“A group of young people broke into a flat on Novokuzminskaya Street, where sexual minorities live, and attacked them. Four people were hospitalized with stab wounds, one of them in a coma and another also in grave condition. Police are searching for the attackers.”

Earlier this week a court ruled that Moscow’s city government did not act illegally when it banned a Gay Pride parade from taking place in May. If you’ll remember, there was widespread violence directed at those attempting to hold gay pride events in the city that weekend (including the injury of gay German MP Volker Beck, pictured here).

MosNews reported that “police arrested 200 people during the unauthorized May 27 parade, where anti-gay protesters, including skinheads, assaulted the marchers by throwing bottles and other objects at them. Among the victims was a man beaten to the point of blacking out.”

Moscow’s mayor Yuri Luzhov made a statement defending those who committed the violence. This week, London Mayor Ken Livingstone strongly condemned the encouragement Luzhov gave to the attackers.

No doubt that rulings like this from Moscow’s court and the tacit approval of its government serve to fuel the homophobia that leads to violent attacks such as the stabbing reported today.

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