St. Pete Pride: Finding an Unexpected Home in Florida

I am the last person anyone expected to find living in Florida.

I grew up in Connecticut. Then came Boston, Martha's Vineyard, and Washington, D.C. I have traveled the world. Florida was never part of the plan.

Then my friends Mike and Donovan moved to St. Pete. Mike and I have been friends since our first month of high school, and both of us are now married to men.

Shortly after, Richard and Bryan arrived. Same high school. Same story.

Suddenly, three childhood friends, all with husbands, found ourselves living in downtown St. Petersburg.

Nobody coordinated this. It just happened.

Now, Richard and I can wave to each other from our balconies.

When my husband Michael and I moved into our 39th-floor condo at Art House, the story deepened. Four of the eight neighboring residences on our floor are occupied by gay couples. They also have homes in places like Provincetown, Palm Springs, San Francisco, the Hudson Valley, and Mexico City.

For the first time, we aren't "the gay couple" on the floor.

St. Petersburg isn't just a destination. It's a remarkable, welcoming, vibrant purple dot in Florida.

This weekend, the city hosts St. Pete Pride. But what the city becomes during Pride weekend is really just a louder version of what it is every other day of the year.

That sense of belonging is a large part of why St. Pete became home.

In this photo: Mike, Jon, and Richard, taken from Richard's balcony at 400 Central.

Jon Kelly
The Tenpenny Collection | St. Petersburg, FL
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