festival, and I'm racing to get to the launch party before police close it down. Since July,

promoting homosexuality has been a criminal offence.

"Well we've just arrived at the venue for the opening of Queer Fest and there are three

police cars and some fourteen police apparently on the lookout for gay propaganda".

That's the official term for suggesting that it's okay to be gay.

If you suggest it to anyone under 18, you can be arrested.

The law against so-called gay propaganda to minors has made the festival a pariah. Forty

venues refused to host the launch before this 17th floor gallery came to the rescue.

Polina, who's now scared to give her surname, is Queer Fest's main organiser."Nobody knows

what propaganda means. It's vague, and it's deliberately

vague because then our government can use this law arbitrarily to apply to anything,

any open expression of homosexuality. So really it drives all these people out of public space".

The law has caused outrage in the liberal West. Diplomats from Britain, Sweden and the

Netherlands have come to lend high-profile support.

"The Prime Minister has told President Putin, the other Ministers, their counterparts, that

they find this law against European law on human rights. So you have to say to what you

think is not right and is discrimination. So that is what we do and what we will keep

doing". Not if this man can help it.

"Why it's polite to act like this in Russia? It shows that these countries, honestly, they

don't respect us". Vitaly Milonov heads the legislative committee

of the St Petersburg city government. He drafted a ban on gay propaganda that became the model

for the national law. On the eve of the Queer Fest launch, he asked police to lock down

the venue.

For once, he didn't get what he wanted and the festival went ahead. It's organised by

a group called 'Vixhod' meaning 'Coming Out' but thanks to Milonov's law all this year's

events will be inside. "People are intimidated. People are afraid.

They don't know what is legal and not legal to do. I don't know

if I can hold hands with my girlfriend in the street and everybody's just feeling this

pressure all the time. That's what it's all about".

A video message from an esteemed gay celebrity urges them to carry on.

"Hello, I'm Stephen Fry. I'm sitting here in the offices of Vixhod, in St Petersburg.

I came here on a journey to find out just exactly what this new homophobic law is about

and although I've been horrified and upset and angry, at the brutish

tyranny of so many of the homophobic people who are supported by the local government

and indeed the federal government, what has touched me much more has been the work of

the activists of Vixhod and the people who stand up to bullying,

stand up to homophobia, stand up to name calling, stand up to violence.

And Vixhod is wicked. Thank you". The sentiments go down well with the LGBT

crowd, meaning lesbians, gays, bisexuals and trans-gendered.

But the overwhelming majority of Russians support the new law.

The country has never departed from the view that sex is only normal between a man and

a woman. Even in the relatively gay-friendly world of showbiz, popular celebrities are

actively backing it.

Valeriya Perfilova is one of Russia's favourite entertainers, performing around the world

and even at the Kremlin.

"I think it's our duty to protect our children from any kind of sexual propaganda, because

their mind is so vulnerable to process information of any kind of sexual relations,

whether straight or gay. It doesn't matter -- even me I would prefer not to know who

sleeps with whom. I think the person's private life has to be left behind their doors".

As well as being an acclaimed singer, Valeriya is a devoted mother of three. Like many Russians,

she wonders why her country's being picked on when scores of other countries don't even

allow gay sex. "Nobody discriminates them because they are

everywhere, in every sphere of social life and we have a lot of friends who are gay".

"So you have nothing against anyone for being gay?"

"No, no not at all. It's... I'm against ah... they need to shout it in the media. It's quite

unnatural. Why should I know who does this or that, who prefers this or... why should

I know? I don't care. I think it's not decent at least. We were brought up like this. It's

not decent to speak about it". Masha Gessen is also a mother of three but

sees the issue very differently. She's the ultimate suspect minority - a US-educated

dissident writer who is also a Jewish lesbian."Russia is not a tolerant society.

