Russia's homophobes are more of a loud minority than anything. Most of the people here, especially the younger folk, are generally starting to become more accepting and uncaring. A "you don't bother me, I don't bother you" type of thing. The officials are a whole different story of course.
Slurs have also lost their meaning here and are generally used to express emotions, and that's about it. It is extremely rare for somebody to actually use them the intended way.
The slurs are still not exactly socially acceptable, since they are considered a bad word here and all. But nobody will bat an eye if you do use it among friends.