TO RUSSIA WITH LOVE?
The big, unsmiling customs official flicks through my passport with a well-licked finger. I hold my breath as I step through the X-ray machine, praying it won’t betray me. With a nod, he hands me back my passport and says the words I still can’t believe I’m hearing: “Welcome to Russia.”
As I head off into St Petersburg I can’t help but feel elated that I, an openly gay woman, am here, in the country with perhaps the most well-documented anti-LGBTQI laws in the world. But why am I here, how am I here and what can I do to keep myself safe?
The “why” is quite
