A St. Petersburg court handed down its first conviction under the city's new anti-gay law on Friday, ordering a leading gay activist to pay a 5,000-ruble fine for his picket against the law. A St. Petersburg court handed down its first conviction under the city's new anti-gay law on Friday, ordering a leading gay activist to pay...

... the Christian fascists and ordinary Georgians, this crusade against discrimination is not only a frontal attack on what they consider to be the God-given traditions of the Georgian nation. It is also a sinister plot to brainwash children into being gay. "[Their] eventual goal is the legal and moral legitimization of homosexuality, indecency, depravity and a perverted way of life," the leader of the parliamentary minority ­Christian-­Democratic Movement, Giorgi Targamadze, announced in...

... demonstrations in Moscow and St. Petersburg. About 150 people were detained Sunday as scores of people gathered for a series of anti-government demonstrations in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Police detained some 40 people outside the Mayor's Office, where gay rights activists gathered to protest anti-gay legislation passed in several Russian cities and waiting for a vote in the capital. YouTube footage from the rally showed the protesters — who also demanded the right to hold a gay pride parade —...

The Russian parliament has repealed a longstanding and controversial law that had classified consensual sex between men a criminal offense, a Western gay rights group in Moscow said Friday. The Russian parliament has repealed a longstanding and controversial law that had classified consensual sex between men a criminal offense, a Western gay rights group in Moscow said Friday.

... Orthodox priests and men who tried to escort her out. A dozen activists from the militant Union of Orthodox Banner Bearers group lined up in front of the cathedral, shouting obscenities at Dobrokhotov and Baronova. The group is known for dispersing gay rallies and for protesting against pop star Madonna's shows in Russia and burning Harry Potter books. Hours later, when Dobrokhotov was leaving a police station where he was held, seven men assaulted him, damaging his ear, he said. "They looked...

... the liberal opposition, does not always click with the more traditional ethos of the provinces. That is why the authorities pounced with such harsh enthusiasm on the Pussy Riot girls. It also explains the endless efforts to combat a largely mythical gay rights movement. The Kremlin would like nothing better than to portray the opposition as a cabal of degenerate feminist punks, church desecrators and proselytizing homosexuals. How can a liberal movement overcome these obstacles and win the trust...