Gay club moscow central station

Moscow's Central Station, known for its drag queen shows, has become a target. With its bullet-sprayed doors and protective razor-wire fencing, Central Station management says it has been subjected to shootings, water and gas attacks, and vandalism. Considered by many patrons as "the cultural center" for gays in Russia, the lively venue is known for its colorful, irreverent drag shows and modern house music.

But the staff says a recent spate of homophobic attacks has terrified the gay community there. They say it's all part of an intensifying anti-gay sentiment in Russia, a country that's never been widely accepting of homosexuality, but recently has been inflamed by a controversial anti-gay propaganda law.

Over 50 people detained as police raid two Moscow gay clubs overnight

The law, signed by President Putin last June, bans the "propaganda of non-traditional relationships" to minors, and has received international condemnation. It claims to protect children from information about homosexuality, but human rights activists say it's really a crackdown on gay stations, a form of institutionalized homophobia meant to suppress gay-rights activists from holding public events and gay people from living their lives openly.

Petersburg lawmaker who helped craft the law. Citizens who have protested the law before and after its passage have been violently accosted and attacked by anti-gay activists who claim to favor "traditional" Russian values. People unfurling rainbow flags and central pro-gay displays have been aggressively detained. The law arguably has emboldened a new wave of discrimination and violence, including vigilante groups that lure gay teens online, then torture and humiliate them.

Their names have been changed to protect their identities. Alexei and many of his friends find refuge at Central Station, one of the few moscow they say they can be open about their identities. It's a symbol that the rights of gays are not discriminated. Alexei works at the club as a drag queen. With make-up and costumes, he literally transforms.

And yet, he said, it makes him feel more "himself. On the club world, I wear [the] mask of straight guy, to be one of them, to hide. Here, Alexei and his drag queen friends step out of the shadows and into the spotlight, onto a bright stage where they are applauded and respected. In a society where gays are hated and reviled, Alexei said, drag is empowering.

We are free here. But, Lishchinsky said, things have changed for the worse and he is worried about the survival of the club. If you want to beat them up, you're welcome to. Lishchinsky, the club manager, said the signs have led to a new spike gay gay muggings and bashings outside the club. In November, he said, two armed men tried to break into the club and left bullet holes through the front door.

We hate gays'," said Lishchinsky, describing the attackers. It's not Kabul. It's like Stonewall in ' But nobody protest.