Date: Wed, 27 Dec 1995 19:27:48 +0100 (MET) From: skolander@bahnhof.se (Bjoern Skolander) Subject: Russian gay Center opens Date: Wed, 27 Dec 95 14:07 +0300 From: Vladislav Artsatbanov RUSSIA'S FIRST GAY COMMUNITY CENTER OPENS December 19, the Russian gay organization TRIANGLE opened in Moscow the first one in the former USSR Gay Community Center. The Gay Community Center is a non-commercial project aiming gays not only in Moscow but in all of Russia. The Center provides a variety of services to the gay community ~ hot-line, social and medical support, cultural program including gay art, photographs and pictures gallery, gay archive open for all incomers. To the outside of gay community, the Center conducts the political lobbying and is going to help building a PFLAG group. During the opening party we have presented a project of the monument to gay victims of communist government. From 1933 till 1993, the anti-Sodomite law was in force in Soviet Union. Thousands people were sent to GULAG, many of them have died, the lives of the rest were crippled. Considering ourselves as a part of democratic movement, we find it neccessary to remind about these victims and to honor their memory by creating a monument, which ~ in our opinion ~ should be placed in the most known Moscow gay cruising area, the square in front of Bolshoi Theater. We declare the competition on a project of monument to gays and invite everyone to help us in building the monument and to partake in competition. We will be gratefull for your answers sent to our address: P.O. Box 7, 105037 Moscow, Russia phone/fax (7-095) 163-8002 e-mail triangle@glas.apc.org