I first met Nicolai Alexeyev in 2000 at the British Library
exhibition on my grandfather Oscar Wilde I had been co-curating.
In the intervening years we have become close friends. Nicolai
is a young, very sharp, Russian lawyer - and he's gay. On
Saturday 27 May, in the early afternoon, he was arrested for
trying to put a bunch of flowers on the tomb of the unknown
soldier in the Alexandrovski Garden of Moscow's Kremlin. Nicolai
has actively been challenging the homophobic behaviour of
Russian institutions and the media for the last four years,
relying on Russian anti-discrimination laws to back him. More
than a year ago he floated the idea of a first Gay Pride march
in Moscow. Some gay groups were apprehensive, saying that it was
too early, especially as the growing neo-fascist movement in
Russia had threatened violent opposition to gays in public.
Undeterred, Nicolai pressed on, asking me if I would take part
and also if he could publish two books on Wilde in Russian
translation  The Trial of Oscar Wilde an