Lady Gaga

A month after pop singer Madonna was cleared in a Russian lawsuit charging her with illegally promoting homosexuality to minors, the same charge has been leveled at singer-dancer Lady Gaga.

The Reuters news service reported:

A political ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin is taking legal action against American pop star Lady Gaga for promoting gay rights to minors during a concert on Sunday.

Vitaly Milonov, a member of the ruling United Russia party in the St Petersburg assembly and the architect of a city law that bans gay “propaganda,” accused the singer of breaking the law at the beginning of her show.

“We saw that in addition to music, songs and such, there were direct calls for 12-year-old citizens to support the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community,” Milonov said, adding that he would file a complaint to prosecutors over the singer’s actions.

He had unsuccessfully called on authorities to bar people under 18 from attending Lady Gaga’s show.

A vocal defender of lesbian and gay rights, Lady Gaga said offstage that her managers had received a call threatening her with arrest or a $50,000 fine if she spoke in support of the LGBT community, according to media reports.

Read the full Reuters article here: “Lady Gaga accused of illegal gay rights promotion in Russia.”

Related articles

• $10.7m anti-gay lawsuit vs. Madonna in Russian court (76crimes.com)
• Madonna ordered to appear in Russian court for breaking anti-gay law (PinkNews)
• All coverage of Madonna vs. the St. Petersburg “gay propaganda” law on this blog
• Russia to decide on banning ‘gay propaganda’ (76crimes.com)
• Efforts to ban ‘gay propaganda’ spread in Europe (76crimes.com)