The founders are ready to bring the matter before the European Court of Human Rights

A Judge of the Gagarin district court in Moscow upheld today an earlier refusal of the Ministry of Justice to register an openly gay NGO advocating for the evolution of the existing legislation and the recognition of same sex unions in Russia.

During the audience, the representative of the Ministry of Justice said that it cannot register an organization whose purpose is to call for changes in the existing legislation.

“The NGO Marriage Equality Russia was denied registration because the family law recognizes marriage as a union between a man and a woman” the Ministry’s representative told the court.

In the letter of denial handed last December to the founders of the NGO, the Ministry of Justice noted that "the founding documents of the organization conflicts with the laws of the Russian Federation”.

It is further noted that the objectives of the organization "in terms of activities aimed at achieving the legalization of gay marriage in the Russian Federation are incompatible with articles 3 and 12 of the Family Code providing for marriage between a man and woman"

After the audience, Nikolai Alekseev, one of the founders of the organization, commented:

"The court has created a very dangerous precedent which goes much further than the campaign for gay rights, making it possible to deny registration to any organization whose purpose is to fight for changes in the Russian laws,

"Today's decision is a further evidence that registering NGOs advocating for positive evolution of the legislation in favour of equal rights for LGBT people is impossible in Russia.

“We will challenge this denial and if necessary we will bring this case to the Supreme Court and up to the European Court of Human Rights.”

'Marriage Equality Russia' was founded in Moscow by eight activists of the Russian gay movement. One of the motivations for creating the NGO was to support the attempt to register the first marriage between two women in 2009 in Moscow. The couple was denied the right to marry in Russia by a court decision but finally got married later in Toronto. Their case will b shortly submitted to the European Court of Human Rights.

GayRussia.Ru