A new city law banning homosexual propaganda among minors has caused widespread criticism abroad and a divided response in Russia, with many petitioning for the city to be boycotted by tourists.
St. Petersburg is unlikely to suffer a decrease in the volume of tourists as a result of the petitions and negative response to the new law, St. Petersburg tourism officials said.
“I’m not worried about the new law affecting tourism volumes in St. Petersburg,” Sergei Korneyev, deputy head of the Russian Tourism Union told The St. Petersburg Times.
“It is normal to observe the laws of a country to which a person travels. For instance, in Muslim countries laws and traditions are quite strict, but tourists obey them,” Korneyev said.
In a blog post for the International Herald Tribune, Russian journalist Masha Gessen called for American pop-star Madonna, who is scheduled to give a concert in St. Petersburg on Aug. 9, to join the boycott of the city. Gessen encouraged Mercedes-Benz and PepsiCo, who both signed on as partners of the city’s annual International Economic Forum due to be held from June 21 to 23, as well as other people planning to visit the city, to cancel their trips.
“I think it’s one of the most beautiful cities on earth. I have many friends who live there. And I am asking you, please, do not visit it,” Gessen wrote.
“If you are an entrepreneur or an artist or an athlete who has been asked to participate in one of the many conferences and festivals that will take place there this summer, I am asking you to say no. And if you were just planning to visit the city as a tourist during the gorgeous White Nights season in May and June, I am asking you to take your vacation someplace else,” she said.
Gessen said “neither the Russian authorities nor the Russian public see that they stand to lose anything by passing blatantly discriminatory legislation.”
That is why she is attempting to show them that they do.
“This is why I am addressing Madonna and anyone else who was planning to go to St. Petersburg. Please help us show them that they do have something to lose. Tourism makes up an important part of the city’s income… Do not go to St. Petersburg,” she wrote.
Madonna responded by becoming one of the latest international figures to speak out against the controversial legislation.
“I will come to St. Petersburg to speak up for the gay community and to give strength and inspiration to anyone who is or feels oppressed,” the American singer was reported by Bloomberg as saying last Tuesday. “I am a freedom fighter,” she said.
“I don’t run away from controversy,” she added. “I will speak during my show about this ridiculous atrocity.”
Ironically, by doing this, the star has put herself between a rock and a hard place as gay activists in Russia expressed dissatisfaction with her decision, saying that they would protest “the hypocrisy of pop stars” at her show.
In his turn, Vitaly Milonov, a deputy in the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly and author of the new law, warned Madonna about “the administrative punishment” she or the organizers of the concert might receive if they violate the new law.
“The singer may be fined 5,000 rubles ($170) and the organizers may lose up to half a million rubles ($18,000),” Milonov was cited by Interfax as saying.
Meanwhile, numerous senior Russian politicians and officials have expressed support for the city’s new law.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia was “trying to defend society from homosexual propaganda.”
Former St. Petersburg governor Valentina Matviyenko, who is currently the speaker of Russia’s Federation Council, said last year that the law could be accepted on a federal level if “it didn’t contradict existing legislation,” Gazeta. Ru reported.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin — who will start his third term as president in May after having served four years as prime minister — has linked his position on gay rights to the birth rate in Russia, where the population shrank to 142.9 million in 2010 from 145.2 million in 2002, according to the Federal Statistics Service in Moscow.
“As for same-sex marriages, they do not produce offspring, as you know,” Putin told CNN’s Larry King in December 2010.
“We are fairly tolerant toward sexual minorities; however we think that the state should promote reproduction and support mothers and children.”
Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993, although homophobia remains widespread. A 2010 survey by the independent pollster Levada Center showed that 74 percent of Russians thought gays and lesbians were “amoral” and “mentally defective.”
British actor and comedian Stephen Fry spoke out against the bill when it passed its first reading at the end of last year. Speaking on the micro-blogging site Twitter, he wrote: “Hell’s teeth! Something must be done to stop these fantastical monsters. Will even talk about Tchaikovsky be banned?”
An online petition by campaign group AllOut has received more than 270,000 signatures from people all over the world, many of whom left messages of support for those affected in Russia.
So far, both British and American authorities have spoken out against the law, as well as a number of other European countries.
The U.S. State Department issued a statement condemning the bill after the passing of its first reading in November last year. The department said: “We are deeply concerned by proposed local legislation in Russia that would severely restrict freedoms of expression and assembly for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals, and indeed all Russians.”
The Foreign Office in London also expressed concern, notably over aspects of the law which “appear to link issues of sexual orientation with pedophilia,” UK Gay News reported.
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