ST PETERSBURG, Russia - A political ally of Russian President
Vladimir Putin is taking legal action against American pop star Lady
Gaga for promoting gay rights to minors during a concert on Sunday.
Vitaly Milonov, a member of the ruling United Russia party in the St
Petersburg assembly and the architect of a city law that bans gay
"propaganda", accused the singer of breaking the law at the beginning of
her show.
"We saw that in addition to music,
songs and such, there were direct calls for 12-year-old citizens to
support the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community,"
Milonov said, adding that he would file a complaint to prosecutors over
the singer's actions.
He had unsuccessfully called on authorities to bar people under 18 from attending Lady Gaga's show.
A vocal defender of lesbian and gay rights, Lady Gaga said offstage
that her managers had received a call threatening her with arrest or a
$50,000 fine if she spoke in support of the LGBT community, according to
media reports.
The lower house of parliament is expected to consider legislation similar to the St Petersburg law later this month.
It is not clear whether it will pass. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev,
now the head of United Russia, said in an interview last week that "not
all human relationships are subject to legal regulation".
Lady Gaga took Medvedev's comments as a sign of support for her show and thanked him on her Twitter microblog.
"Thank You Prime Minister Medvedev for not standing by your party's
anti gay propaganda law & instead supporting my show+fans all over
Russia," she said in her tweet.
Lady Gaga has a concert in Moscow on Wednesday.
Last month, a St Petersburg court rejected a $10 million compensation
claim against U.S. pop star Madonna initiated by Milonov and a group of
anti-gay activists who accused her of hurting their feelings by
promoting homosexuality at a concert in the city in August.
Madonna has called the city law a "ridiculous atrocity."
Homosexuality, punished with jail terms in the Soviet Union, was
decriminalized in Russia in 1993, but much of the gay community remains
underground as prejudice runs deep. — Reuters
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