Russia's highest court has dismissed a
challenge to a controversial law which bans “gay propaganda” to
minors.
According to RIA
Novosti, Russia's Constitutional Court dismissed a complaint
filed by prominent LGBT rights activist Nikolai Alexeyev against a
law approved last year in the city of St. Petersburg.
Russia's nationwide law was modeled
after legislation first approved in St. Petersburg.
Alexeyev argued that the law was
discriminatory.
However, the court opined that
legislators had a duty to “take measures to protect children from
information, propaganda and campaigns that can harm their health and
moral and spiritual development” and rejected claims that the law
was discriminatory, saying that it applied equally regardless of
sexual orientation.
The ruling, made public on Tuesday, was
handed down on October 24.
Alexeyev and fellow activists have been
fined under the law for holding signs in public that read
“Homosexuality is not a perversion, unlike grass hockey or ice
ballet” and “Gay propaganda doesn't exist. People don't become
gay, people are born gay.”
Russia's nationwide ban has drawn
international condemnation and calls for a boycott of the Winter
Olympics to take place next year in Sochi.