RUSSIAN SSM REJECTED: From The Advocate

Two gay Russian men tried on Tuesday to get married in Moscow to call attention to discrimination against gays and lesbians, but they were turned away by authorities who told them marriage is a union between a man and a woman, reports Agence France-Presse. Edvard Murzin, a deputy from the region of Bashkortostan, and Eduard Mishin, who edits the Internet site Gay.ru and the Kvir newspaper, handed in a marriage declaration to Moscow City Hall.

After their attempt was turned down with the argument that the Russian family code restricts marriage to a union between a woman and a man, they went on the air at a local radio station to explain their motivation. "We do not love each other, but we want to see the establishment of justice. We share the same ideas and are united in the fight for justice," Mishin told Moscow Echo.

Admitting that they were actually creating a negative image for themselves, Mishin said they had decided to go to City Hall because "if we don't do it, society will never do it." Many Russian gays, he added, believe the country is not ready for same-sex marriages, as practiced in Belgium, Canada, and the Netherlands. "Why should one wait until society is ready? It's not certain that society will become more tolerant with time; the opposite could actually happen," he said.

Both men vowed to take their case to court, if necessary, or all the way to the supreme court or even the European Court of Human Rights.
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