Have any advances been made in establishing legal structures for dealing with hate crimes against homosexuals?
This is a really big problem in Russia right now. We see this happening in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where people are beaten up by protesters or by the neofascists. Usually these people get very short sentences three or four years for hooliganism and not for beating people or for murder. Usually the state and police are trying to represent it as just a murder or an attempt to rob someone. The state is not really doing much to fight against crimes directed against homosexual people and also against foreigners and other ethnic minorities. How have things changed for the LGBT community in Russia since you helped organize the first gay pride march? We have managed to bring the issue of rights for homosexual people on the political agenda, which was not the case in 2005. For example, in 2002, there were attempts in parliament to criminalize homosexual relations. It was seriously discussed and voted on. It failed, but this is where we were just five years ago. And the media attention has in
