ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Since shedding its reputation as a sleepy destination for tourists and retirees, the city of St. Petersburg has evolved to become a nationally lauded example of inclusiveness and tolerance. Its annual St. Pete Pride festival is recognized as the largest LGBTQ+ celebration in the southeast, and the ‘Burg has rated a perfect 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index for four years running.

Now, an individual who helped the city achieve those goals is moving on from his position at one of St. Pete’s iconic LGBTQ+-friendly institutions. Brian Longstreth, St. Pete Pride and Come Out St. Pete co-founder and owner of the Central Oak Park mini-resort Gay St. Pete House, is leaving Punky’s Bar & Grill, the Grand Central District gathering spot he helped open in 2015.

“It’s just too much to juggle everything,”  he says. “And I felt we were at that point where everything was starting to run pretty smoothly, once you cross that five-year mark with a restaurant, it got to that point where everything was pretty settled.

“I had been planning for it for several months, talking about it with my current partners. Really I wanted to get back to focusing on [Gay St. Pete House], my real estate stuff, and other stuff I’m working on in the community.”

Punky's Bar & Grill in St. Petersburg's Grand Central District. (Photo by Scott Harrell)

Longstreth’s departure was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic and ensuing shutdown, but he feels like the restaurant, which hosts drag shows and live music in addition to offering food and a full-liquor bar, is getting back to business, if not exactly business as usual. And he thinks he’s leaving the enterprise in good hands.

“Oh yeah, definitely,” he says. “My business partners have been great, we’ve all gotten along pretty well throughout the whole process and over the years, I feel really confident that [Punky’s] will be around for a while.”

This year would’ve marked St. Pete Pride’s 18th anniversary. As one of the people who “got the ball rolling,” Longstreth, 59, isn’t happy that COVID-19 necessitated the celebration’s cancellation. He isn’t going to let Pride Month go by without an event, however.

“We’re talking about doing something on Saturday, June 27, the original date of the St. Pete Pride parade,” he says. “We’re looking at doing a vigil involving our rainbow flag and partnering with some other organizations to honor George Floyd and Black Lives Matter and trying to bridge that community.”

Gay St. Pete House. (Photo by Scott Harrell)

Further down the road, Longstreth is also making plans for October’s edition of Come Out St. Pete, the annual festival he initiated in 2017, partly as a reaction to the relocation of the St. Pete Pride parade from the Grand Central District—historically the cultural epicenter of the city’s LGBTQ+ community—to the downtown waterfront.

“We probably won’t do a parade [this year] but we’re talking about doing another flag unfurling and maybe a very distanced market,” he says. “Our market was pretty well spread out as it was designed, so I don’t think it would be too hard to make that a little safer by spreading it out a little bit more and still have a good event that doesn’t have the huge crowds that people worry about.”

For Longstreth, leaving Punky’s doesn’t mean abdicating his position as a voice for equality in St. Petersburg. He’s proud of the strides the city has made, and is looking forward to continuing that journey.

“It’s amazing to me how it’s grown and what it’s become,” he says. “And I think it continues to shine a light on St. Petersburg as a destination to visit or live for the LGBT community.”