Madonna wins gay rights lawsuit in Russia

Reporters could not keep themselves from laughing as they sat in the Russian courtroom and heard the arguments in favor of suing pop superstar Madonna. The plaintiffs were a group of Russians who attempted to sue Madonna for $10.7 million after she promoted gay rights at her concert in St Petersburg by out pink “No Fear” bracelets, waving an LGBT flag, and encouraging everyone in the audience to show “tolerance for the gay community.” Her accusers made claims before the judges that such so-called “propaganda of perversion” would negatively affect Russia’s birthrate and erode the nation’s defense capability by depriving the country of future soldiers. They submitted evidence about gay culture from Wikipedia pages and claimed that a “real” encyclopedia could not have articles about homosexuality. “We aren’t against homosexual people, but we are against the propaganda of perversion among minors,” said Darya Dedova, one of the plaintiffs who testified on Thursday. “We want to defend the values of a traditional family, which are currently in crisis in this country. Madonna violated our laws and she should be punished.”

While it is forbidden by law in St Petersburgh to publicly promote homosexuality, in the end the judge ruled in favor of Madonna. The judge, Vitaly Barkovsky, seemed skeptical of the plaintiffs’’ arguments from the beginning. After one claimant, Vitaly Orlovsky, said Madonna’s concert would prompt the divorce rate to skyrocket, Barkovsky asked him why he was suing no alcoholics, since alcoholism was a well-known cause of divorce in the heavy-drinking country.

Madonna herself refused repeated requests to attend or even comment on the trial.