Lena Katina closed QueerFest

Lena Katina's (the voice of t.A.T.u.) concert closed QueerFest - St. Petersburg festival in support of LGBT rights. During the ten festival days its photo exhibitions, discussions, workshops and concerts got about 2000 visitors.

"Do not be shy about your feelings, be yourself and be happy," - supported Lena the local community from the stage. "I heard about the rising aggression and violence that homosexuals faced after this law was adopted in St. Pete. And of course I want to stand behind the LGBT community and I hope that our participation in QueerFest will help someone feel stronger", - commented she at a press-conference preceding the concert.

QueerFest 2012 was the first large-scale LGBT rights event in St. Petersburg after the adoption of the notorious law banning "homosexual propaganda". This is why it drew so much attention, including for the first time support from the St. Petersburg Ombudsperson Alexander Shyshlov. In his greeting to the organisers and participants of the festival he expressed the hope that "QueerFest will become one more step towards developing tolerance and mutual understanding between people regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity".

Russian celebrities and officials are not the only ones who care about the topic though. Official delegates from Europe who came to the Council of Europe Youth Ministers Conference would not skip the issue either. Some of them did not only raise the topic at the plenary sessions, but also supported QueerFest by taking part in some of the events. Pascal Smet, Flemish minister for youth, education and equal opportunities, opened the workshop on transgenderness by emphasising the importance of providing information first of all to the LGBT teenagers themselves who often don't understand what they are going through. Nyamko Sabuni, Swedish minister for integration and gender equality, opened the "Article 1" exhibition about the history of the LGBT movement and wished success to the Festival.

PHOTOS FROM THE CLOSING CONCERT ARE HERE