By . Reuters . and Daily Mail Reporter . The Winter Olympics city of Sochi, Russia used to be a haven for gays during the Soviet-era, but the community there has mostly fled the country following President Vladimir Putin's ban on 'gay propaganda'. Mayak Caberet is one of the last gay clubs left, and doesn't even really function as a bar for homosexuals anymore since most of the customers are straight couples who come to watch the nightly drag show. Club owner Roman Kochagov told Reuters that on any given night, only a third of his customers are gay men, far fewer than when he opened the club nine years ago. He says that it's a myth that there's still a gay community left in Sochi. VIDEO Scroll down for video . The last bar in town: Mayak Cabaret is one of the last vestiges of the gay community in Sochi, Russia . Gone: The gay community in Sochi has mostly fled the seaside resort since President Putin has cracked down on homosexuality in the country. Above, a woman walks past the anonymous exterior of the club . No one left: Most of the customers at the club these days  are straight couples who come to watch the nightly drag show . 'The number of gays has dropped for years. Ever year there have been fewer and fewer...now they have almost all disappeared,' he said, adding that he himself is looking to leave the country. Sochi's gay scene has been shrinking since Russia won the right to host the 2014 Winter Games, and the decline has continued since President Vladimir Putin signed a law this year banning the spread of 'gay propaganda' among minors. The new law has focused attention on Sochi, which will host many foreigners as well as Russians during the Olympics. Some gay activists question its legality and others have called for a boycott of the Games in protest. Many members of the city's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community have left the country. They worry Sochi's reputation as a city of tolerance will decline further. Putin's increasingly conservative social agenda in his third term as president has boosted the role of the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leader has suggested homosexuality is one of Russia's biggest threats, and given more air time to anti-homosexual rhetoric on media outlets. Outlawing homosexuality: In his third term as president, Vladimir Putin has become increasingly conservative, making the views of the Russian Orthodox Church the law of the land. Above, Putin at his annual press conference yesterday . Kochagov and his partner Andrei Tanichev opened Mayak in a darkly lit one-story building on a promenade overlooking the Black Sea. They had finished a successful run with a gay hotel and wanted to try something more ambitious. The building housing the Mayak Cabaret has only one outside light, shining over a brown steel door and doorbell. Except for the music that it pumps out after 10:00 p.m. every evening, it is barely recognizable as a club. Youths who have learned it is a gay club have ripped the sign off so many times, Kochagov said, that he has stopped putting it back up. Fights sometimes break out between his customers and clients of a working-class bar next door, but the level of violence barely compares with what high school student Vladislav Slavsky says he puts up with on a regular basis. His club: Mayak's co-owner Andrey Tanichev poses for a photograph in his venue. He and Roman Kochagov started the club after opening up a successful gay hotel . Losing customers: On any given night, Kochagov says only a third of his customers are gay men. Many straight couples turn out to watch the nightly drag show. Above, a performer gets ready back stage . Sochi's past: The resort town on the Black Sea became known as a more liberal-minded city during Soviet times. Gay men knew of it as a place to cruise for flings on the beach . At Mayak they employ singers and . dancers - all men - and Kochagov says he draws a profit every night from . crowds among the city's well-heeled who prefer to avoid the resort's . tourist bars. By Russian standards, the city has a marked liberal feel. 'People . here don't care who I sleep with. I walk down the street with my . boyfriend, people may know I'm gay, but no one pays any attention,' said . Marcel Aflin, 30, who worked in the northern oil city of Salekhard to . earn money to come and enjoy the sun and the beach of Sochi. But . Sochi is much less tolerant than many Western European cities. Many in . Sochi's gay community have left, lured abroad by the gay scenes in . cities such as Berlin or Barcelona. During . Soviet times, Sochi had gained a reputation for tolerance, especially . after it became a top tourism spot at a time when Soviet regulations . stipulated that husbands and wives must vacation away from each other . and their children. The city became the background for many summertime romances among married and unmarried people. Health . spa regulations also demanded that visitors were divided by sex and . that strangers were put up in the same room during their stay in the . region. Homosexuality, . which was a crime in the Soviet Union, was decriminalized only in 1993. By the time the Soviet Union crumbled, however, Sochi's beaches had . earned a reputation as a place for gay men to pick up partners. The future: Many in Russia are still unsure what the new gay propaganda law will mean for the LGBT community in the country - but fear it will lead to violence . What to do? Putin's gay propaganda law has become a point of issue with many countries sending athletes to Russia for the Winter Olympics. Above, a man strips onstage during a performance at Mayak . 'Many, many gay men know about it and went there,' said David Tuller, who wrote a book about gay life in Russia which was published in 1996. 