As some regulars here may know, I spent a good chunk of my life in St. Petersburg, the Florida version.

Recently, to help launch the inaugural Side by Side LGBT International Film Festival, my brother Bill hopped over to St. Petersburg, Russia.

The Festival didn’t properly come off, thanks to an actively hostile socio-political environment that kept organizers shifting from one improvised spot to another. The extent to which the local government strove to drive the event underground was practically comical, and perhaps best related thusly:

Opting instead for a nightcap at a cafe, Alex was momentarily taken aback to see a member of the Russian special police forces, OMON, hanging out near the front. Recognizing the Cyrillic spelling “OMOH” on his uniform in the mirror, I noted that police here were literally anti-HOMO. Russia: What a country!

Better luck next year, I guess.

So, between the two of us, my brother and I have got the globe’s St. Petes covered. And we’ve both lived to tell about it (mostly).