I would like to ask all citizens of Brighton and Hove to support lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people living in Russia. LGBT citizens in Brighton and Hove are so lucky to live in a place where we can live openly and with pride. When I saw pictures of LGBT citizens at the St Petersburg gay pride parade who had been arrested by the police and badly beaten by anti-gay protestors, I knew I had to do something.

As a gay man luckily living in LGBT-friendly Brighton, I feel I have to protest against the disgusting anti-gay violence that has been whipped up by Putin’s homophobic government in Russia. Protesting against Russian homophobia at Pride felt good, but when I saw there was going to be a national demonstration against state-sponsored Russian homophobia I knew I had to go. I re-wore the T-shirt I made for Pride, displaying a message of solidarity in Cyrillic with the Russian LGBT community.

It was heart-warming to see so many LGBT citizens demonstrating solidarity with the Russian LGBT community. And let’s not forget, Russia is not the only country in the world in which LGBT citizens are discriminated against by the state.

I want to redouble my efforts (in my case, with my colleagues at Brighton and Hove LGBT Labour), to call for measures to be taken to combat state homophobia in Russia, and in all other countries around the world which continue to have homophobic legislation. Please help if you can.

Sim Elliott, Brighton