Gays and Lesbians in Kazan

People in San Francisco have asked me if there are Gays and Lesbians in Kazan and Tatarstan. Other than Nureyev, I've never know what to tell them. I know that there is an office of the International Center for Human Rights in Kazan, which acknowledges Gay and Lesbian rights, but other than that...

The answer from below is "Yes there are Gays and Lesbians, but not everyone is pleased."

(translated using babelfish)

Moslems of Kazan against the gay- parade

Posted by: valerq on: July 13, 2009


The spiritual and public leaders of Kazan turned themselves to the President of Tatarstan with the request not to allow conducting a gay-parade in the city. In their letter the Tatars complained about ”the development of the propaganda of distortions” in the capital Of Tatarstan.
Last week on one of the Kazan' television channels reported information about the planned parade of gays and lesbians. Urban community was agitated. But the imam Of the Zakabannoy mosque of Kazan Said Of [dzhagfar] before the required Friday prayer turned himself to the parishioners with the angry speech. He stated that in this question a compromise was impossible, since “the propaganda of sodomy leads to many sad consequences, among which the spread of AIDS, the destruction of the institute of family, the moral decomposition of young people, worsening in the demographic climate”. “All sober-minded people are obligated to resist the accretion of lewdness, otherwise we will share sin with sodomites, drawing on ourselves anger of Most High”, stated imam, and he called to be combined in the fight against this defect.

Townspeople prepared letter to the name of the President of the republic, Mintimir Shaymiev, as they speak, “with the protest and the requirement not to allow the procession of Sodomitov along the streets of city”.

“In our dear city recently receives its development the propaganda of sexual distortions. In the past year in Kazan, which is one of the spiritual centers of Russia, was opened with the wide advertisement already the second gay-[lesbi]- club. But last week in straight ether of television channel “ether” sounded the announcement of the parade prepared for the conducting. All this cannot us but disturb”, were agitated in the letter believers.

They asked the President not to allow conducting gay- parade in Kazan. “Our people was always famous by its chastity”, noted the authors. And asked Shaymiev to protect the traditions of society. “We - the representatives of community - are assured that during our days in Kazan all problems can be solved by civilized way. Therefore we convincingly request you to interfere, by our influence and authority to contribute to the protection of the traditional basic abutments of society, our culture and family values. We request you to protect our children and us, to stop in Kazan the propaganda of sexual distortions and lewdness”, it is said in the letter.

Based on materials IslamNews.

http://nuntiare.wordpress.com/2009/07/13/kaz_01/

Here is another link worth investigating.
It is done by a Gay Muslim stuggling with his religious identity.

The reactions from the Islamic community are truly horrifying.
http://www.well.com/user/queerjhd/