Gay activists protest outside Russian Orthodox cathedral in San Francisco

Angered by a recent Russian ban on the distribution of pro-homosexuality information to minors, 25 gay activists staged a protest outside an Orthodox cathedral in San Francisco on August 25, according to a church press release and a local gay newspaper.


Activists carried signs with messages like “Putin + Russian Church = Homo Hate,” and one protestor chanted, “Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Stoli vodka has got to go!” 

The staff of the cathedral read about the planned protest online and informed police. A bishop from Seattle and clergy from New York traveled to the San Francisco cathedral to offer their support.

 

“By divine mercy, neither the cathedral nor any parishioners suffered any violence from the protesters,” according to a press release from the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, which was founded in 1920 and has been in full communion with the Moscow Patriarchate since 2007. “Members of the police secured the protest area and did not permit the breaking of any laws.”