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Crimea leader condemns gay rights march plans in Simferopol

"I think the authors of such initiatives pursue only one goal - attract attention and overblow a scandal without reason," Crimean leader Sergey Aksyonov said

SIMFEROPOL, April 25. /TASS/. The Crimean authorities won’t allow on the peninsula activity aimed at gay propaganda and repelling most citizens, Crimean leader Sergey Aksyonov said commenting on the initiative to hold a gay pride march in Simferopol during the May Day public holiday.

"The authorities won’t allow advocating things that are at variance with moral values of the Crimean people and excite indignation and disgust of the overwhelming majority of Crimean poeple," he said.

"There is no discrimination in it - we are not interfering in private lives of the citizens, let everyone live the way he or she wants to, but we must protect people, especially the youth, against actions aimed at destroying the moral health of the nation," Aksyonov said in a statement circulated by his press service.

He believes the authorities have the right to this stance, while the masterminds of these actions are only aiming at overblowing a scandal. "I think the authors of such initiatives pursue only one goal - attract attention and overblow a scandal without reason," he said.

Earlier, the Cryminform news agency reported referring to a source from the Simferopol city council, that the founder of the Moscow gay pride rally and informal leader of LGBT movement in Russia, Nikolai Alekseyev, intended to stage in the Crimean capital meetings and a gay pride march during the May Day public holiday.