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RELEASE 3

Ian McKellen will open QueerFest: "Some people are gay. Get over it!"

Famous British actor who performed as Gandalf and Magnetto, open gay and entitled as a knight, sir Ian McKellen "sends a message of hope" to the LGBT community of St. Petersburg, Russia and criticises the homophobic law.

"QueerFest is a very important event. And I hope you have a successful festival, - Ian McKellen says in his video address, - 20 years ago in the UK a law was passed similar to your own which prevented us speaking to young people positively on gay issues. This was an unnecessary law. A cruel law. Contradicted any sense of human rights. And it was a work of a government that was a bully."

"QueerFest is a very important event. And I hope you have a successful festival, - Ian McKellen says in his video address, - 20 years ago in the UK a law was passed similar to your own which prevented us speaking to young people positively on gay issues. This was an unnecessary law. A cruel law. Contradicted any sense of human rights. And it was a work of a government that was a bully."the Minister for integration and gender equlity of Sweden NYAMKO SABUNI, Flemish Minister for Education, Youth, Equal Opportunities PASCAL SMET, also invited are the Consuls General of Sweden, the Netherlads, United Kingdom, Norway, Finland, France, Germany, Belgium and USA.

Ian McKellen's video address:

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RELEASE 2

ST. PETERSBURG: CELEBRATING GAY RIGHTS AND CULTURE DESPITE "GAY PROPAGANDA" BANS

September 20-29 St. Petersburg will host its 4^th annual international queer pride and culture festival: Queer Fest 2012 (http://queerfest.ru). This is the first year the festival is organized with the new "homosexual propaganda" law in place, which aims to outlaw distribution of information about homosexuality to minors.

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RELEASE 1

LENA KATINA TO HEADLINE QUEERFEST 2012

Lena Katina and her band will travel to Russia from Los Angeles to support the international festival Queerfest 2012.

Lena’s September, 29th show will be the culmination of the 10-day festival run.

With today’s anti-gay climate, where discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people has actually become legal under St. Petersburg law, it is now more important than ever to hear the voices that call for respect and acceptance of all people.

“We all are very different people and we should celebrate our differences. We should not be silent when we see this intolerant aggression towards LGBT-community”, - says the artist Lena Katina in her message to the people of St. Petersburg.

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