City of Moscow defies court order to permit ‘gay pride’ parades Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

MOSCOW, May 26, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The City of Moscow has announced its intention to defy the European Court of Human Rights and continue its prohibition on “gay pride” parades, citing the “moral damage” that may be inflicted on the young.

According to homosexual activist Nikolai Alekseev, the government of Moscow is concerned about “the large number of letters received in protest against the Pride events and Russia’s international obligation to protect the rights of children because Gay Pride ‘may impact psychological health and inflict moral damage on children and teenagers who were to become unwilling witnesses of the event.’”

Homosexual “pride” parades, which are now held annually in many cities worldwide, are frequently scenes of drunkenness and drug abuse, public nudity, and simulated and even real sex acts. Public authorities routinely fail to act against such behavior during the parades, applying an exception for the homosexual community.

The government of Moscow has been prohibiting “gay pride” parades since homosexualists first attempted to carry them out in 2006. It is continuing the ban despite the threat of a fine from the European Court of Human Rights, and has already been fined over $41,000 for its previous bans.

The decision of the Moscow government reflects a religious and social consensus in Russian society over homosexual behavior. According to a recent poll, 84 percent of Russians continue to regard sodomy as immoral, in defiance of America and Western Europe’s increasing acceptance of the behavior, which is often accompanied by a variety of physical and behavioral disorders, including high rates of HIV infection and sexually transmitted diseases, anal cancer, promiscuity, and depression.

The Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow, has called homosexual behavior a “vicious deviation from God-given human nature” and notes that the Orthodox Church “treats people with such inclinations with pastoral responsibility urging them to reform and resolutely opposes any attempts to present this sinful tendency as a ‘norm’ and example to follow. The Church does not accept any propaganda for immorality.” His opposition to sodomy is shared by Catholic, Muslim,