Disregarding the law

Despite Madonna supporting Pussy Riot and the LGBT community, some are still critical.

By Sergey Chernov

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: August 15, 2012 (Issue # 1722)

SERGEY CHERNOV One activist criticizes Madonna for not boycotting St. Petersburg.

Madonna made a graphic statement in defense of Pussy Riot at her Moscow concert last week — complete with the name of the imprisoned feminist group written on her bare back. Her speech on gay rights in St. Petersburg on Thursday however, came out somewhat vague and flat.

Despite the U.S. Consulate warning of a “threat of physical violence against spectators and performers” in St. Petersburg, the show went on without any complications, as local radical Orthodox and nationalist organizations canceled their previously planned protests. Nevertheless, local Orthodox radicals reported Madonna to the police for alleged “gay propaganda” after the show.

Performing at St. Petersburg’s Peterburgsky Sports and Concert Complex (SKK), Madonna was expected to make a strong statement against the St. Petersburg law, which has been in effect since March and punishes the “promotion of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality and transgenderism to minors” with fines. The law has been used to ban LGBT rallies and to detain protesters.

Her speech, however, involved mostly general words concerning tolerance (the situation is worsening “everywhere,” she said), a quote from Martin Luther King Jr., and she emphasized that all religions are about love.

She did not mention the St. Petersburg law banning the “promotion of sodomy,” a law she described as a “hideous atrocity” back in March. She did not criticize the St. Petersburg authorities for adopting it, did not urge them to abolish it and did not call for her fans to protest it.

“Now I am here to say that the gay community and gay people here and all around the world have the same right to be treated with dignity, with respect, with tolerance, with compassion and with love,” she said.

“If you’re with me, I want to see your pink armbands. If you’re with me, raise your arms and show your love and appreciation for the gay community.”

The pink wristbands were distributed at the concert to those wishing to support the LGBT community in St. Petersburg, according to Madonna’s official website. “The wristband will be part of the show — be prepared to raise your arm in support!” the notice read.

The audience, which included many members of the LGBT community, reacted with shouts and applause, and people raised their arms, revealing their pink wristbands and also held rainbow-themed paraphernalia. The St. Petersburg LGBT organization Vykhod (Coming Out) released a statement of gratitude to the singer the following day.

“We are grateful to Madonna for her eloquent speech of support. She inspires and leads the way for millions of people across the globe, and her voice is especially important for the community that they are attempting to drive underground in Russia,” wrote Coming Out’s publicist, Olga Lenkova, on behalf of the group.

However, some other LGBT activists, who had previously urged Madonna and the other pop stars to boycott Russia because of human rights’ abuses — after journalist Masha Gessen, who personally addressed the singer in her column on The New York Times’ website in March — dismissed the singer’s speech as lip service.

Activists from the LGBT rights group Ravnopraviye (Equality) picketed the show.

The group’s chair, Yury Gavrikov, stood with a sign that read, “Show[biz] and money are not equal to fighting for human rights,” while activist Maria Yefremenkova appealed to the members of the gay community that came to the show, saying that half of the audience at the stadium were LGBT.

According to her poster, which started with the words, “I don’t care about Madonna and her support,” the taxes from the money concert-goers spent on tickets will go, among other things, to a new residence for “homophobic” Governor Georgy Poltavchenko, who signed the law into effect in March. “[Gays community], what’s wrong with you?” it said in conclusion.

“Boycotting concerts in Russia is a much more significant act politically than a few words of support,” Gavrikov told the press. “I have respect for Madonna, but see this as a half-measure and, first and foremost, a publicity gimmick to draw attention to her shows.”

So far only two artists are known to have actually boycotted Russia over the Pussy Riot trial and human rights’ abuses: Finnish jazz musician Iiro Rantala and British artist Stuart Semple.

