With the former, he was involved with the anti-Putin political movement Solidarnost, while with the latter, he cofounded Moscow Pride alongside fellow Russian gay activist Nikolay Alexeyev.
[1][2] Prior to his involvement in that movement, Davydov had been active in pro-democracy protests with Solidarnost,[3] a political group that expressed opposition to Vladimir Putin.
[5] In June of that same year, Davydov was one of roughly two dozen individuals involved in a planned gay rights protest outside of the offices of the European Union in Moscow.
[6][8] On 1 June of the following year, Davydov was attacked by members of the National Slavonic Union while speaking to reporters at a Moscow Pride event.
[9] In 2011, Davydov participated in a small protest conducted by Solidarnost to defend the right to freedom of assembly, during which time he was arrested.
[2] For instance, in a later trip to Voronezh to protest for gay rights, Davydov suffered from a bout of food poisoning that led him to experience his first coma.
"[3] Following the protest, he became the first individual to be charged with violating the newly implemented Russian anti-LGBT law,[11] which banned the spreading of "propaganda about non-traditional sexual orientations among minors".
[3] At that time, he was living in an apartment with two friends, including a fellow gay activist,[13] in the Novogireyevo District of Moscow.
[14] However, according to BuzzFeed News, Davydov had no immediate family and friends were unable to gain access to his medical records, which hurt their chances of pursuing any sort of legal actions over his death.
[4] Ioffe of The New Republic reported that his death left a "glaring hole" in the LGBTQ movement in Russia, with activist Masha Gessen saying, "He was the creative force behind LGBTA direct action, and this is what makes one realize just how few people there are.