According to Think Progress, Madonna could ‘face a fine of 5,000 rubles for spreading homosexual propaganda among minors’ if she acts as she said during her upcoming performance on August 9 in St. Petersburg in Russia and publicly denounces the new act about ‘gay propaganda’ ban.
‘If Madonna or one of the organizers of the concert breaks the city law, they will be punished’ declared Saint Petersburg assembly member Milonov.
The guy is the author of the bill, a bill that makes illegal anything that can be interpreted as ‘promotion of homosexuality’.
According to the Russian Interfax news agency, Milonov wants to attend Madonna’s concert in order ‘to control its moral content’, as he declared to the agency: ‘I’m ready to personally suffer a couple of hours of her concert’.
I would laugh at this if this was not serious matter.
New York Times journalist Masha Gessen wrote about the awful bill which ‘was passed by an overwhelming majority of the city council’ and asked for a boycott of the city, even demanding Madonna to cancel her concert.
However, Madonna wants to go, since she wrote this on her facebook page:
‘I will come to St. Petersburg to speak up for the gay community, to support the gay community and to give strength and inspiration to anyone who is or feels oppressed.’
5,000 rubles is about $170, so you would think it is nothing for Madonna, but her concert promoters expect to lose about 500,000 rubles (about $16,700), meaning they can fine her 100 times?
For once, I can say I totally approve Madonna’s decision, she definitely can afford to lose these $16,700. With this law, Russia society goes one more time backwards, and it is absolutely necessary for artists to stand up against such horrific bill, especially once we know that that Russian Orthodox Church officials were so happy about it, they were looking for ways to implement the ban nationwide!