We all pinned great hopes on foreign countries. Firstly, not a single East European socialist country had an article in their criminal codes penalizing for homosexuality. Secondly, it seemed to us that there were “a lot” and that “it is common”. It was difficult to go on a package tour or by invitation even to the countries of the Soviet bloc. Often it was not possible to choose a country for a tourist trip. And so it happened that the first country I went to was Czechoslovakia. It was August 1972. I bought a package tour for 12 days - Prague and other smaller cities, incl. Karlovy Vary. With me in the group was also my friend, Alik B., of the same orientation, but ten years older than me.
The very crossing of the USSR border was an exciting event. A strange feeling gripped almost everyone in the first moments when the train was no longer on the territory of the USSR. I kept repeating to myself: “I am not in the USSR, I am outside of it, I am abroad, here, right here, there is no more USSR!” The train crossed the border already after midnight, in the dark, and then many tourists clung to the windows, stood for a long time in order to see the abroad, something different from what we have become accustomed to in our entire life in the Soviet Union.
- Look, look, what houses! Look, the cars are not like ours! - was heard in the carriage.
In the morning we arrived in Prague. It struck the Soviet tourist primarily with crowded shops, an abundance of clothes and shoes. Everyone had the same problem: how to spend the exchanged rubles so as not to miscalculate and not make a mistake.
On the very first day of my arrival there was a scandal because of me. After we settled in a hotel our guides suddenly announced that everyone must go to the Lenin Museum and some cemetery of communist leaders without fail. I said: "I will not go!" I had to urgently run to the city center and look for a "special cafe for homosexuals", which I had already heard about. - I'm not going with the group! I insisted. The whole bus was waiting for me for a long time, but in the end they left without me.
I alone walked from the hotel to the city center, to Wenceslas Square (before going on this tour, I even learned Czech and could speak it well). There was an underground passage on Wenceslas Square, and there were toilets in it. I immediately rushed into the toilet. I saw that one person was leaning towards me. He looked completely unattractive to me, but I decided to get all the information from him - where is the cafe where they gather, and so on. He immediately took me upstairs and led me to this cafe, it was called "Europe". Moreover, he told me that “our people” were gathering on the second floor, so it was necessary to go up there right away.
It was very strange to be in a gay bar! All the men or young people were sitting there. I thought that the waiters, probably, were also like that. And everyone around knows it, and nobody bothers!
I ordered myself a beer. Met some faggots, apparently regulars. They told me that there was also a gay night club "TT", but I did not dare to go there. On another day, I brought my older friend Alik there, and he was completely stunned, petrified... “And everyone who sits here just like that?”, he asked. It seemed to him that cars with policemen and KGB officers must immediately drive up, arrest everyone and send them to prison.
Sexually, Czechoslovakia disappointed me greatly, although for a while I tried to convince myself that I really liked everything, and I enthusiastically told everyone about my trip. There were no active men in the places of gatherings of faggots, they were only "girls", and even more passive in their essence than the Russian ones. True, the Czech "girls" looked better than the Russian ones, they were dressed fashionably, often mimicking men. Apparently, the European “system” has taken root there, when “the less passive fucks the more passive”. Such people in Russia were called "lesbians" and "shifters". All this, among other things, was combined with the Czech language, which sounds childish to the Russian ear (with many diminutive suffixes), which further reduced the feeling of being masculine. I met someone in Prague, went to spend the night, it turned out that I had to fuck and fuck, and at the same time he also fell in love with me. I could not understand why I was chosen for this role.
I'm in Prague on Wenceslas Square
A similar thing happened in Karlovy Vary, where there was a cruising area. Again I met someone, then we rubbed against each other, it was not clear what we were doing and we thought that we had "great love".
The only good thing about these Czech acquaintances was that later these people came to the USSR, brought good clothes, deodorants, after-shaves, and sold all this to us at a reasonable price.
I forgot to mention that before the trip to Czechoslovakia, when it was not yet known whether I would be allowed to go there or not, a KGB officer came to my house. “Well, you understand that the decision about your trip is made by us ... So ... We are interested in what people are talking about in the tour group, what kind of conversations are being held there ...”
But more about the KGB - later.
