ARMENIA: YEREVAN MEDIA OUTLETS REPORT ON CRACKDOWN ON GAYS

Eurasianet

February 22, 2010

Yerevan Mayor Gagik Beglarian has reportedly ordered law-enforcement
personnel to prevent homosexuals and transvestites from gathering
in parks near his office, Russian and Armenian media outlets are
reporting.

Beglarian allegedly issued the order in mid-February. The mayor’s
office, however, has declined to comment, the Interfax news agency
reported on February 19, citing Armenian media sources.

Authorities in Armenia, as well as its South Caucasus neighbors
of Azerbaijan and Georgia, have shown little tolerance for sexual
minorities; the Yerevan mayor has long been on a campaign to curtail
male prostitution, the Graparak newspaper reported.

One conservative group, the National Neoconservative Movement,
has called for public support for the campaign "to root out the
horrible phenomenon, [which is] artificially cultivated in Armenia,"
the Kavkazsky Uzel news website reported on February 21.