United States Condemns St. Petersburg Russia Proposed Bill Barring Promotion Of Gay “Propaganda,” Russian Gay Rights Activist Denounces St. Petersburg Bill As A Return To “Medieval Barbarity,” Moscow Mayor Restates Opposition To Gay Pride Parades, Cuban University Employee Alleges He Was Fired For Supporting Gay Rights, Des Moines Iowa City Employee Disciplined For Grotesque Harassment Of Transgender Individual

The United States denounced Wednesday a Russian bill imposing fines for the promotion of gay "propaganda" among young people in the city of Saint Petersburg, reports the AFP. "Gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights," the State Department said, repeating a declaration by top US diplomat Hillary Clinton. "We have called on Russian officials to safeguard these freedoms, and to foster an environment which promotes respect for the rights of all citizens." In its statement, the State Department said it was "deeply concerned" by the bill proposed by the United Russia faction. The text passed in its first reading last week in the city's parliament and would need to pass in two further readings to become law. As previously post, under the bill, anyone who committed "public acts" promoting homosexuality, bisexuality or transgender identity to minors could pay up to 3,000 rubles ($97.50), while an organization could pay 10,000 to 50,000 rubles. The bill gave no definition of a public act, with activists saying it could be used to crack down on gay pride events, which are regularly banned in Russia. It also imposes the same fines for promoting pedophilia, tacitly equating it with homosexuality, which was decriminalized in Russia in 1993 under the presidency of Boris Yeltsin. "The United States places great importance on combating discrimination against the LGBT community and all minority groups," the State Department said.

Russian gay rights activist Nikolai Alekseev writes in The Guardian that the proposed bill “sets administrative fines for the propaganda of homosexuality, transsexuality and paedophilia but it does not explain what "propaganda" actually means. For what is the difference between the public expression of someone's loving feelings and the promotion of a lifestyle? Can a work of art be considered propaganda? Can a protest for human rights be considered as imposing one's personal characteristics on others? The St Petersburg bill does not answer these questions. In fact, it not only equates homosexuality to paedophilia but also separates homosexuality and heterosexuality, as the latter, in the MPs' view, can be promoted.”

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reiterated on Thursday his opposition to the holding of gay pride events in the Russian capital. “My opinion has not changed,” Sobyanin told the Moscow-based Ekho-Moskvy radio station. He said most Muscovites would be against the staging of a gay pride parade, and that their opinion had to be “respected.” Sobyanin’s predecessor in the post, Yury Luzhkov, once famously described gay pride events as “Satanic.” The mayor’s comments came a day after St. Petersburg’s city legislature postponed debate on a bill imposing fines for the promotion of homosexuality after lawmakers failed to agree on its “legal definitions.” The bill, passed nearly unanimously in the first of the three readings needed to write it into law last Wednesday, effectively outlaws any gay pride events. Amnesty International condemned the bill as a “thinly veiled attempt” to fuel discrimination against St. Petersburg’s gay community.

A Cuban university employee charged in an open letter Friday that he lost his job for holding parties for gay people in his free time. NTN 24 reports that Navid Fernandez Cabrera says he had to resign at the Information Sciences University in Havana amid homophobic backlash related to his organizing parties for the gay community in a restaurant in colonial-era Old Havana. Fernandez' letter was published on a local blog; Cuba's one party communist regime controls all official local media outlets. He urged a university authority to investigate what he says was his exposure to harassment by e-mails, and take the action they decide is necessary. Sex educator Mariela Castro, a daughter of President Raul Castro, has led a campaign against homophobia in Cuba. The Communist Party has included homophobia on its agenda for a January 28 national meeting. Gays and lesbians faced widespread discrimination for decades under the communist government. Same sex marriage is illegal in Cuba, but Mariela Castro's official educational organization, Cenesex, is lobbying for its legalization.

A Des Moines Public Works employee will receive unspecified punishment for harassing a transgender person last week at a bar. The Des Moines Register reports that numerous Public Works employees were drinking at Z’s Bar and Grill, 1511 South Union Street, last Friday when a city employee approached an elderly transgender patron and pulled a wig off the person’s head. “Appropriate disciplinary action” has been taken against the unnamed employee, Public Works Director Bill Stowe said on Wednesday. “The actual level of discipline is between us and our employee,” Stowe said. “Suffice it to say, I am confident that the message of inappropriateness, the deterrent effect and that it will not happen again have been communicated clearly and accepted by all parties.” A brief investigation into the matter ended after the employee admitted to the wrongdoing, Stowe said. “There is something to be said for that,” Stowe said. “It indicates the level of remorse. We did not have to go through a lengthy investigation to get to that. The employee was very straightforward and contrite. Nonetheless, he was held accountable.” A Public Works supervisor went to Z’s on Tuesday to apologize for what happened. Stowe said he planned to do the same on Wednesday afternoon. “No one wins in this kind of circumstance,” Stowe said. “We are mortified by the actions of our employee here. The impact on the victim, I am sure, is irreconcilable. We are deeply apologetic for that. “We will learn from this and communicate clearly to our work force that anything like this is completely unacceptable.”