When the West was having a sexual revolution and the gay liberation movement in the '60s,

'70s and '80s, we had the Soviet Union. We didn't have any of that. We don't have a way

of talking about these things. This is really the first time that homosexuality has been

discussed in public in Russia and this is the way it's been discussed. So it's very

easy, it's very easy to turn people who are already not particularly tolerant, not accustomed

to talking about these things, to turn them violently against a social group and that's

exactly what's happened. We've seen a huge rise in anti-gay violence".

And they've seen it all over the internet. Vigilantes have been luring gays to parks,

accusing them of being paedophiles and publicly humiliating them. Every encounter recorded

and uploaded to far-Right websites.

"All of that appeared after propaganda laws. This group of people,

Occupy Pedofilyaj it's called, they are posting videos of young gay men being tortured and

obviously they open themselves in the videos and the police is not doing anything to investigate".

Some might see this as bullies picking on a weak minority, but Vitaly Milonov says he's

fighting Satan.

As well as being a politician, he's an Orthodox Church deacon.

"It's a sin. We... as a Christian, I cannot allow... because I'm elected as a Christian,

a member of parliament... because I never hide that...I'm a Christian. I think that

a society that legalise sin cannot do it because sins are written not

by men, not by humans, it's written by God a list of the sins. That's why society that

legalise sin is going down terrifically". Even so, he insists his law isn't anti-gay,

it's just pro-children. Homosexuals can still do what they want behind closed doors but

from now on they can't tell anyone under 18 that it's normal.

"It's legal to smoke a cigarette, it's legal to smoke a cigarette, but no one is able to

make propaganda of cigarettes or spicy food among very small kids. It's

not... it will.... it can kill a kid to give him spicy food, but it's nice stuff for an

adult. We are talking about lessons in the schools

with the assistance of LGBT organisation describing that it can be not only Santa Claus, one Santa

Claus, it can be a couple of Santa Claus - you know... that they are destroying the fairy

tales of Europe, changing them from princess and a prince to two princes or two queens

living together". Gay rights for Russia!... Gay rights for Russia!

The repercussions of Milonov's law are spreading around the globe. Protests have been held

in 30 countries, like this one outside Downing Street in London.

Many are demanding a boycott of the Winter Olympics to be held in the Russian city of

Sochi in February. "We should boycott the Games

completely. Boycott them. Any civilised country should boycott them for this. If this was

about people of colour or about religion, oh there'd be a huge hue cry, but it's not.

Because it's gay men and women, oh fuck them - you know what I mean? Pardon the language

folks". Britain's government opposes a boycott, but

both sides of parliament decry the law. Chris Bryant, an openly gay Labour MP, warned it

could potentially ensnare Russia's president. "And by the way can I just say to Mr Putin

that every time he postures with his shirt off again, people might start thinking he's

promoting homosexuality".

Vladimir Putin is renowned for baring his chest, usually during manly stunts.

Even fully clothed he's Russia's ultimate man's man. He just has to plunge a net into

water to catch a king-sized trout. The national parliament, the Duma, is just as firmly in

his grip. It passed the gay propaganda law without a single dissenting vote.

"I mean I don't think he's a visceral homophobe. He's just a basic, primitive xenophobe and

this particular brand of xenophobia is convenient and politically-- feels politically

right to him at the moment". Masha Gessen was among scores of protestors

at the Duma the day the law was passed. Vigilantes attacked them as police looked on. She and

her partner are now planning to move the family to the US."We have three kids and we violate

the homosexual propaganda law every day, many times a day because every time we indicate

that we believe in social equality of traditional and non-traditional marital relations, which

is how the law puts it, we violate the law. So theoretically,

it is possible to start hauling us into the police station today, several times a day

for instances of violation".

One group the police aren't hauling in is the far-right, anti-gay gang known as Occupy

Pedofilyaj. Its members log onto gay websites posing as teenagers. If anyone responds they

cajole him to a meeting place and pounce. What follows is brutal degradation. The gang

acting as police, judge and jury. The harassment goes on until they agree they're paedophiles.

