News
Putin bans demonstrations, public gatherings around Olympics
Russian activists say decree designed to stop challenges to anti-gay law
Russian President Vladimir Putin (Photo public domain)
The official newspaper Rossisskaya Gazeta reported the order specifically prohibits demonstrations, pickets and other public meetings “not connected with the Olympic games” in Sochi between January 7 and March 21. It said the decree also establishes checkpoints and limits vehicle access to the city during the same period in response to what Putin described as security concerns over terrorists from the volatile Caucasus region to the east of the resort on the Black Sea who have threatened to attack the games that will take place between February 7-23.
Putin also banned the sale of weapons in Sochi during the period.
Russian LGBT rights advocates with whom the Washington Blade spoke on Friday said they feel Putin issued the decree, in part, to stop any protests of the country’s broadly worded gay propaganda to minors law during the games.
“It is designed to prevent demonstrations around the propaganda against homosexuality law and other violations of civil freedoms,” Polina Andrianova of Coming Out said during an interview from St. Petersburg. She also dismissed security concerns as a justification for Putin’s decree. “It still doesn’t give him the power to do something that’s not constitutional. It’s not an excuse.”
Nikolai Alekseev of Gay Russia told the Blade “of course” the decree is designed to specifically stop any public challenges of the gay propaganda law and Russia’s LGBT rights record. He said his group plans to appeal the order and the 2007 law he said granted Putin the right to limit public assembly in the country to Russia’s supreme court next week.
Maria Kozlovskaya of the Russian LGBT Network told the Blade from St. Petersburg she feels the decree could also be used to stop non-LGBT protests during the Sochi games.
“It might not be just about LGBT rights, but human rights in general,” she said.
Putin issued the degree against mounting global outrage over the gay propaganda law he signed in June and Russia’s LGBT rights record.
Russian chess champion Gary Kasparov and gay playwright Harvey Fierstein are among those who have called for a boycott of the Sochi games. Author Dan Savage, LGBT rights advocate Cleve Jones and others have called for a boycott of Russian vodka.
President Obama, retired tennis champion Martina Navratilova, gay Olympic diver Greg Louganis and a number of LGBT advocacy groups are among those who feel the U.S. should compete in Sochi.
American runner Nick Symmonds criticized Russia’s gay propaganda ban last week during an interview with a Russian news agency after he competed in the World Athletic Championships in Moscow. Figure skater Johnny Weir, whose husband is of Russian descent, told CBS News earlier this month he is “not afraid of being arrested” while at the Olympics.
High jumper Emma Green Tregaro and sprinter Mao Hjelmer, who are from Sweden, painted their fingernails in rainbow colors as they competed in the World Athletic Championships. Green Tregaro wore red fingernail polish during an August 17 high jump competition at the same event because Swedish athletic officials reportedly asked her to change their color.
Yelena Isinbayeva, a Russian Olympic pole vault champion, defended the gay propaganda law as she criticized Green Tregaro and Hjelmer during a press conference last week after she won her third title at the World Athletic Championships. Russian sprinter Kseniya Ryzhova on August 20 dismissed suggestions she and teammate Tatyana Firova challenged the statute when they kissed on the medal podium after they won the women’s 4 x 400 meter rally at the event.
The Russian government did not immediately return the Blade’s request for comment on Putin’s decree.
The International Olympic Committee on Thursday said it had received additional assurances from Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak that gay people would be welcome to attend the Olympics.
The IOC declined to provide the Blade a copy of Kozak’s letter, but the Associated Press said he defended the gay propaganda law.
“These legislations apply equally to all persons, irrespective of their race, religion, gender or sexual orientation and cannot be regarded as discrimination based on sexual orientation,” Kozak wrote as the AP reported.
Andrianova told the Blade she feels Putin’s decree will affect more than LGBT Russians.
“It violates freedoms of all people,” she said. “It’s maybe directed at us, maybe not, but it violates the human rights of all people.”
Belarus
Belarusian president signs bill to allow LGBTQ rights crackdown
Alexander Lukashenko known as ‘Europe’s last dictator’
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Wednesday signed a bill that will allow his government to crack down on LGBTQ advocacy.
The measure that Lukashenko, who is known as “Europe’s last dictator” and is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, signed would punish anyone found guilty of “propaganda of homosexual relations, gender change, refusal to have children, and pedophilia” with fines, community labor, and 15 days in jail.
