Jana Schiedek,

Senator for justice and equality, free and Hanseatic city of Hamburg

We have a common goal: we stand for an open, tolerant, diverse and free society in Hamburg and in St. Petersburg. Everyone must have a possibility to choose their way of living freely.

We must not settle for the situation when many people do not dare come out because of the fear of violence and discrimination. No one deserves being persecuted on grounds of their sexual orientation.

All of you, who are involved with organizing the Festival and participating in it, send a message much further than the boundaries of your city and country.

Hamburg watches its sister-city with special proudness these days.

full text here (in German)

Alfred Kaine and John Gunther

Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site

Support in 2010

Мэр Берлина Клаус Воверайт. Фото пресс-службы.

Klaus Wowereit – Mayor of Berlin

The organizers of this year’s festival chose an important slogan. It reads “The Art of Being Yourself”. This motto, as I understand it, is not only a call to every individual to be confident of him or herself and to accept differences of others, but also calls for a fair society built upon mutual respect, for a society that sees diversity as an enrichment and not as a blemish. In other words, the fight against discrimination and for equal civil rights is not just a small, insignificant issue. When someone limits people’s opportunities because of their religion, their skin color or sexual orientation, it threatens the whole society. It is a question about the basic rules of our coexistence. It is about central values of humanity, tolerance and the freedom to be different from others…

I wish the International Queer Culture Festival in St. Petersburg much success.
Klaus Wowereit
Governing Mayor of Berlin

Whole text here (in German).

Stephen Fry - well-known English actor, writer, journalist, comedian

It gives me great pleasure to send a message of support, solidarity and admiration to all those taking part in the the St Petersburg International Festival of Queer Culture this September. I cannot tell you how proud I am to have so many Russian followers, readers and friends. That many of them are gay, lesbian or transgender gives me especial pleasure. It has not easy to be out and proud in Russia of late and it takes a very special kind of courage to stand up for yourself in such an atmosphere of enmity and ignorance. I think it is a very Russian quality to be so brave, to have such integrity and such a proper sense of pride and self. I hope the rest of Russia soon recognises that gay communities represent the best of a nation. A thriving and happy gay population is a mark of a healthy society, not (as the socially and historically ignorant choose to believe) the worst. Good luck and all my love and best wishes to all taking part.

Lara Fabian. CREDIT PHOTO : Laurence Labat

Lara Fabian - international singer

I am writing to you today to give you my full support for the second edition of The Queer Culture Festival. You are right to defend values such as tolerance as well as cultural and sexual diversity.

As I sang few years ago, ‘The Difference’, is also a value that you should be proud of. You are aware that the difference, disturbs, scares, and sometimes leads people to commit acts of violence. I have faced the criticism, a lot of rumors floated around me. That could have made me doubt and abandon, but I never lost hope and confidence. Belief in itself is a strength and assume its difference is
just as much.

Be proud of who you are, never look-down to someone who wants you to doubt or afraid you, keep going to assert your difference. It is a right. Never give up!

With all my love,
Lara

Valery Panyushkin - well-known Russian journalist and writer

I would sincerely like for the Queer Festival to not have to exist. I would want people to go on stage to sing a song or play a part, not to fight for their rights and the rights of their friends. The very fact that it even occurred to someone to organize a festival for tolerance and against homophobia is evidence to the fact that homophobia in Russia exists and that tolerance in Russia is scarce. I understand why many artists refuse to support the festival: they think that the problems of gays and lesbians do not concern them, because these artists themselves (and their public) are not gay or lesbian. This position is understandable, but nearsighted. First of all, no single person can be truly happy until there are people around him or her who are unhappy. Secondly, phenomenon of queer culture is just plain interesting. Interesting because we don’t know it.

I would like to wish the audiences of the Queer Festival to have an open mind. The more tolerant they will be, the more new and interesting things they will discover. I wish the organizers and participants of the Festival for their Festival to one day lose its relevance. So that one day there is no more need to prove that every person has the right to love whomever he or she wants, play any music or write any poetry they want. So that one day the artist will be judged by the quality of their art and not for whom and how they love.

Vladimir Pozner

Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site