The first and most important thing that needs to be said is that we are very fortunate that no LGBT activists exercising their right to peaceably assemble were killed near Red Square on May 28.
While Western media sources have made a great deal out of the fact that a few visiting Western activists got some minor injuries at the hands of the police or fascists, they have been virtually silent about the fact that a leading Russian transgender activist, Anna Komarova, a longtime member of the GayRussia organization, was kicked three or four times in the head while he lay on the pavement and, due only to good fortune, was not seriously injured or killed.
Another participant, Elena Kostyuchenko—a journalist with Novaya Gazeta newspaper who came out of the closet as a lesbian on that day, joining the protest with her rainbow flag—was still hospitalized as of my last information from May 30. I do not know the nature of her injuries or the prognosis for her recovery.
The primary responsibilities for these near-tragedies lies with the fascists, who were charged with only minor crimes, and the Russian government that allowed the serious crimes of assault and attempted murder to occur, despite possessing overwhelming force. These crimes did not occur in some back alleyway or obscure side street, but in broad daylight literally about 50 yards away from Red Square.
Secondary responsibility for these crimes lies with all of those non-Russian governments, including the Obama administration, which valued their trade and military relationships with the Russian government over speaking out for human rights. President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton—who are fond of talking about human-rights violations when they occur in small nations that can be kicked around by the United States, especially if those nations are not allied with the United States—abysmally failed the test of human-rights leadership May 28.
After the Russian authorities banned Moscow Pride a few weeks ago—in direct contravention to the 17th Article of the Russian Constitution and last fall's unanimous decision of the European Court of Human Rights—Moscow Pride organizers directly appealed to all Western embassies to issue public statements to the Russian government before the protest.
All of these governments, including the Obama administration, failed to do so. The U.S. embassy told Pride organizers that they would simply "monitor the situation." As a result, the Russian riot police apparently felt they had a free hand to conduct themselves in the same brutal manner as at previous Prides.
The U.S. embassy in Moscow did finally issue a brief statement about the attacks on Moscow Pride only after the event, signed by a lesser State Department official ( http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/texttrans/2011/05/20110531095808su6.131709e-02.html?CP.rss=true#axzz1NxHLj0G7).
In Western news articles, the roles of myself, Dan Choi and other international activists in Moscow Pride 2011 were magnified out of all proportion to our actual participation. LGBT Russians suffered the greatest degree of violence and took by far the greatest risks—and continue to do so—and yet their sufferings have gone almost totally unnoticed by the international press. The least we can do as people in the West is speak out about impending violence before it happens, and thus help forestall that violence.
LGBT-rights activist Andy Thayer is president of the Chicago organization Gay Liberation Network.
