A special private screening of East Bloc Love is one of the features of the Equality Festival in Minsk next month, it was announced yesterday. The festival, which celebrates the lives of minorities, including the gay and transgender community in Belarus will hold the special screening.
“Being a member of a minority group in Belarus is extremely difficult and isolating,” Sergey Yenin, deputy chair of organisers IDAHO-Belarus, told UK Gay News.
“So the Equality Festival will bring these lone voices together in solidarity and send a clear message to the government that equality should be for everyone.”
East Bloc Love is a feature-length documentary directed by Australian Logan Mucha and co-produced with GayRussia. The screening, when the director will be present, will be followed by a discussion on the state of minorities in Belarus. The dates for the festival are May 14 to 17, culminating of the final day, which is International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, with a March for Equality.
IDAHO-Belarus is currently in the process of applying to the Minsk Executive Committee for permission and a location to hold the march. Similar events in the past are usually banned.
But Mr. Yenin said that IDAHO-Belarus hopes to gain permission. More than 200 applications have been made for differing locations across Minsk.
“This leaves the authorities with little choice to agree at least one location,” Mr. Yenin said.
There are some people in the city that are already starting to build up plans for an anti-gay march and campaign, as the issue of homosexuality is still contentious for some of the population.
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