**A group of well-known Russian singers and writers has called for an end to discrimination against gay people.**They met after a local official tried to close Moscow’s longest-running gay club, Dusha i Telo, where many of the artists have performed.
Activist Nikolai Alekseyev, who called the meeting, said it was the first time celebrities had come together publicly to denounce homophobia.
Requests to hold a gay pride march in Moscow have been rejected for years.
Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzkhov has previously described such parades as “satanic”.
“The constitution says you should be able to live your life freely - so they’re breaking the constitution in that way”
Lolita
Russian pop star
Russian pop star Lolita, one of the biggest names at the event, told the BBC Russian Service: "I see a certain potential return to fascism by the way the gay community is treated in Russia.
“The same is true of the disabled community.”
Homosexuality was decriminalised in Russia in 1993 and was removed from the official list of mental illnesses in 1999.
However, there is no legislation protecting people from discrimination or harassment on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and same-sex relationships are not officially recognised.
“The constitution says you should be able to live your life freely - so they’re breaking the constitution in that way,” Lolita said after the event entitled Russian stars against discrimination of the gay community.
She also described gay discrimination as “a nationwide problem - not just affecting Moscow.”