14 DAY TRIAL // A woman who was participating at a Moscow rally in honor of drag artist Conchita Wurst has been arrested by Russian authorities for having a drawn-on beard.
A group of gay rights activists tried to organize a pride march in central Moscow dedicated to the bearded Austrian transvestite who won this year's Eurovision song contest, but official permission for the event was denied and several people were detained at the rally.
“Every year it’s the same joke. We just express our rights, police stop us, and we are released two hours later,” protester Dana Frieder told the Daily Star. “It’s depressing, but we are not afraid of the police – we fear homophobes, and we hope they will not come here.”
Russian officials motivated their decision not to approve the marches by saying that they wanted “to respect morality in the education of the younger generation.”
It seems that at least six people were arrested at two different events last weekend. Two women were reportedly detained for wearing rainbow flags and rainbow face paint at the rallies.
Russia has banned gay pride parades for years, and harsh laws prohibiting the distribution of gay “propaganda” to minors have been introduced.
However, the Russian public voted Conchita Wurst the third best performance of the night at Eurovision.