Interfaith PR unity is a rare occurrence in Russia, which has a long history of animosity between its three major religions. However, the nation's Christian, Muslim and Jewish
leadership unified their PR machinery by pressuring Moscow's municipal government into refusing a permit for the city's first-ever gay pride parade, which was to be held on May
27. Chief Mufti Talgat Tadzhuddin (pictured here) used his PR platform to declare "sexual minorities have no rights" and parade participants would be "flogged" in the street by
Muslims staging violent counterprotests. Bishop Daniil of the Russian Orthodox Church issued a press statement likening homosexuality to leprosy and calling the proposed event
"the propaganda of sin." Rabbi Berl Lazar was relatively sedate in comparison, simply calling the proposed event "a blow for morality." Parade organizers are shifting their PR
strategy to a global stage, including a threatened legal action with the European Court of Human Rights.