'It always had a reputation as a city where you could go and cruise on the beach,' he said. Now locals say they can feel Putin's increasingly conservative political course, which has galvanized his support among more traditional parts of the country. The nationwide bill that outlaws gay 'propaganda' gives little detail on what exactly is banned and gay activists fear the possible proximity of children could be used to ban gay rights rally or even punish displays of affection. Response: Ice skater Brian Boitano came out this week ahead of his trip to Sochi as a part of the U.S. delegation. He was the third American to make such a public statement in recent days . Holding hands or kissing a same-sex partner in public, they say, might be enough to be hit with a fine equivalent to $170. Russian lawmakers say the law is a reflection of the country's social mores, and that it is needed to protect minors. Putin has condemned gay unions for failing to produce children as Russia battles a demographic crisis. But the legislation has brought calls for a boycott of the Olympics from activists such as British comedian Stephen Fry, who visited Russia this year to draw attention to the bill. Gay activists have also asked International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach to launch an investigation into the Russian law and the implications it would hold for visitors during the Olympics. Protest Sochi: Some, like British comedian Stehpeh Fry, said the games should be boycotted to protest Putin's new law. Gay rights activist Vladislav Slavsky (right) poses with his unidentified boyfriend on Sochi's Black Sea promenade . Russia's sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, said this month that the government should have waited until after the Games to implement the law banning gay propaganda. 'It would have been possible to calculate what kind of reaction this would have caused in the West, especially on the eve of the Olympics,' he said in an interview with business daily RBK. In an attempt to burnish Russia's image ahead of the Games, Putin has warned Russians against homophobia and said gay people would be welcome in Sochi during the Olympics. Many in Russia's gay community say the law sends out a signal for people to single them out for discrimination and in some cases violence.
Mayak Caberet is one of the last gay bars left in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi, Russia which will host the 2014 Winter Olympics .
Sochi was known as a haven for gays in the Soviet-era but the LGBT community there has mostly left the country .
Russia has become an increasingly hostile country towards gays in President Vladimir Putin's third term .
Putin recently passed a ban on 'gay propaganda' among minors .
Many are calling for the games to be protested, while some Olympians have publicly come out in order to take make a stance against the law .
By . Reuters . and Daily Mail Reporter . The Winter Olympics city of Sochi, Russia used to be a haven for gays during the Soviet-era, but the community there has mostly fled the country following President Vladimir Putin's ban on 'gay propaganda'. Mayak Caberet is one of the last gay clubs left, and doesn't even really function as a bar for homosexuals anymore since most of the customers are straight couples who come to watch the nightly drag show. Club owner Roman Kochagov told Reuters that on any given night, only a third of his customers are gay men, far fewer than when he opened the club nine years ago. He says that it's a myth that there's still a gay community left in Sochi. VIDEO Scroll down for video . The last bar in town: Mayak Cabaret is one of the last vestiges of the gay community in Sochi, Russia . Gone: The gay community in Sochi has mostly fled the seaside resort since President Putin has cracked down on homosexuality in the country. Above, a woman walks past the anonymous exterior of the club . No one left: Most of the customers at the club these days  are straight couples who come to watch the nightly drag show . 'The number of gays has dropped for years. Ever year there have been fewer and fewer...now they have almost all disappeared,' he said, adding that he himself is looking to leave the country. Sochi's gay scene has been shrinking since Russia won the right to host the 2014 Winter Games, and the decline has continued since President Vladimir Putin signed a law this year banning the spread of 'gay propaganda' among minors. The new law has focused attention on Sochi, which will host many foreigners as well as Russians during the Olympics. Some gay activists question its legality and others have called for a boycott of the Games in protest. Many members of the city's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community have left the country. They worry Sochi's reputation as a city of tolerance will decline further. Putin's increasingly conservative social agenda in his third term as president has boosted the role of the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leader has suggested homosexuality is one of Russia's biggest threats, and given more air time to anti-homosexual rhetoric on media outlets. Outlawing homosexuality: In his third term as president, Vladimir Putin has become increasingly conservative, making the views of the Russian Orthodox Church the law of the land. Above, Putin at his annual press conference yesterday . Kochagov and his partner Andrei Tanichev opened Mayak in a darkly lit one-story building on a promenade overlooking the Black Sea. They had finished a successful run with a gay hotel and wanted to try something more ambitious. The building housing the Mayak Cabaret has only one outside light, shining over a brown steel door and doorbell. Except for the