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Bodyguard for Moscow's Gay Scene

True life stories

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 us about the kind of trouble activists can face at their events.

We take a ride in a very unusual auto-rickshaw in Bangalore. The motorised three-wheeled taxi is bright yellow and green, it's driven by Abdul Khader, and it's a kind of moving encyclopaedia... Our reporter, Mary-Rose Abraham, hitched a lift.

This is a story about an extraordinary woman and her love for her boat. Their relationship started in 1989, when British sailor Tracy Edwards was making a bid to be the first skipper of an all-female crew to complete the punishing Whitbread Round the World Race. And she was looking for a yacht to make the journey in...

Photo Credit: Olga Maltsev, AFP, Getty Images

Available now

50 minutes

Last on

Wed 16 Nov 201607:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Tue 15 Nov 201612:06GMT
  • Tue 15 Nov 201617:06GMT
  • Wed 16 Nov 201602:06GMT
  • Wed 16 Nov 201604:06GMT
  • Wed 16 Nov 201605:06GMT
  • Wed 16 Nov 201606:06GMT
  • Wed 16 Nov 201607:06GMT

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Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected