March 23, 2012 | Celeb Watch

Madonna versus St Petersburg

St. Petersburg, Russia, recently passed a law making it illegal to promote homosexuality in any way. Popular pop star and LGBT-ally, Madonna, is due to perform in the city this August, but has promised to speak out against the law.

"I will come to St. Petersburg to speak up for the gay community and to give strength and inspiration to anyone who is or feels oppressed," Madonna said. "I'm a freedom fighter."

Her latest video for "Girl Gone Wild" is filled with homoerotic imagery. Will any of that be shown while performing in the Russian city? And what will she say or do? We'll have to wait to find out.

"I don’t run away from adversity," Madonna insisted, however. "I will speak during my show about this ridiculous atrocity."

In an interesting twist, some gay rights activists in Russia have announced plans to protest during the singer’s concerts in both Moscow and St Petersburg, calling her a hypocrite. They say that her only real interest is making money, not gay rights. They say if she really wanted to take a stand, she would boycott St. Petersburg on this tour.

“In Russia, (pop-stars like Madonna) have fantastic earnings, and this allows them to forget about the problems of human rights,” argued Yuri Gavrikov, from Gay Russia. He said that simply getting on stage and speaking out on an issue is not enough.

We say give the lady a chance. Maybe she's not out marching in the streets, but she certainly has access to a lot of ears in that country. Gay Russia should be looking at ways to leverage her support  to reach out to other Russians instead of dismissing Madonna so quickly.

Madonna Plans To Address Anti-Gay Russian Law During St. Petersburg Concert [MTV]

Madonna pledges to defy St Petersburg anti-gay law [PinkNews]