Lady Gaga has been accused of promoting
gay rights to minors during a concert on Sunday in St. Petersburg,
Russia.
A law which criminalizes “public
actions aimed at propaganda of pederasty, lesbianism, bisexuality and
transgenderism among minors” took effect in St. Petersburg earlier
this year.
The measure's architect, Vitaly
Milonov, accused Lady Gaga of violating the law.
“We saw that in addition to music,
songs and such, there were direct calls for 12-year-old citizens to
support the LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] community,”
Milonov is quoted as saying by Reuters.
“We will contact prosecutors and the
law enforcement agencies to carry out a thorough investigation of the
situation,” he told Russian tabloid Life News. “When people tell
kids 'you must support sexual minorities,' that can create a false
equivalence for them between traditional and non-traditional
relationships.”
Earlier, Milonov had attempted to bar
anyone under 18 from attending Lady Gaga's show.
The
Guardian reported that Lady Gaga called for respect of gay
rights.
“Lady Gaga wants to say that she
expects respect from others – she's not here to offend anyone's
religion or faith, she's here to unite us,” she said speaking
through a translator.
Local media reported Lady Gaga saying
that her managers had been threatened with fines or arrest if she
spoke in support of gay rights.
On Saturday, the singer tweeted thanks
to Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev for what she perceived as
opposition to a proposed federal ban.
“Thank you Prime Minister Medvedev
for not standing by your party's anti gay propaganda law &
instead supporting my show+fans all over Russia,” she messaged to
her nearly 32 million Twitter followers.
Medvedev commented on the proposed
legislation during a live television interview on Friday.
“Not all moral issues, not all
behavioral patterns, not all issues of communication between people
need to be regulated by law,” Russian media reported Medvedev as
saying.
Lady Gaga has strongly voiced her
support for gay rights in the United States.
(Related: Madonna
cleared of claims she violated Russian city's anti-gay law.)