Pic: Russian Orthodox Church As the Northern Hemisphere Pride event season gets underway authorities in St. Petersburg, Russia, have again banned a planned Gay Pride Parade. But they gave the go-ahead for an anti-gay rally in the city which was staged at the weekend. Organisers of the Saturday (Russian time) anti-gay rally demanded that the authorities put an end to what they called “sexual perversion”. The rally was organised by the national People’s Cathedral movement, part of the Russian Orthodox Church, and the right-wing conservative coalition Parents Standing. Participants stood in front of a coffin which was wrapped with a rainbow flag. After the speakers had made their concluded the coffin was destroyed and thrown into a trash. “This is a symbolic destruction and burial of the movements of perverts,” commented one of the participants.