Rantala said he would not perform at a music festival in Moscow because he didn’t want to perform “in a country where free speech is at medieval levels,” while Semple, who was to participate in a Moscow contemporary art exhibition, wrote that he would not bring his installation “Happy Clouds” — pink smiley clouds floating in the sky — to the Russian capital until Pussy Riot was released.

In February, foreign tourists were urged to boycott St. Petersburg if the law was adopted. About 99,000 people signed a petition on All Out, a leading LGBT rights petition web site, appealing to Governor Poltavchenko not to pass the law. They said that they would not visit the city as tourists if the bill were to become law.

Critics say that Madonna not directly criticizing the Russian authorities and ignoring calls to boycott the city, along with being vague in what she said at her concerts might be connected to her vested interests in Russia. Early last week, she held a launch event for her own Hard Candy fitness center in Moscow, her second after the one in Mexico City.

The police checked protesters’ IDs and put down their names and addresses in their notebooks, but did not arrest them. According to Gavrikov, an officer told him that they had been given specific orders not to be easy on the activists at the show. Earlier the police said that 350 officers would be deployed to maintain public order at the show and in the area near the stadium.

No attacks or harassment from Orthodox activists were reported. Despite prior announcements that the People’s Assembly and other organizations would be picketing the concert near the Park Pobedy metro station and near the stadium itself, there was a last-minute change in plans and they moved their protest of Madonna to Palace Square.

Their reasoning was that Madonna performed in an outdoor concert on Palace Square when she came to the city the last time, in 2009, so this place needed to be cleansed with holy water. Protesters also said that they would not want to be next to the members of the gay community that would undoubtedly be near the stadium where the concert was to start at the same time (in fact, it started more than two hours late).

According to Rosbalt news agency, a dozen and a half activists did gather on Palace Square, but dispersed when the priest who was due to conduct the ritual failed to appear.

Two days before the St. Petersburg show, when Madonna performed in Moscow on Tuesday, a group of Orthodox activists held a series of one-man protests along Nevsky Prospekt, St. Petersburg’s main street. In the pouring rain, two-dozen demonstrators stood at a distance from each other holding posters that depicted caricature images and doctored photos of Madonna.

The signs bashed the singer for promoting “homo fascism” and for being a “pervert.” A number of anti-Madonna leaflets were also seen in the city center early last week.

There was no telephone bomb threat, as was feared by some after Orthodox archdeacon Andrei Kurayev’s hinted of one to St. Petersburg television audiences.

In early April, Kurayev suggested on local television that placing a false telephone bomb alert might prevent the Madonna concert from taking place, later saying that he had been “joking.” Controversy and a complaint from Moscow-based LGBT activist Nikolai Alexeyev followed, but the police said in June that they would not launch criminal proceedings against the priest.

Last week, the prosecutor’s office that Alexeyev appealed to then said the police’s refusal was lawful.

Early last week, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and the U.S. Consulate General in St. Petersburg released a warning for U.S. citizens about Madonna concerts, especially the St. Petersburg one. “The U.S. Consulate General in St. Petersburg has received information regarding a threat of physical violence against spectators and performers at the St. Petersburg concert on Aug. 9,” it said. The diplomats alerted the Russian authorities, which “have indicated to the Embassy that they are taking appropriate measures in the light of this information.” U.S. citizens were reminded to “remain vigilant regarding their personal security, and to be aware of their surroundings at all times, especially in crowded areas.”

On Friday, a press officer for Vitaly Milonov, the United Russia Legislative Assembly deputy who initiated the “anti-gay” law in November 2011, told Interfax that an organization called Roditelsky Kontrol (Parental Watch) reported Madonna to the police for “gay propaganda.”

“There were minors there as well, there were 12-year-old children there,” Milonov was quoted as saying. “We believe that the law banning the promotion of homosexuality was violated.”

He said the alleged violations were captured by the activists present during the concert at the stadium on video.

As an individual, Madonna may be punished with a fine of 5,000 rubles ($150), if found guilty under the law.