The findings came in a report by an 18-member panel of independent experts who urged the Kremlin to implement a number of legal reforms. They include narrowing the broad definitions of terrorism and extremism under Russian law, decriminalizing defamation cases against journalists and granting appeal rights to people forced into psychiatric hospitals by the courts.

The expert panel said it also was concerned about violence against lesbian, gay and bisexual persons, including reports of police harassment. It said it received reports of people being assaulted or even killed because they were gay or lesbian. The panel said it was concerned at the “systematic discrimination against individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation” in Russia.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in the 1990s, but many Russians are vehemently opposed to expansion of gay rights or gay-rights demonstrations. Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov is an outspoken foe of gay rights and always has blocked attempts to hold gay pride marches in the capital, calling one a satanic gathering.

The U.N. panel – which this week assessed the compliance of Russia and four other countries with the U.N.’s 1966 international treaty on civil and political rights – receives its information from various U.N. agencies, non-governmental organizations and cases at the European Court of Human Rights.

Irina Fedotova-Fet, 30, and Irina Shipitko, 32, attempted to marry in Russia in May but were turned away.

Early this month the Associated Press reported their attempt to marry in Moscow.

“We want recognition of our relationship by society and the state. We are a family already, we live together and share household chores,” Shipitko said. “We also would like to have children. That is why we want legal recognition of our union.”

The two women said they had plans to fly to Canada later this month to wed and return to Russia, forcing the country to recognize their marriage.

Today, they will have a city hall wedding in Toronto.

They will use other laws of Russia to validate their union, according to United Press International.

The couple will hold a press conference today with their lawyer and Russian gay rights activist Nikolai Alekseev.

Although homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in the 1990s, many Russians are still opposed to gay rights.

Clinton attended a ceremony unveiling a statue of Walt Whitman at Moscow State University with Russian officials including Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. Luzhkov has blocked all attempts to hold gay pride marches in Moscow, once saying they “can be described in no other way than as satanic.”

Clinton did not mention of the issue during the ceremony. Some biographers have described Whitman as homosexual and U.S. gay activists have claimed him as symbol of their movement.

“Just as Pushkin and Whitman reset poetry we are resetting our relations for the 21st century,” Clinton said. A statue of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin was erected at George Washington University, in Washington, D.C., in 2000.

It was not clear whether Luzhkov was aware of Whitman’s status as a gay icon, and sponsors of the statue said they were honoring Whitman strictly for his contributions to literature.

“Whitman transcended his sexuality in his art and I would like to thank Mayor Luzhkov for welcoming him in his city and have absolutely nothing to say about those things,” said James W. Symington, a former four-time congressman for Missouri and representative of the American-Russian Cultural Cooperation Foundation.

Gay activist Nikolai Alexeyev said Wednesday he was disappointed Clinton did not discuss discrimination against gays.

“Russia is supposed to be a democracy and she said nothing,” he said.

Alexeyev had called on Clinton to denounce what he called entrenched and degrading homophobic attitudes in Russia at a news conference Tuesday.

A U.S. State Department spokesman said the department was unaware of any request from the Russian gay community.

Homosexuality was only decriminalized in Russia in 1993 and homophobic attitudes remain widespread.

Activists have taken the struggle to hold a gay pride parade in Moscow to the European Court of Justice, which is scheduled to rule on the issue in early 2010.

The statue of Walt Whitman was placed in the gardens of Moscow State University, where in May more than 30 gay activists were arrested for attempting to hold a pride march.

The statue of Walt Whitman will complement a statue of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin installed in Washington in 2000.

Whitman sculptor Alexander Bourganov remarked at a press conference Tuesday that the opening had been delayed and been politically difficult. He did not elaborate.

The city has ordered the club shut down by Nov. 15 for reasons of immorality.

Nikolai Alexeyev, the leader of Russia’s gay rights movement, describes the decision as a crude attempt at populism and a violation of human rights.

Alexeyev was joined at Tuesday’s news conference by several Russian musicians, which he said was a historic breakthrough in the struggle for gay rights in Russia.

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov has blocked attempts to hold a gay pride march in Moscow and has labeled gays “weapons of mass destruction.”

Alexeyev called on visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to denounce endemic homophobia in Russia.

Irina Fedotova-Fet and Irina Shipitko said the Tverskoi District Court upheld a decision by the city’s civil registry that said Russian law defined marriage as between a woman and a man.

