Gays Belas face raids and arrts for tryg to form a rights group | Fox News

Contents:

• HOPE IS TH AS GAY ACTIVISTS JO BELAS PROTTS FOR CHANGE
• GAYS BELAS FACE RAIDS AND ARRTS FOR TRYG TO FORM A RIGHTS GROUP
• BELAS GAY RIGHTS NEWS MONORG
• BELAS GAY AND LBIAN RIGHTS NEWS TOPICS

HOPE IS TH AS GAY ACTIVISTS JO BELAS PROTTS FOR CHANGE

(Eds: attentn language para 35)Sept 24 (Thomson Rters Foundatn) - LGBT+ activists Belas hope mass protts for mocratic le Belas will also help liver long-awaed gay rights and rid the former Soviet state of they nce such hop might be far off their eply nservative untry, wh no anti-discrimatn laws to protect LGBT+ some of their fellow protters are homophobic, they say, expectg a long fight before glimpsg equaly. Lashenko ni the electn was THE MARCHThe protts have featured women learship rol, joed by stunts, teachers, cizens young and old, as well as gay people have tradnally lacked visibily Belas - clost to Rsia of all ex-Soviet republics - but have marched the hope of wng equaly law and daily life. “We want a public announcement that LGBT people exist, ” said Dasha Churko, who works for women’s rights centre ‘Her Rights Msk’ rights Belas are among the worst Europe, says the advocy group ILGA Europe, wh homophobia only about 30 LGBT+ people marched openly, Bredova said many more monstrated whout rabow flags or helped behd the scen, aidg the taed and monorg urts.

”After his abpt swearg on Wednday, was not clear whether Lashenko would stay; the EU said he lacked EXISTSame-sex relatns have been legal Belas sce 1994 but there are no anti-discrimatn laws that protect LGBT+ people and some state officials openly exprs homophobic 2012, Lashenko famoly said was “better to be a dictator than gay” after a German mister lled him “Europe’s last dictator”. Earlier this year, the Catholic church and some members of the Orthodox church supported a petn llg on the print to ban the “promotn of homosexualy” among print’s prs service did not rpond to a requt for ment.

GAYS BELAS FACE RAIDS AND ARRTS FOR TRYG TO FORM A RIGHTS GROUP

MINSK -- Homosexuals Belas are facg mountg prsure om thori, and they want the world to know about . Activists say their attempt to legally register the gay-rights anizatn GayBelas, also known as Lambda, January has sparked an angry rponse om the ernment of Print Alyaksandr Lashenka -- himself a self-proclaimed and unapologetic homophobe.

BELAS GAY RIGHTS NEWS MONORG

Members of the lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) muny acce police of summong them for qutng, raidg their clubs, huiatg them and, at least one se, g physil vlence. Syarhey Androsenka, the head of GayBelas, says Belasian homosexuals rema termed to emerge om the shadows. His group has actively reached out to ternatnal bodi and rights anizatns this year, lobbyg for support unterg the epeng crackdown on Belasian gays.

BELAS GAY AND LBIAN RIGHTS NEWS TOPICS

Homosexualy was formally crimalized Belas after the fall of the Soviet Unn 1991.

But like many former Soviet republics, antigay sentiments still n ep.

Lashenka, a former llective farm director who has n the untry wh an iron fist for the past 18 years, himself has openly mocked homosexuals. And 2011, after meetg wh Germany's openly gay foreign mister, Guido Wterwelle, Lashenka -- who has been dubbed "Europe's Last Dictator" -- famoly said that "'s better to be a dictator than a gay. The recent wo of Belasian homosexuals have not gone unnoticed.

Amnty Internatnal this year sgled out GayBelas member Ihar Tsikhany for s annual Wre for Rights mpaign. Tsikhany, who has sce left Belas, hop the Wre for Rights mpaign will help raise awarens of the worseng ndns for homosexuals his untry.