BY NATASHA BARSOTTI - Gay rights activist Nikolai Alexeyev is seen vehemently arguing with police officials in Red Square before being taken away by car in a Jan 20 YouTube video posted by Vladimir Ivanov.

A partial translation of the video's caption reads, "Activists took to the Red Square at midnight under a chiming clock on the Kremlin's Spassky Tower, when all the children in Russia need to sleep. They were holding characters in popular children's TV program "Good night, kids!" . . . Participants of the rally also carried signs "Give a gay pride parade in Red Square," "propaganda of homosexuality is not possible" . . . Earlier, the Moscow authorities have banned a gay activist . . . in Pushkin Square, with reference to the position of the federal law that public events can not be conducted between 23pm and 7am. Organisers have promised to appeal the ban by the Constitutional Court of Russia."

Queer activists have been protesting legislation that calls for the outlawing of "propaganda of homosexuality to minors." Gayrussia.eu notes that Arkhangelsk and Ryazan are two regions that already outlaw such "propaganda," and that "St Petersburg and Kostroma, where the Regional Parliaments have adopted similar laws in preliminary hearings, are the next to follow."

In St Petersburg, the legislation, introduced by Vladimir Putin's United Russia Party, passed first reading by 27 votes to 1 and introduces fines for "propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexualism and transgenderism to minors" and "propaganda of pedophilia." 

Moscow MPs have also expressed interest in drafting similar legislation. "If it continues like that, we expect that by the end of this year 20 [percent] of Russians, approximately 30 million people, will live in areas where advocating LGBT rights in the public place will be illegal," Alexeyev stated on Gay Russia. Alexeyev fears that all these moves could eventually lead to a federal law that further criminalizes queer lives. 

Russia decriminalized homosexuality in 1993 but has done nothing to address discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Earlier this month, Alexeyev, Alexey Kiselev and Kiril Nepomnyaschiy were arrested in Arkhangelsk as they picketed against the law in front of the regional children's library. According to Gay Russia, the three were holding various placards that read, "Russia takes first place in the world in suicides of adolescents. Among them, a large proportion are homosexuals," "Children have a right to know by virtue of Article 13 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Great men can also be gay. Gays also become great. Homosexuality is normal!" and "Homosexuality is a healthy form of sexuality. Both children and adults should be aware of that!"

Their arrest on Jan 11 was "the first application of the law prohibiting so-called promotion of homosexuality to minors in the Arkhangelsk region, a month after the ban came into force," Gay Russia reported.