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Russian couple attempts same-sex marriage
January 20, 2005
Moscow — A Russian “couple” has applied for a marriage certificate from a
Moscow registration office, challenging the Russian Family Code.
The application was accepted by the state agency, Ed Mishin and Edvard Murzin
were told to return in 10 days for an official written rejection.
But Murzin, a State Assembly deputy in Bashkiria, is not gay and said he filed
for the application in an attempt to draw attention for the gay rights movement
in Russia.
His “partner” began speaking publicly about the planned union weeks ago.
Murzin told journalists that a written rejection referring to the Family Code
is part of their plan and they plan to challenge the decision in the Russian
Constitutional Court.
"The Russian constitution does not say that people of the same sex cannot get
married. It says in black-and-white that sex, race or religion-based
discrimination is banned," Mishin told Russian press.
Mishin is the Editor in Chief of Kvir (Queer) Magazine, Russia’s only glossy
magazine for gay men.
“Our marriage is a mere formality,” Murzin explained to the BBC. “I do not
belong to a sexual minority, but I am ready to stand up for the civil rights of
gays and lesbians in Russia. An attempt to register an official marriage
between the two males was conceived as an action of protest against the
discrimination of sexual minorities.”
Murzin began campaigning for the legalization of same-sex marriages last year.
Homosexuality was illegal in Russia until 1993 and the Orthodox Church
continues to regard homosexuality as “a mortal sin.”
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