http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/aug/16/russia-gay-row-western-pop-star-visas
For Madonna and Lady Gaga, two artists who are so celebratory of gay culture, these visa issues perhaps represent something beyond just a legal technicality. For those in need of a quick recap, the past year's events have unfurled as follows: members of conservative groups unsuccessfully sued Madonna for violating the St Petersburg law against homosexual propaganda among minors after she said during a concert there last summer that gay people should be "treated with dignity"; in December, the author of that law, St Petersburg duma deputy Vitaly Milonov, filed a complaint that Lady Gaga had violated the statute when she called for respect for gay rights during her concert in the city; the St Petersburg prosecutor general's office said YouTube video of the incident wasn't sufficient to investigate Milonov's complaint; undeterred, Milonov filed a complaint with Russia's prosecutor general in April arguing that Lady Gaga and Madonna's cultural-exchange visas did not allow them to profit from their concerts in Russia; last week, the prosecutor general's office confirmed this was true and said it might ask the Federal Migration Service and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take action on the findings.
