Posted on 09/24/2013 2:08:32 AM PDT by TexGrill
As opera lovers in New York City's Metropolitan Opera froze in silent anticipation of the new season's first sounds, what they heard was not the introduction to Pyotr Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin," but shouts of protest against the recently-passed legislation that bans the public expression of LGBT identity in Russia.
"Putin, end your war on Russian gays," a member of a New York-based LGBT organization shouted, unfurling a rainbow flag. His three colleagues joined chanting "Anna, your silence is killing Russian gays! Valery, your silence is killing Russian gays!"
The activists inside the theater were peacefully escorted out. A few dozen protestors were also gathered in front of the theater, part of the Lincoln Center arts complex.
Valery Gergiev, Russia's most famous conductor, heads the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, one of the world's premier ballet and opera companies.
Anna Netrebko is a soloist at the Mariinsky, who has rose to being "the reigning new diva of the 21st century," as The Associated Press once described her. She holds dual Russian and Austrian citizenship and currently resides in Vienna.
Both Netrebko and Gergiev have been vocal supporters of President Vladimir Putin.
After the incident, Netrebko issued a statement on her Facebook page saying "As an artist, it is my great joy to collaborate with all of my wonderful colleagues — regardless of their race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. I have never and will never discriminate against anyone."
She did not mention the Russian law specifically. Gergiev has declined to comment.
"Eugene Onegin" is a staple of the Russian opera canon and, according to many musicologists, Tchaikovsky's score was strongly driven by the resentment of his own homosexuality.
(Excerpt) Read more at themoscowtimes.com ...
LGBT militants don’t want coexistence, they want supremacy and transformation of society’s mores. That leads to a forceful response and then they cry about what happens to them. Russia is doing more to protect Christian family values that the West and the US is actively trying to spread LGBT “values” throughout the World.
Hating Vladimir is so the ghey
See what happens when they don’t properly resent themselves; they make noise.
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