Article: In Age of Glasnost, Homosexuality Still Taboo in Soviet Union

Vitya and Pyotr consider themselves married.

Back when they were in their early twenties, both men frequented the Sadko Cafe off Gorki Street and the bus stops near the Bolshoi Theater, looking for one-night stands. But for the past six years they have settled down-sharing a two-room apartment on the fringe of Moscow, pooling their rubles and trying to live a reasonably normal life in a country where homosexuality can still bring consenting adults up to five years in a labor camp.

"We're the lucky few," Vitya said recently at the apartment. "For the most part, there is no `gay life' in the Soviet Union. Mostly there is just sadness and living a lie."

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