Brighton Kemptown MP Simon Kirby has written to Foreign Secretary William Hague urging him to lead international condemnation of the Russian Government’s treatment of LGBT people.
Mr Kirby raised the appalling recent record of the Russian Government on LGBT rights, including a recent ban on the distribution of so-called “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” which will silence the LGBT community and further isolate gay, lesbian and transgender people within Russian society.
Mr Kirby marched with the Conservative group on the Brighton Parade on Saturday, August 3 which highlighted the plight of LGBT in Russia and pledged the city’s support to them.
Mr Kirby said:
“The issue of LGBT rights in Russia has received attention in the media recently, and that focus will intensify in the run up to the Sochi Olympics next year. I am calling on the Foreign Secretary to lead the international community in putting pressure on the Russian Government to reverse its oppression of LGBT people.
The local community in Brighton came together at Pride this weekend in celebration of tolerance and equality. Many people held placards in solidarity with LGBT people in Russia who do not enjoy the same freedoms. On behalf of residents of the city I have called on William Hague to make this Government’s objections clear to the Russian President in the hope that external influence can improve the lives of millions of LGBT people in Russia.”
Actor and TV personality Stephen Fry has written to David Cameron MP, Jacques Rogge the President of the Olympic Committee, Lord Coe and members of the International Olympic Committee calling for a boycott of the Winter Olympics due to be held in Sochi, Russia in February, 2014.
In his letter Fry compares the similarities between Hitler’s actions around the time of the Berlin Olympiad in 1936 with that of Putin’s actions on gay rights, comparing one of the greatest crimes ever against humanity with that of the barbaric happenings in 21st century Russia.
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