Eurivison Song Festival Dutch Eurovision team The Toppers, Moscow

The Eurovision Song Festival finals also are being held on Saturday -- , the same day of the planned gay-rights protests by members of the Russian gay community, and counter-demonstrations by right-wing and orthodox religious groups. The Moscow police is expected to crack down hard, as all the demonstrations are illegal, they have already announced. . "If any violence is used at the gay-rights demonstration by the police, I will fly back to The Netherlands at once,' the Dutch singer announced. The talented songwriter and singer is a member of The Toppers singing trio and is openly gay. In the past Russian police have handled pro-gay demonstrators 'rather roughly', he told the Dutch news media. This can indeed be confirmed by YouTube videos and news reports: see previous gay parades in Moscow, which indeed were cracked down on very hard, with some Russian officials describing the participants as 'satanic'. Videos here here and here However, the other two members of the singing trio "The Toppers", sent to Moscow by Dutch fans during the Dutch National Songfestival last month, said they 'would wait to decide until the day of the finals,' however. "Toppers" Jeroen van der Boom and René Froger told the Dutch news media that they'd wait and see what that day would bring. Punters in any case give very low marks to the Dutch entry - and the chances are that the "Toppers" won't be even reach the finals. View their practice video above.

Nikolai Alexeyev At past gay-rights demonstrations in Moscow, police have cracked down hard on activists such as Nikolai Alexeyev, pictured here during an arrest.

The flashy Dutch trio - individually, each also is a popular singer in The Netherlands in his own right -- will sing the song 'Shine' at the Eurovision Song Festival's semi-finals on Saturday. Gordon, Rene Froger and Jeroen van der Boom -- The Toppers -- had initially picked six songs out of more than 300 entries sent in by Dutch songwriters to perform at the Dutch National Songfestival 2009. The trio then was selected during internal voting to represent the Netherlands at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. "It is amazing to have this opportunity," Rene Froger said, while Gordon was extremely happy with the fact that he had finally made it to Moscow - unlike his two previous attempts to beat the Dutch national selection. The jury picked Angels Of The Night as their winning song, televoters overwhelmingly backed Shine, sending thát song to Moscow. see

Song Festival NL Dutch singer Gordon Heuckeroth, participating in the Dutch trio The Toppers at the European song festival in Moscow, is openly gay. He threatens to boycot the finals if the Moscow police crack down on the gay-rights demo planned for May 16.

Lesbian couple denied marriage in Moscow Only a day later, a lesbian Russian couple, Irina Fedotova and Irina Sjipitko, were denied official permission to get married - and have now decided to travel to Canada to wed. An offical of Moscow's marriages' registry department sent the women packing when they arrived in their best wedding outfits to try and register. The two women posed with bouquets of white roses before entering the Tverskoi branch of the State Registry Office on 3rd Tverskaya-Yamskaya Ulitsa with prominent gay rights activist Nikolai Alexeyev and a throng of foreign journalists. The chief registrar, Svetlana Potamoshneva, initially refused to consider the women's request, citing the Family Code, which states that marriage requires the consent of a man and a woman. She also noted that the official form only has sections for "he" and "she." Alexeyev then persuaded her to consider a request written on a plain piece of paper. All the participants stressed that they expected a refusal of the request. Reporters packed into the registrar's tiny office Tuesday. One climbed up on a desk, which unexpectedly collapsed, scattering pens and dried flowers. An hour later, Potamoshneva issued an official rejection of their request, citing the Family Code. "You are now seeing a concrete example of discrimination against sexual minorities in Russia," Alexeyev said after reading the rejection letter aloud. "It's exactly what I expected." Shepitko, 32, and Fedotova-Fet, 30, plan to travel to Toronto, Canada, in the summer to register their marriage there. Aleksejev says it wasn't just their marriage, but also justice which was being postponed. Officially, homosexuality was 'decriminalised' in Russia in 1993 - however the hatred and resistance against gays continues, especially among religious and nationalist circles. The lesbian couple had planned to wed before Saturday's gay-pride parade in Moscow, which has been prohibited by the authorities. Gay Pride parade and counter-demonstrations - shambles expected in Moscow The official reason given is that it would conflict with the Eurovision Song Festival finals. Counter-demonstrations have already been announced by religious and nationalistic groups, so the Eurovision Song Festival in Moscow may well be overshadowed by the possible clashes - since Gay Pride insists on continuing with their plans too.Michail Nalimov, chairman of Moscow's Union of Orthodox-Christian Youths, said 'the gay pride parade is an act of psychological terrorism,' and they will definitely hold a counter-demonstration. see