MOSCOW, May 15 (UPI) -- The Moscow mayor's office said Wednesday it will not authorize a gay pride parade and will halt any unsanctioned attempt to hold one.
Alexei Mayorov, Moscow's top security official, said the parade request gay activists filed this week for a parade on May 25 is unlikely to be approved because of society's "negative attitude" toward homosexuality, Moscow's RIA Novosti reported.
The mayor's office also refused permission for a picket in Moscow's Sokolniki Park, RIA Novosti reported.
In 2011, Nikolai Alekseyev, a prominent gay rights activist, submitted 100 separate requests for gay pride parades for the next 100 years. In 2012, Moscow's highest court upheld a city government ban on gay pride parades for the next 100 years.
Gay rights activists have been applying for parade permits since 2006, but have met with no success.
Last May, St. Petersburg officials allowed an anti-homophobia rally, but participants were attacked by dozens of masked thugs, who evaded arrest, the newspaper said.
