenko who signed it, from entry into the EU, U.S. and Canada.
