Montrealers denounce anti-gay laws during protest outside Russian consulate

Featured speakers included Rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker

In a protest that took place outside the Russian consulate, Montrealers denounced Russia’s recently enacted anti-gay laws. YouTube

Organizers estimate roughly 1,000 people showed up for Fierté Montréal’s “peaceful candlelight vigil” in front of the Russian Consulate in Montreal on August 13.

“Our gesture [was] to specifically denounce Russia’s law on ‘gay propaganda’ that went into effect on June 30,” says Fierté Montréal communications director Lynn Habel. “We [wanted] this demonstration to be peaceful and asked everyone to be respectful of the private property in the [upscale] neighbourhood.”

Featured speakers included Rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker who told the crowd he was honoured to be among them, and two activists – Angelika Mo and Kevin Moss – spoke in Russian, so that the videotaped message of LGBT solidarity and support would be heard and understood by everybody in Russia (watch Montreal multi-media artist Jean-Pierre Perusse’s video of the demo above).

“We are here to show our solidarity with our LGBT brothers and sisters in Russia,” Fierté Montréal President Éric Pineault told the assembled crowd. He also added, “It would be unfair to demand that our athletes boycott the Olympics after a lifetime of training. That’s not the solution. Instead we must take advantage of the momentum and visibility created by the games to denounce this crisis.”

Some of the older attendees noted the candlelight vigil felt like a 1970s protest. The decidedly youngish crowd – many of whom had never attended a gay rights rally before – even sang “Imagine” by John Lennon.

Richard "Bugs" Burnett self-syndicated his column Three Dollar Bill in over half of Canada's alt-weeklies for 15 years, has been banned in Winnipeg, investigated by the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary over charges TDB was "pornographic", gotten death threats, outed politicians like former Parti Quebecois leader Andre Boisclair, been vilified in the pages of Jamaica's national newspaper The Gleaner for criticizing anti-gay dancehall star Sizzla (who would go on to write the 2005 hit song "Nah Apologize" about Burnett and UK gay activist Peter Tatchell), pissed off BB King, crossed swords with Mordecai Richler, been screamed at backstage by Cyndi Lauper and got the last-ever sit-down interview with James Brown. Burnett was Editor-at-Large of HOUR until the Montreal alt-weekly folded in 2012, is a blogger and arts columnist for The Montreal Gazette, columnist and writer for both Fugues and Xtra, and is a pop culture pundit on Montreal's CJAD 800 AM Radio. Burnett was named one of Alberta-based Outlooks magazine's Canadian Heroes of the Year in 2009, famed porn director Flash Conway dubbed Burnett "Canada’s bad boy syndicated gay columnist" and The Montreal Buzz says, "As Michael Musto is to New York City, Richard Burnett is to Montréal."

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