Russia is not an easy place at the moment for people who are gay or transgender. Things have got a lot worse in recent years - and a night out on the town can come with the threat of physical violence. Tapir works as a bodyguard protecting events for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people - and has quite an extraordinary personal story himself. He identifies as gender queer - somewhere between male and female - though he's happy to use the masculine pronoun. He's been telling Jo Fidgen about the kind of trouble activists can face at their events.

Photo Credit: Olga Maltsev, AFP, Getty Images