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Gay parades `satanic': Moscow mayor

The mayor of Moscow vowed on Monday never to allow a gay rights parade, calling such events "satanic," but activists said they would defy a city ban to hold what would be the Russian capital's first gay rights parade.

Yury Luzhkov and city authorities barred activists from staging a parade last year, citing the threat of violence. Activists ignored the ban and were attacked by right-wing protesters and detained by police.

Speaking at a Kremlin event attended by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Luzhkov again lambasted gay and lesbian groups:

"Last year, Moscow came under unprecedented pressure to sanction the gay parade, which can be described in no other way than as satanic," he said to applause in comments broadcast on a city-controlled TV channel.

"We did not let the parade take place then, and we are not going to allow it in the future," he added.

He also charged that Western countries were facing a crisis of religious faith and were corrupting children.

"Some European nations bless single-sex marriages and introduce sexual guides in schools. Such things are a deadly moral poison for children," RIA-Novosti quoted Luzhkov as saying.

Russian gay activists said they will be challenging the ban in an appeal to the European Court for Human Rights.
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