Source: HRO.org (info), 12/04/12

· St. Petersburg region & Leningrad region  · Sexual minorities

The LGBT film festival Side by Side is being held in the Northern Capital. Among films to be shown will be a documentary by the South African photographer Zanele Muholi about the lesbian community in today’s South Africa.

As organizers of the film festival announced, the film Difficult Love will be shown on 13 April. Afterwards there will be a discussion about how intolerant attitudes are strengthening in society, and how to combat them.

The discussion with readers will be led by Arkady Gutnikov who teaches human rights at the St. Petersburg Institute of Law named after Prince P. G. Oldenburgsky.

St. Petersburg’s human rights ombudsman, Aleksandr Shishlov has been invited to the screening, together with other public figures and human rights defenders, Rosbalt news agency reports

The LGBT activists stated in a press release: “Since a homophobic law entered into force on 30 March in St. Petersburg, the organizing committee of the film festival Side by Side has been obliged to refuse to allow minors to visit festival events. The Side by Side film festival is fighting, and will fight, to abolish this discriminatory law that is harmful to minors.”