We just happened to wander by the Russian Embassy in London as a crowd gathered to show support for gays being rounded up and held in detention centers in the Russian republic of Chechnya.  Part of a purge by the Russian government in response to a planned gay pride parade, Londoners we saw wanted to spread the word of this atrocity so action and pressure by world leaders will hopefully stop it.  I am happy to help.

One man carefully spread out a roll of paper to write his message, “Free Love.  If compassion is higher form of wisdom, how wise are you?” while others organizing the event spoke to policewomen and the crowd.  Photographers captured the moment and others wrote encouraging thoughts on the pink triangles.  I wrote “Love Trumps Hate”.  Thom explained to me that in Nazi Germany gays had to wear pink triangles on their clothing.  Frightening times when we see history repeating itself and our nation’s leaders are doing nothing to stop it and some are encouraging it with their hate-filled rhetoric.

Laying pink flowers on the sidewalk, the mood was somber but defiant.  A group of men allowed their pictures to be taken as Londoners stopped to read the signs.  We walked by later on our way home, happy to see the signs undisturbed and folks reading the messages.  Grassroots efforts like this work as we are finding in the U.S. with our protest marches, calls to Congress and other efforts trying to stop the madness that lies in POTUS.  Where we can support other countries with their efforts to stop the hate and embrace love, we most certainly will.  Never give up and never back down.