By Megan K. Stack|May 17, 2009
Reporting from Moscow — The plainclothes security men came first, clustering in jeans, leather jackets and pointy black shoes. Then the policemen in gray uniforms and stiff hats; bulky men in dark suits who appeared to be in charge; a bus of riot police in camouflage.
A raw wind swept off the Moscow River this morning, past the souvenir peddlers with their tables of bright wooden matrushka dolls and T-shirts emblazoned with Soviet iconography. The sky was low and dark over Sparrow Hills, a popular backdrop for newlywed wedding photos; a place for limousines, brides and champagne.
The crowd of plainclothes security grew, and tension thickened as noon drew closer. One of the security men laughed rudely, pushing at a colleague. "They are not even here yet and Max is already flirting with me," he joked. "Take him away from me, guys."
Nearby, a stocky policeman held his portable radio, listening to scratchy commands from above.
"Get all of them!" the unseen supervisor barked.
"Yes," the policeman said. "But how do we know who's gay?"
They were girding their force and setting their traps to sweep down on what the city authorities have repeatedly described as a "threat": the attempt by dozens of gay rights activists to hold a march in the Russian capital. Yuri Luzhkov, the Kremlin-backed mayor of Moscow, describes gay marches as "satanic."
And yet Russia's gay and lesbian community was determined to stage a march this weekend. Moscow was hosting the final round of the Eurovision song competition, a campy and wildly popular show perhaps best known for launching the career of ABBA. Activists hoped to capitalize on the event to draw attention to the sorry state of gay rights in today's Russia.
Most of them never made it - they stayed away out of fear, or were pounced upon and hauled off before they reached Sparrow Hills. Shortly after noon, about a dozen activists stood on the nearby lawn of thick grass and blossoming lilac bushes and began to shout slogans.
"Homophobia is a shame!" they chanted. The demonstration lasted for about a minute before the police set upon them from all sides, clambering through the shrubs and knocking cameramen out of the way to seize the demonstrators, pin their arms behind their backs and drag them off into waiting buses and wagons.
