Russian Gay Group is Re-Born

Moscow's Libertarian Gay Union has re-emerged under the leadership of Roman Kalinin, considered by many to be the founder of the Soviet gay movement in the late 1980s.

"Today the rights of gay men in Russia are not infringed on the way they were before," Kalinin said. "Nevertheless the situation is not good enough even now. We consider our consolidation necessary for standing up for our rights."

Kalinin said the union will fight anti-gay discrimination, run candidates in elections, lobby for legalization of gay marriage, launch a gay radio station, battle defamation in the media, and support gay arts and sports. The group also publishes the gay newspaper 1/10.

725,000 at Cologne Pride

Twenty-five thousand marchers and 700,000 spectators turned out for Cologne, Germany's gay-pride parade July 5, organizers said.

The festivities took place in the historic Altstadt district. A main demand of the march was legalization of same-sex marriage.

In Lisbon, Portugal, 6,000 people gathered for a pride rave party and variety show in Principe Real Park -- three times last year's attendance.

Seventy percent of the event's budget was provided by the city government. Other sponsors included liquor companies and gay businesses.

40,000 March in London

Forty thousand gays and lesbians marched in London's pride parade July 4.

Numbers were down significantly over last year because the pride festival has been postponed till August due to financial problems.

The Gay Games' Team UK carried a quarter-mile-long rainbow flag to celebrate the recent reduction in the gay age-of-consent from 18 to 16.

Marchers also demanded the repeal of Section 28 of the Local Government Act, a 10-year-old law that prohibits city officials from "intentionally promot[ing] homosexuality" and bans schools from teaching "the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship."

Rex Wockner's news reports dating back to May 1994 can be searched at http://www.wockner.com. The reports in their original form are archived at http://www.qrd.org/qrd/www/world/wockner.html, which also archives Wockner's Quote Unquote column and some of his longer gay-press articles.