The new Moscow, photo Bradmoscu. The Russian law, signed by President Vladimir Putin in June , continues to concern both Russians, and foreign tourists who could be subject to fines and prosecution for "gay propaganda. If you do, take care with same-sex displays of affection in public places, and avoid talking about politics, unless you're Elton John or Peter Tatchell.
Meet safely in public places first. As always, locals continue to struggle to live their lives, meet and party, when and where they can. The most popular gay club Central Station , after closing in , re-opened at a new location outside the center, joined by the gay sauna Voda which relocated nearby.
Central Station's management has also opened Three Monkeys , but closed Boyz. The Russian sites Gay. On March 31, Gay. Perhaps related to the crackdown, several websites of clubs and bathhouse have gone dark recently - replaced in our listings with facebook pages, if they exist. Nobody can take that away. Some are familiar to just about everyone in the city, while other remain underground. And all of them are packed with men who need to blow off some steam β on the dance floor and otherwise.
Russian society has changed drastically this past decade. Moscow has one of the most vibrant nightlife scenes in the world, along with brand new shopping malls, expensive boutiques, and fancy restaurants. All this happened too quickly for some segments of society, and while Europe continues to break barriers in terms of gay civil rights, Russia has yet to extend some of the most basic protections to its gay citizens. So, while same-sex activity was decriminalized in , the country's continued homophobia is no secret.
Moscow's Gay Pride parade has been banned repeatedly, and gay rights protests are met with violence from the police. The seventh attempt to hold a gay pride parade was again blocked in , and Moscow's top court upheld a ban on gay pride marches in the Russian capital for the next years.