"Tell us why you were meeting him?""Just to talk. I wasn't going to sleep with him".

On the few occasions police intervene, they arrest the gang's victims.

One of the most active members is a 24 year old woman named Yekaterina Zigunova. She sees

all homosexuals as potential or actual paedophiles. "Are you homosexual?""No"."No? Speak louder!""No,

no". "Are you having sex with boys or girls?""With

girls". After contacting her on her website, she agreed

to meet us in one of the parks where they lure their victims.

In person, Yekaterina is remarkably polite and friendly.

"The objective of the movement is to look for paedophile-minded residents - to find

them and reveal their intentions and consequently to film a video that will leave them publicly

disgraced".

She and her friends carry out their entrapments every Saturday. They call them 'safaris' as

if they're hunting animals.

The clips can be sickening - one showing a man being forced to drink his urine.

"Isn't that cruel?" "Well, it seems to me paedophilia itself is

more cruel than exposing it.

For generations, the Communist Party and the Orthodox Church made little distinction between

gays and child molesters. When Stalin outlawed homosexuality in 1933 his officials began

denouncing gays as pederasts, degenerate aristocrats and traitors. Gay sex remained a serious crime

until 1993 - two years after the Soviet Union collapsed - but the old prejudices have found

new life.

"The paedophiles that come are almost all homosexual so I have to get acquainted with

them while talking to them. Otherwise, fortunately I have no such acquaintances"."Why?""Because

there is nothing for me to discuss with them... nothing to talk about".

"Do you view them as 'dirty' people?""No, from my viewpoint they are not dirty people.

We just have different interests, let us put it like that. It's like when one enjoys a

certain music style, while the other likes a different one. They have one preference,

while I have another. I'll never find a common language with them".

Yekaterina clearly enjoys her internet notoriety. In one video she talks about hunting gays

with guns. "We do a 'safari' once a week. Paedophiles

and faggots are completely nuts. They creep into the main square with a banner of tolerance.

At this meeting we decided to arm ourselves with something besides rubber truncheons.

Dmitry, do you see the target?""I have the target".She's also a strong advocate of the

gay propaganda law. "I fully support it. We should have no propaganda

of homosexuality. It is contrary to the basic institution of family. Children can't make

decisions of their own, and being kids, they often dwell on things. They shape their viewpoint

based on what they see in the street. If they see someone revealing signs of homosexuality

in the street, their perception that there is a mum, a dad and a kid is lost. That is

why I stand for this law. I fully support this law".

"Do you worry, though, that you may have given unintended encouragement to some of the groups

who are attacking gay people and videoing them?""Oh this is

an element of propaganda, Western propaganda, because believe me, the real level of physical

attacks towards gay people is a million times lower than violence among football fans or

violence among those who have different tastes in food.

It's really funny in Russia to hear all the Western voices, guys you know reporters with

the serious faces say, 'Level.... the level of crime against homosexuals is terribly high'

you know. We are looking and laughing. What are you talking about?"

But anyone can go on line to see the multiple attacks. Police have been crushing gay protests

in full view of cameras. So why is Russia risking so much damage to its

image abroad as the clock ticks down to the Sochi Olympics? Perhaps part of the

reason can be found just walking around St Petersburg. It's a museum of Russia's lost

greatness. This was the capital of a Tsarist empire that rivalled Europe. And it was the

cradle of the Soviet Revolution that made Russia a superpower. But in the 1990s, amid

Western inspired reforms, the state and economy crumbled. "Now to understand the gay propaganda

issue you have to look at the other 'p' word - paranoia.

You see it's widely accepted that the West doesn't want Russia to be a superpower again

as it was in the Cold War. But more than that there are strong suspicions here that Western

governments are actively working together to undermine Russia, to keep it weak. How

does that relate to this? Well, many in the government, the church,

even the media are convinced that gay rights groups, like all opposition groups, are just

fronts for hostile Western governments. By that theory, they're being paid to spread