Clinton, Moscow mayor unveil Whitman statue

Hillary Clinton cut the ribbon to unveil a statue of American poet and gay icon Walt Whitman in Moscow on Wednesday, in a ceremony accompanied by the Russian capital's homophobic mayor, Yury Luzhkov.

Luzhkov has called gay people "satanic" and has banned gay pride parades in Moscow on public safety and morality grounds.

But he praised Whitman, whose poetry includes sensual references to men, at the opening, saying that his poetry "is permeated with the spirit of American optimism," Interfax news agency reported.

Gay rights activist Nikolai Bayev, who has organized gay pride events in Moscow, called Luzhkov's participation in the opening "grotesque" in a statement released earlier this week.

The Whitman statue stands in the grounds of Moscow State University, where Clinton later spoke to students. At the opening ceremony, Clinton spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Luzhkov.

Clinton quoted the statue's inscription, which was taken from the first Russian translation of Whitman's "Leaves of Grass."

The inscription reads: "You Russians and we Americans! Our countries so distant, so unlike at first -- such a difference in social and political conditions.. and yet in certain features, and vastest ones, so resembling each other."

The statue was paid for with donations by American and Russian companies after a fund-raising campaign by the Washington-based American-Russian Cultural Cooperation Foundation.

Lavrov called the Whitman statue a return gesture, after the Moscow city government paid for a statue of national poet Alexander Pushkin to be erected in the grounds of George Washington University in 2000, Interfax reported.

Both statues are by Moscow sculptor Alexander Burganov. The Whitman statue depicts Whitman standing in front of a pedestal topped by a winged horse.