Gay and lesbian people often have special interests and special needs when travelling. This page lists three things: events and activities of special interest to, or targeted towards, queer travellers; destinations where open homosexuality is acceptable; and destinations where it might be dangerous to travel, or at least to publicly display affection for a same-sex partner.


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Major Queer events and activities:

- The Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras held annually (February/March) in Sydney.
- The GLBT Pride Parade in São Paulo in early June is considered the world's largest gay event. The 2005 parade gathered 2,5 million people.
- The San Francisco Celebration and Parade held annually (June) in San Francisco.
- The White Party held annually (November) in Miami.

GLBT laws



Throughout most of the world GLBT visitors are welcome, but there are some African and Middle Eastern countries where it wouldn't be the best idea to express who you are completely. Dark red countries are where people found to be GLBT are executed. Watch your back when you are traveling in a non-green country, but even in the United States there are also gay-bashings, but they are not too often.

Queer friendly destinations

If you're not seeking out specifically queer events and activities, but want a hassle-free holiday, consider these destinations:

North America
Canada
Montréal - North American city with a European flavour
Toronto - Big 'village' in the big city
Vancouver - third largest gay community and on the west coast
United States
By and large the USA is tolerant-to-accepting of LGBT travellers, especially in the larger cities, the Northeast, and the West Coast. Major destinations include:

San Francisco - the "gay mecca" of the USA
New York City - birthplace of the American gay rights movement
West Hollywood - in the heart of the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Fire Island Long Island New York
Palm Springs - a small desert mecca two hours east of Los Angeles - it has amongst the highest proportion of Gays and Lesbians in its population of any American city - also home to the annual White Party at Eastertime
Provincetown - at the tip of Cape Cod, "P-Town" has long been famous as a queer getaway; and now that gay marriage is legal in Massachusetts, it's a popular place to tie the knot as well
Key West - the southernmost point of the US is also a famously liberal vacation spot with many options for LGBT travellers
Miami Beach - a glitzy and very queer-friendly beach resort that is also home to the annual White Party
Ogunquit, Maine
Oklahoma City/NW 39th Street Enclave - the largest GLBT community in Oklahoma.
Rehoboth Beach - a small beach town on the Delaware coast with a large and active LGBT community
Galveston - a small island city just out side of Houston Texas that has some "Gay Only" hotels and some beaches that are generally queer only.
South America
Uruguay
Montevideo - The Uruguayan capital had a sexual diversity monument installed in 2005.
Europe
France
France brings gay travellers a new experience in traveling with the french gay and lesbian community sharing their love and knowledge of the country.

Netherlands (Holland)
Amsterdam is also known as the gay capital of Europe. Many clubs have special gay nights every week. A certain area ("Reguliersdwarsstraat") is full of cafés where gay people are more common than heterosexuals. Every summer there is the Gay Pride Parade, taking place in the canals in the city center.
United Kingdom
London
Manchester

Dangerous destinations

The following destinations have a death penalty for homosexuals:

Iran
Mauritania
Saudi Arabia
Sudan
United Arab Emirates
Yemen

The following destinations pose some problems to queer travellers (see also the "Stay safe" section of region and cities articles):

Romania has criminal laws against homosexuality with penalties of 10 years in prison.

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This content was provided courtesy of Wikitravel user Pashley. Based on work by Thoughts-like-Water, Todd VerBeek, Ricardo, Jamshid, Tom Holland, David Le Brun, Rob Payne, Colin Jensen and Evan Prodromou, Wikitravel user(s) Nzpcmad, Maj, Huttite, Nickpest, Hypatia, Akubra and FelixKatz and Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel.

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