Moscow Pride had announced pride this year will take place on May 16th, but this week a City Hall spokesman said any attempt to hold a parade would be “firmly dealt with.”

“There have been no official applications for permission to hold gay parades during the May holidays and all attempts to hold such events will be firmly stopped by the authorities,” Leonid Krutakov told the Novosti news agency.

May 16th coincides with the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest which is being hosted by the city and will be broadcast throughout Europe. Pride organizers have called for finalists to express support for pride during the telecast.

Laws against homosexuality were repealed at the end of the Communist era, but Moscow city officials have refused to allow gays to hold a pride march for years.

Moscow Pride has seven cases already pending before the European Court of Human Rights.

The latest was filed against President Dmitry Medvedev. The others involve Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov.

Despite Mayor Luzhkov’s refusal to grant a parade permit last year, the third Moscow Pride took place on Sunday, June 1. Gay activists picketed the monument to the Russian composer Peter Tchaikovsky and then hung a huge banner from an apartment in front of Moscow City Hall.

The banner read: “Rights to gays and lesbians! Homophobia of Moscow Mayor should be prosecuted.”

In 2007, the mayor refused a parade license citing security concerns. Gays, many of them from the Europen Union,  marched anyway. About 20 people were arrested at the May 27 parade, including Alexeyev, two European parliamentarians and British gay advocate Peter Tatchell.

Charges against the foreigners were later dropped and Alexeyev was fined $1000 rubles – about $40.

AIso in 2007, a Moscow court tossed out a lawsuit accusing Lushkov of libel over claims he made that gay rights marches were “satanic.” The court ruled that Moscow Pride leaders had failed to prove that the remarks were incendiary or intended to vilify gays in general. 

Last January, a Moscow judge acquitted 13 gay activists arrested last month for staging a protest outside a polling station during national elections.  But last month, a Moscow court said the mayor had not exceeded his authority in banning gay demonstrations including pride marches.

And last December Luzhkov said he will continue to ban gay pride parades in the city to prevent spreading HIV/AIDS.

“We have banned and will continue to forbid this propaganda by sexual minorities, as they could turn out to be one of the factors in the spread of HIV infections,” Luzhkov told an international AIDS conference.

“Certain homegrown democrats believe that sexual minorities can be a primary indicator and symbol of democracy, but we will forbid the dissemination of these opinions in the future as well.” 

The European Court is slow to take up cases.  It could be more than a year before any of the lawsuits is heard.

The Lesbian and Gay Band Association said it received the invitation from the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

“We are extremely pleased to announce that the Lesbian and Gay Band Association will be included as a marching contingent in the Inaugural Parade,” the association said on its Web site. “This is the first time that an LGBT group will be represented in a Presidential Inaugural Parade, truly our chance to make history.”

The association said it will select players from its member groups across the country. There are LGBT bands in 18 states plus the District of Columbia.

Nearly 1,400 bands applied to appear in the parade and fewer than 50 were selected.

Two bands from President-elect Barack Obama’s high school will march in the parade – the Punahou School Marching Band and the JROTC Marching Unit from Honolulu, Hawaii. 

Five groups from Vice President-elect Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware also are scheduled to march in the parade, including the Delaware Volunteer Firemen’s Association and the Fightin’ Blue Hen Marching Band from the University of Delaware in Newark.

Record crowds are expected in Washington to see history as Obama is sworn in as the nation’s 44th president and the first African-American.

National Park Service officials have said they’re expecting at least 1 million people for the inaugural, and the city has put the number as high as 5 million.

But only 240,000 will have tickets allowing them onto the Capitol grounds to see the swearing-in ceremony. The rest will spill out along The Mall.

If you’re planning on being in the crowd be warned: Backpacks, signs, umbrellas and thermoses are forbidden.

The list of prohibited items on the Capitol grounds also includes the obvious – firearms, explosives and knives – along with some head-scratchers, like coolers, strollers and laser pointers.

In his ruling, Anello rejected a motion from the the firefighters’ attorney for an injunction barring the city from from requiring participation in parades.

Charles LiMandri had argued that pride parades are a political event whose purpose is to advocate for LGBT rights including “the controversial concept of gay marriage” and that the department improperly used the four to support a political cause. He said the order is a violation of the firefighters’ constitutional right to free speech.

In rejecting the motion, Anello cited rulings by other courts that held that when citizens enter government service they must accept some limits on their constitutional rights.

In his written ruling, Anello said the appearance by firefighters at the parade was part of the San Diego Fire Department’s “community building activities,” and was required under state and municipal anti-discrimination laws.

Anello also noted the argument was moot, since the city has already amended its policies to make future participation in parades voluntary.

The ruling came after a jury deadlocked last week on a sexual harassment suit brought by LiMandri on behalf of the four firefighters who claimed they had become emotionally distressed as a result of their treatment by crowds along the parade route last year.

The jury of six men and six women became hopelessly deadlocked after four days of deliberations.

LiMandri had urged the jury to award $500,000 to $1 million to each firefighter.

City Attorney Michael Aguirre said the lawsuit “was about greed” and declared the jury’s deadlock a total victory.

Last month, one of the firefighters told the court that he was sexually taunted by crowds on the street and has been undergoing counseling to try to cope with the aftermath of the experience.

Charles Kane testified that participating in the parade has affected his family life and that he has been ridiculed by some at his fire station.

“I felt confused, embarrassed, used, abandoned by my leadership … I had to fight through it,” he testified.

But under cross-examination by city attorney Michael Aguirre, Kane acknowledged that the fire hall is in the largely gay Hillcrest neighborhood, and that he actually lives in the area.

Anello has scheduled a retrial to begin on Jan. 16.

While the parade had the marking of most Western pride celebrations, marchers also carried a strong message to the government – repeal the laws against sodomy.

Homosexuality is illegal in India, punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment. People living with HIV/AIDS are frequently shunned by their families.

The sodomy law was enacted during British rule over India. Ater independence in 1947, the law remained on the books and police regularly enforce it.

LGBT rights groups have been campaigning for repeal of the law for nearly a decade.  A legal challenge to the law is expected to be heard later this year by the Supreme Court.

Among the marchers were several high profile Indian film and television celebrities and a handful of lawmakers.

Prior to the parade, there were concerns police would deny a permit for the march.  The form was signed and delivered to organizers just hours before it was scheduled to begin.

“Closets are for clothes,” marchers chanted. Many of them were wearing masks.

Organizers of the parade also called on Britain to officially apologize for introducing the sodomy law in the first place.

“We call on the British government to apologize for the immense suffering that has resulted from their imposition of Section 377. And we call on the Indian government to abandon this abhorrent alien legacy of the Raj that should have left our shores when the British did,” said a statement released to the media by parade organizers.