Elton John performed a free concert in the name of Aids awareness over the weekend in Kiev, but the event has divided Ukrainians.
The Saturday evening performance took place at the capital's Independence Square, where Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko joined some 200,000 people for the charity/awareness event.The Aids epidemic is a growing concern in Ukraine, which has one of the fastest-growing epidemics in Europe. Elton John's Aids foundation helped raise $2.6 million in the battle against the disease, which has reportedly infected half a million Ukrainians. Official figures put the number of reported cases at around 77,000.
But the concert wasn't embraced by everyone, with religious groups deriding it as blasphemous.
Svyatoslav Domalevsky from The Union of Orthodox Citizens of Ukraine told the BBC, "We believe that gay people are responsible for spreading Aids. Elton John is gay and we don't want him promoting that kind of lifestyle here."
Despite being decriminalised in the Ukraine after it achieved independence in 1991, homosexuality remains a taboo subject.
"We live with stigma, discrimination and homophobia. We constantly fear that we may be attacked just for being gay," HIV-positive gay rights activist Petro Polyantsev told the BBC.
Elton's next benefit gig will be the Diana Tribute concert in London on July 1.
