Police remove LGBTQ Pride marchers to avoid confrontation with anti-LGBTQ demonstrators;
Moldovan President Igor Dodon with Vladimir Putin
Police stopped an LGBTQ Pride march in Moldova, on May 21, shortly after it started, for fear of conflict between the activists and demonstrators. Radio Free Europe reports the Pride marchers had water and eggs thrown at them before police evacuated them in buses. Last year’s march, organized by the same group, GENDERDOC-M, was also stopped shortly after it began for the same reasons.
President Igor Dodon was attending an event on the same day called the Traditional Family Festival, where he told journalists,
“I have never promised to be the president of the gays, they should have elected their own president.
They cannot and will not be accepted by me personally, neither by the entire society.”
Amnesty International of Moldova has condemned his comments, saying they constitute a violation of the country’s constitution, which,
“bans the head of state from inciting hate and obliges him to respect the rights of every Moldovan citizen.”
GENDERDOC-M posted a video on Twitter of a Moldova Pride event which appears to have taken place in a bar or club without incident.
Вечер ЛГБТ гордости: https://t.co/tuL5VPX0Px на @YouTube
— GENDERDOC-M (@GENDERDOC_M) May 22, 2017
(via LGBTQ Nation)
