RTE violinist to boycott Russia concert over gay laws

A gay member of the RTÉ Vanburgh Quartet has refused to take part in a concert in Moscow in protest against Russia’s increasingly draconian laws against homosexuality.

His boycott is part of a growing international movement against a recent law supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin that bans “propaganda of non traditional sexual relations around minors”.

An international backlash against the law is gathering momentum, from calls for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia to gay bars in Los Angeles planning “vodka-dumping” protests.