The House of Representatives, the lower house of the Belarusian National Assembly, last month approved the bill. The Council of the Republic, which is the parliament’s upper chamber, passed it on April 2.
Belarus borders Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Kazakhstan is among the countries that have enacted Russian-style anti-LGBTQ propaganda laws in recent years.
The European Commission in 2022 sued Hungary, which is a member of the EU, over its anti-LGBTQ propaganda law. Hungarian voters on April 12 ousted Viktor Orbán, a Putin ally who had been their country’s prime minister since 2010.
District of Columbia
Gay D.C. police lieutenant arrested on child porn charges
Matthew Mahl once served as head of LGBT Liaison Unit
D.C. police announced on April 14 that they have placed one of their lieutenants, Matthew Mahl, on administrative leave and revoked his police powers after receiving information that he was arrested in Maryland one day earlier.
Although the initial D.C. police announcement doesn’t disclose the reason for the arrest it refers to a statement by the Harford County, Md. Sheriff’s Office that discloses Mahl has been charged with sexual solicitation of a minor and child porn solicitation.
“On Tuesday, the Harford County Sheriff’s Office contacted MPD’s Internal Affairs Division shortly after arresting Lieutenant Matthew Mahl,” the D.C. police statement says.
“The allegations in this case are extremely disturbing, and in direct contrast to the values of the Metropolitan Police Department,” the statement continues. “MPD’s Internal Affairs Division will investigate violations of MPD policy once the criminal investigation concludes,” it says.
“MPD is not involved in the criminal investigation and was not aware of the investigation until yesterday,” the statement adds.
Mahl served as acting supervisor of the MPD’s then Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit in 2013 when he held the rank of sergeant. D.C. police officials placed him on administrative leave and suspended his police powers that same year while investigating an undisclosed allegation.
A source familiar with the investigation said Mahl was cleared of any wrongdoing a short time later and resumed his police duties. Around the time he was promoted to lieutenant several years later Mahl took on the role as chairman of the D.C. Police Union, becoming the first known openly gay officer to hold that position.
NBC 4 reports that Mahl, 47, has served on the police force for 23 years and most recently was assigned to the department’s Special Operations Division.
Records related to Mahl’s arrest filed in Harford County District Court, show Sheriff’s Department investigators state in charging documents that he allegedly committed the offenses of Sexual Solicitation of a Minor and Child Porn Solicitation on Monday, April 13, one day before he was arrested on April 14.
The court records show he was held without bond during his first appearance in court on April 14. A decision on whether he would be released while awaiting trial or continue to be held without bond was scheduled to be determined during an April 15 bond hearing. The outcome of that hearing could not be immediately determined.
National
Demonstrators disrupt OMB director hearing over PEPFAR
Capitol Police arrested five protesters
A group of protesters interrupted Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought during his testimony before Congress on Wednesday.
Vought was at the Cannon House Office Building to give testimony to the House Budget Committee.
Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) began the hearing by touting what he described as economic accomplishments of the Trump-Vance administration’s economic accomplishments. Ranking Member Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) disputed those claims in his opening statement.
Boyle went on to admonish Vought for not attending a committee hearing in the previous year.
Vought, the “Project 2025” architect, was invited to speak after Arrington and Boyle made their statements.
Shortly after Vought began reading his statement, Housing Works CEO Charles King stood up in the gallery and began shouting, “PEPFAR saves lives: spend the money!”
The U.S. Capitol Police moved quickly to escort King from the room. Other activists began chanting with King as they unfolded signs bearing a picture of Vought’s face and statements such as, “Vought’s cuts kill people with AIDS,” and “Protect PEPFAR from Vought.”
The group of HIV/AIDS activists included independent activists, former U.S. Agency for International Development and PEPFAR staff, members of Health GAP, Housing Works, and the Treatment Action Group. Six activists were escorted from the hearing and the U.S. Capitol Police detained five of them.
The HIV/AIDS treatment activists protested at the hearing in response to the dismantling of global health programs, including PEPFAR, a federally-funded program credited with saving millions of lives from HIV/AIDS, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Russell Vought is directly responsible for illegally withholding Congressionally appropriated funds for PEPFAR and related global health initiative,” King said in a statement provided to the Washington Blade. “These funding disruptions have already contributed to preventable deaths and threaten to reverse decades of progress in the fight against HIV worldwide. Enough is enough. Congress must ensure Vought stops this deadly sabotage.”
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