Pavel Petel was once an open, flamboyant bisexual man from Ukraine who built up a career as a model, performance artist and DJ in Russia. Photographs of him semi-naked while riding a horse and brandishing a gun are a feast for web surfers.
But after he and his partner Sergey Ostrikov were attacked outside Moscow, and especially since a bill banning gay "propaganda" was passed in June, Petel has feared for his safety. He is losing business -- and blames that on the law and an increasingly less tolerant climate towards homosexuality.