“We want recognition of our relationship by society and the state. We are a family already, we live together and share household chores,” Shipitko said. “We also would like to have children. That is why we want legal recognition of our union.”

Nikolai Alexeyev, a longtime Russian gay rights activist who is serving as the women’s lawyer, told reporters that they plan to fight the ruling.

“We understand quite well that it is a long road that must be taken before such unions will be recognized. But I have no doubt this recognition will come,” he said.

The two women said they planned to fly to Canada later this month to marry and then return to Russia, in a bid to force authorities to recognize the marriage.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in the 1990s, but many Russians are vehemently opposed to expansion of gay rights or gay-rights demonstrations.

Homosexuality has been decriminalized in Russia but there is little support for gay rights.

The court postponed hearing a complaint from the gay couple over a refusal to let them marry. Judge Natalya Zhuravlyova said the reason for the postponement was the couple’s “disrespectful” failure to appear in court.

The couple, Irina Fedotova-Fet and Irina Shipitko, arrived 10 minutes after the hearing ended and kissed for the cameras. They said they had been held up in traffic.

The authorities “are using any excuse” to obstruct their quest for matrimonial recognition, Shipitko said.

“There is enough homophobia in this country. We are no different from any other couple,” she said.

Earlier in the courtroom, lawyer Nikolai Alexeyev protested the postponement, telling the judge “the way you conduct a hearing is a disgrace.”

Alexeyev protested the new date, Sept. 9, saying he couldn’t make it. The judge ignored Alexeyev, asking him instead to sign a court document setting the new date.

“I won’t be signing that. It’s a disgrace, your court session. A big disgrace,” Alexeyev said.

Alexeyev – also Russia’s most prominent gay rights activist and an organizer of gay pride parades – later told The Associated Press that the judge’s attitude reflected the official stance toward gays in Russia – “intolerant.”

Gay rights demonstrations are not permitted by Moscow, whose mayor has called homosexuality “satanic.” Foreign politicians and pop stars as well as dozens of Russians have been roughed up by police and attacked for participating in the protests.

The last gay parade was in May and coincided with the final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. That ended with dozens of arrests.

Fedotova-Fet and Shipitko, meanwhile, applied in May to get married at a Moscow registry office but were eventually refused on the grounds that same-sex marriage is illegal in Russia. They argue that Russian law does not forbid such a union. A court ruled the refusal was legal and their complaint was to be heard Wednesday.

Shipitko and Fedotova-Fet will fly in October to Toronto, Canada, where they plan to marry. They have said they would subsequently urge Russian authorities to recognize the marriage.

Same-sex marriages are legal in Canada.

“We’re a couple of girls who have been together for a long time, who live together. We’ve been together five years,” said Fedotova-Fet. “We’re a family — our relationship is in every way a marriage, just like all those heterosexual couples. We have a joint household, a life together, vacations, everything. We’re a family, but the right to marry has been taken away from us.”

Russia has a family code – established in the early 1990s – that does not grant civil unions or any equivalent to gay couples but does not explicitly prohibit foreign marriages of same-sex couples. The couple is trying to see if they can use this loophole to their advantage.

“Somebody has to start it sometime. We are the first real couple to fight for same-sex marriage to be recognized,” Fedotova-Fet said. “We hope that we can set a precedent, and that more and more people will follow our example.”

Russia decriminalized homosexuality only in 1993 and its gay pride parades are usually met with large opposition. Anticipating that their marriage will not be recognized, Fedotova-Fet and Shepitko have hired a lawyer from France to bring their case to the European Court of Human Rights

“If a person wants a career, to be more or less successful, he’ll hide that he’s gay,”Fetova-Fet said. “I have lots of gay friends who are fairly successful and pretend they’re straight and even get married. If you’re gay, you’re marginal.”

Read the full Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty story here.

The continent’s gaudiest, loudest and most popular music competition isn’t just a battle of the bands. It’s a 24 million euro ($32.5 million) showcase for the 42 participating nations, which typically attracts 100 million viewers from around the world.

As last year’s winner, Russia is hosting the annual competition for the first time. The contest hasn’t only fired up pop music fans and spawned a host of parties, it has raised issues such as racial tolerance and gay rights only occasionally debated in Russian society.

“You can’t deny that the politics has been very upfront this year,” said BBC broadcaster Paddy O’Connell, who is doing commentary on the competition this year.

