Ten people, including the leader of Moscow's Gay Pride movement, Nikolai Alekseyev, demonstrated outside the Ministry of Health and Social Development building in Moscow late last week, and seven were arrested.
The activists were protesting Russia's law prohibiting the donation of blood by gay men, a policy echoed by various governments around the world, including the United States.
Russia Today reports: “Mr Alekseyev says its unfair to compare gay men to drug users and sex workers, pointing out that there is no law preventing gay women from giving blood. He added that the health service is desperately short of blood, yet it is ‘stopping people giving blood for reasons that are incomprehensible.'…Mr Alekseyev questioned the legality of the arrests, saying there was no trouble at the demonstration and that the protesters ‘didn't interfere with anyone.' Alekseyev added that the protest was in no way connected to politics or the inflammatory Gay Pride parade, which takes place in Moscow every summer. He insisted Friday's action was meant only to show the discriminatory nature of the law.”
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