music that it pumps out after 10:00 p.m. every evening, it is barely recognizable as a club. Youths who have learned it is a gay club have ripped the sign off so many times, Kochagov said, that he has stopped putting it back up. Fights sometimes break out between his customers and clients of a working-class bar next door, but the level of violence barely compares with what high school student Vladislav Slavsky says he puts up with on a regular basis. His club: Mayak's co-owner Andrey Tanichev poses for a photograph in his venue. He and Roman Kochagov started the club after opening up a successful gay hotel . Losing customers: On any given night, Kochagov says only a third of his customers are gay men. Many straight couples turn out to watch the nightly drag show. Above, a performer gets ready back stage . Sochi's past: The resort town on the Black Sea became known as a more liberal-minded city during Soviet times. Gay men knew of it as a place to cruise for flings on the beach . At Mayak they employ singers and . dancers - all men - and Kochagov says he draws a profit every night from . crowds among the city's well-heeled who prefer to avoid the resort's . tourist bars. By Russian standards, the city has a marked liberal feel. 'People . here don't care who I sleep with. I walk down the street with my . boyfriend, people may know I'm gay, but no one pays any attention,' said . Marcel Aflin, 30, who worked in the northern oil city of Salekhard to . earn money to come and enjoy the sun and the beach of Sochi. But . Sochi is much less tolerant than many Western European cities. Many in . Sochi's gay community have left, lured abroad by the gay scenes in . cities such as Berlin or Barcelona. During . Soviet times, Sochi had gained a reputation for tolerance, especially . after it became a top tourism spot at a time when Soviet regulations . stipulated that husbands and wives must vacation away from each other . and their children. The city became the background for many summertime romances among married and unmarried people. Health . spa regulations also demanded that visitors were divided by sex and . that strangers were put up in the same room during their stay in the . region. Homosexuality, . which was a crime in the Soviet Union, was decriminalized only in 1993. By the time the Soviet Union crumbled, however, Sochi's beaches had . earned a reputation as a place for gay men to pick up partners. The future: Many in Russia are still unsure what the new gay propaganda law will mean for the LGBT community in the country - but fear it will lead to violence . What to do? Putin's gay propaganda law has become a point of issue with many countries sending athletes to Russia for the Winter Olympics. Above, a man strips onstage during a performance at Mayak . 'Many, many gay men know about it and went there,' said David Tuller, who wrote a book about gay life in Russia which was published in 1996. 'It always had a reputation as a city where you could go and cruise on the beach,' he said. Now locals say they can feel Putin's increasingly conservative political course, which has galvanized his support among more traditional parts of the country. The nationwide bill that outlaws gay 'propaganda' gives little detail on what exactly is banned and gay activists fear the possible proximity of children could be used to ban gay rights rally or even punish displays of affection. Response: Ice skater Brian Boitano came out this week ahead of his trip to Sochi as a part of the U.S. delegation. He was the third American to make such a public statement in recent days . Holding hands or kissing a same-sex partner in public, they say, might be enough to be hit with a fine equivalent to $170. Russian lawmakers say the law is a reflection of the country's social mores, and that it is needed to protect minors. Putin has condemned gay unions for failing to produce children as Russia battles a demographic crisis. But the legislation has brought calls for a boycott of the Olympics from activists such as British comedian Stephen Fry, who visited Russia this year to draw attention to the bill. Gay activists have also asked International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach to launch an investigation into the Russian law and the implications it would hold for visitors during the Olympics. Protest Sochi: Some, like British comedian Stehpeh Fry, said the games should be boycotted to protest Putin's new law. Gay rights activist Vladislav Slavsky (right) poses with his unidentified boyfriend on Sochi's Black Sea promenade . Russia's sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, said this month that the government should have waited until after the Games to implement the law banning gay propaganda. 'It would have been possible to calculate what kind of reaction this would have caused in the West, especially on the eve of the Olympics,' he said in an interview with business daily RBK. In an attempt to burnish Russia's image ahead of the Games, Putin has warned Russians against homophobia and said gay people would be welcome in Sochi during the Olympics. Many in Russia's gay community say the law sends out a signal for people to single them out for discrimination and in some cases violence.
Winter Olympics city of Sochi, Russia used to be a haven for gays during the Soviet-era, but the community there has mostly fled the country following President Vladimir Putin's ban on 'gay propaganda'. Mayak Caberet is one of the last gay since Russia won the right to host the 2014 banning the spread of 'gay propaganda' among transgender (LGBT) community have left the president, Vladimir Putin has become increasingly The resort town on the Black Sea became known as will mean for the LGBT community in the country -