Hi Lookin,
Thank you for your kind words. It's true, at demonstrations / gay parades etc. things get violent fast and easy.
Imho, that is just one part. In normal daily life there generally it's not a big issue. If it was, the - openly - gay venues would have been closed down years and years ago and there would be much violence around them; witch is not the case.
Something else thats good to mention, Saint Petersburg is much more liberal then Moscow. Thats because of the fact it has a much more West European orientation; it's just a 2h 25m drive on the E18 to Finland.
I be most happy to give some tips and advice for those who plan to go to Saint Petersburg / Moscow.
Just for the record, I'm not Russian I am a Dutchmann.