Activists Aim to Enlist Met to Protest Russian Anti-Gay Law

Amid a growing international outcry over Russia’s new law restricting public discussion of homosexuality, gay-rights activists are calling on the Metropolitan Opera to dedicate its season-opening performance of a Tchaikovsky work to the support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people, writes The New York Times.

The new production of Eugene Onegin, opening Sept. 23, will feature conductor Valery Gergiev and singer Anna Netrebko, major Russian classical-music figures who have vocally supported President Vladimir Putin. In June, Putin signed legislation banning “propaganda on nontraditional sexual relationships” in Russia.

Andrew Rudin, a composer, started an online petition urging the Met to dedicate the performance to LGBT rights, spurring an online debate about the role of art in politics.

Met General Manager Peter Gelb said in a statement that the organization “deplores the suppression of equal rights here or abroad. But since our mission is artistic, it is not appropriate for our performances to be used by us for political purposes, no matter how noble or right the cause.”