All Out: Illegal to say gay

"Thank you to 85,000 All Out members who've already signed the petition. We must keep the global pressure up. Please help us now: sign the petition so we can be heard by world leaders and the media."  Polina A. in Russia http://www.allout.org/russia-attacks Polina sent this message to All Out members yesterday, as Russia passed a new law that makes it illegal to even say the word “gay”. Dozens of people protesting against the law were dragged away and arrested by police. Polina speaks on behalf of “Coming Out”, a big Russian gay support organisation facing a trial to fight closure. Their trial has just been postponed to next week.  Please help us get to 100,000 signatures before the new trial date. Sign now: http://www.allout.org/russia-attacks --- Previous email --- Gay hate and violence increasing in Russia as government cracks down on gay rights organisations. Sign the petition before Coming Out faces trial starting tomorrow: Dear Patrick, Crisis in Russia: two brutal murders for being gay within weeks. One man was stabbed to death by neighbours, and a younger man was beaten to death with rocks after coming out. The rise in attacks is happening asPresident Putin wages war on gays and lesbians. His government has banned Pride marches and is trying to bring in a new anti-gay law. And tomorrow, a major Russian gay organisation will go on trial to fight closure. Putin is getting away with the crackdown because there’s little international media attention and no real pressure from other world leaders. But if we start with a massive petition, we can work to get the crisis on the to do list of every world leader and onto the front pages of newspapers. Can you sign before the trial starts tomorrow?  http://www.allout.org/russia-attacks Putin has shown he’s sensitive to international pressure about his treatment of gay and lesbians. When he visited the Netherlands recently, he was greeted by a big protest and media coverage. He was later forced to claim publicly that he doesn’t support discrimination. Russian human rights workers told the All Out office team that this led directly to their finally being given a meeting with the Ombudsman for Human Rights - a big boost to their work. Sign now and share the petition with friends and family: http://www.allout.org/russia-attacks President Putin thinks gays and lesbians are an easy target to help him crackdown on human rights and democracy, in his quest to hold on to power. He sees them as a tiny minority who can't fight back. But what if instead of facing only the handful of people in Russia brave enough to stand up to terrifying violence and state power, he faced a movement of millions of us? We’ve spoken up together about Russia before, but All Out has grown fast in the last two years. There are now 1.6 million of us in every country in the world - and there’s nothing we can’t do together for love. Please sign now: http://www.allout.org/russia-attacks Thanks for going All Out, Andre, Guillaume, Marie, Hayley, Jeremy, Sara, Tile, Wesley and the rest of the All Out team. PS: There’s so much we could do if we grew the biggest petition the world has ever seen against the crackdown in Russia. Deliver it to embassies in every country. Use it get journalists to write high-profile features criticising Putin. Use it as a rallying point for protests whenever Russian officials visit other countries. Sign here: http://www.allout.org/russia-attacks   SOURCES: Man Stabbed To Death In Russian Village In Homophobic Attack, June 3rd 2013 http://www.buzzfeed.com/lesterfeder/man-stabbed-to-death-in-russian-village-in-homopho-9a7s Deadly homophobia: Man ‘killed for being gay’ in Southern Russia, May 13th 2013 http://rt.com/news/man-killed-homophobia-russia-198/ Vladimir Putin says Russia does not discriminate against gays, April 9th 2013 http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/vladimir-putin-says-russia-does-not-discriminate-against-gays090413 Russia's Putin annoyed about gay rights discussion, June 4th 2013 http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2013/06/04/3037706/russias-putin-annoyed-about-gay.html

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All Out is bringing people together in every corner of the planet and of every identity – lesbian, gay, straight, bisexual, transgender and all that's between and beyond – to build a world in which everyone can live freely and be embraced for who they are. This is a campaign of Purpose Action, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization. Our mailing address is: Purpose Action 115 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10003 USA Copyright © 2013 AllOut.org, All rights reserved.