Some contestants have tried to use the competition as a venue for settling international scores. Two months ago, the pop group Stephane and 3G from Georgia vowed to perform “We Don’t Wanna Put In,” a thinly veiled jab at Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

They pulled out when organizers warned that politically charged songs would not be permitted. Russia and Georgia fought a war last year.

But Eurovision has also appealed to the gentler impulses of many competing nations, resulting in some odd alliances between traditional foes.

Israel has made an appeal for peace and harmony with “There Must Be Another Way,” sung in Arabic, Hebrew and English by Arab-Jewish duo Noa and Mira.

Russia’s “Mamo,” composed by a Georgian songwriter and partially performed in Ukrainian, is a multicultural cocktail apparently designed to reunite Russia with its former Soviet brethren.

The message of cultural diversity was tarnished when the singer, Anastasia Prikhodko, said on a popular Russian reality TV show that she did “not like black and Chinese people.”

Some fans also complain that solidarity can get out of hand. Former Soviet Eastern bloc nations tend to support one another, helping the region win five of the last eight contests.

The competition is decided by a panel of judges and telephone voting by participating countries. Fans cannot vote for their own nation’s entry, leading to suspicions of regional cabals.

The United Kingdom, an erstwhile Eurovision titan with five victories under its belt, has foundered in recent years and in 2008 placed last.

But the British may have better chances this year, despite the U.K.’s chilly relations with Moscow. Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who penned Britain’s entry, has won the support of an unlikely ally: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

“Putin himself has been pacing the hall here and he told us who he was going to vote for,” O’Connell said. “As a result, a lot of the leading Russians here, including some of the hosts, have said they are going to vote for Britain.”

Not all the drama is expected inside the performance hall. Hours before the finale, gay rights activists plan to hold a parade in defiance of authorities. Nationalist and religious foes of gay rights have planned rallies of their own.

Irina Fedotova and Irina Shipitko were handed a written rejection from an official in a registry office in central Moscow on Monday.

The office director, Svetlana Potamoshneva, said Russian law recognizes a marriage “only” between a man and a woman. Despite the rejection, the couple said they would not give up.

“We won’t stop in midstream,” Fedotova told journalists later, adding that she and her partner plan to get married in Canada. She said Russia recognizes marriages registered abroad, thus allowing the couple to formalize their relationship.

Despite the rejection, the couple – wearing suits and bow-ties and holding flowers – held hands and kissed, and said they would continue to fight for recognition of gay rights in Russia.

“This is delayed justice,” said Nikolai Alexeyev, Russia’s gay rights movement leader.

Russia decriminalized homosexuality in 1993, but opposition to gay rights remains widespread. Russian spiritual leaders have claimed that homosexuality threatens the country’s traditional values.

The marriage attempt precedes a gay pride parade Saturday, scheduled to coincide with the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest. Gay rights activists hope that the European media gathered for the event will help them draw attention to their cause.

Moscow authorities have banned the gay pride parade, and anti-gay rights religious and nationalist groups have threatened to stage street demonstrations.

“The gay parade is … an act of spiritual terrorism,” Mikhail Nalimov, chairman of the Union of Orthodox Christian Youth.

His deputy, Dmitry Terekhov, said the parade was in part aimed at converting people to homosexuality.

In 2006, gay activists who tried to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier just outside the Kremlin wall were arrested by riot police and harangued by religious and ultranationalist group members.

Last year, at least one gay rights activist was assaulted during a small protest in Moscow while uniformed police officers stood by and watched.

The legislation would have mandated a sentence of from two to five years. It needed 226 votes to proceed – only 90 deputies voted for it.

The move comes a week before an expected showdown between Moscow gays and city authorities over a gay pride march on May 16.

Last week, officials said that any attempt to hold a parade would be “firmly dealt with.”

“Such events will be firmly stopped by the authorities,” Moscow city spokesperson Leonid Krutakov said.

May 16th coincides with the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest, which is being hosted by the city and will be broadcast throughout Europe. Pride organizers have called for finalists to express support for pride during the telecast.

Laws against homosexuality were repealed at the end of the Communist era, but Moscow city officials have refused to allow gays to hold a pride march for years.

Moscow Pride has seven cases already pending before the European Court of Human Rights.

The latest was filed against President Dmitry Medvedev.