The northern Italian cy of Padua has started removg the nam of non-blogil gay mothers om their children’s birth certifit unr new legislatn passed by the “tradnal fay-first” ernment of Prime Mister Grgia Meloni.
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AND THE GAYT CY EUROPE IS... (DISVER OUR TOP 10 WNERS)
If you're lookg for a gay-iendly holiday statn Europe, we've found ten of the bt. * gay towns europe *
It’s one of only five untri to make queer rights equal at a nstutnal level and holds first place on ILGA-Europe’s Rabow Europe Inx, which ranks untri on LGBTQ+ equaly.On my last vis, a gay gui showed me round the wdg medieval streets of Valletta and Rabat, potg out sential bars and rtrants om Michel-starred Noni to the Monaliza Lounge drag bar, as well as the nightclub Michelangelo lively Paceville.
This spir filters down to Dubl’s many LGBTQ-iendly tablishments: two personal favour are iendly bnch spot Social Fabric Café Stoneybatter, one of the cy’s most tertg neighbourhoods, and Street 66 bar, a eful cktail spot before a night at inic LGBTQ+ stutn The Gee.Also southsi is gay-owned Gutter Bookshop (named after the famo Osr Wil quote), and the weekly “big gay dis” Sunday Social at Farrier & Draper; or cross the river for the Outhoe LGBTQ+ muny rource fe on Capel Street and PantiBar, owned by drag queen, activist and performer Panti Bliss.
Enjoy bnch at Osr bar and fe, before a beer at one of Europe’s olst gay bars, Centralhjor, which hosts drag and Sunday jazz ssns year-round.Other venu clu Bøssehet Christiania, home to theatre, performanc, exhibns and parti – a well-suated boutique hotel is SP34 (doubl om £133) the Lat Quarter.
The gay-iendly untri offer opportuni for fun and adventure abroad. * gay towns europe *
Nearby Delmoni’s (known lolly as “Del’s”), has been Merchant Cy’s “gay triangle” sce 1991.To stay nearby, try the good-value Bnswick hotel (doubl om £50), on a street wh venu marked by rabow flags. Photograph: Nick Maslen/AlamyOn my last vis to Birmgham the rabow flag seemed to be everywhere, and the historic Gay Village, wh s bars, shops and f, is hugely visible, centred largely on Hurst Street. Start wh bibimbap at the thoroughfare’s Korean rtrant Topokki before drks at Missg, Siwalk or lbian bar The Fox and dancg at the legendary Nightgale Club, the olst gay club the cy, datg back to 1969.This summer’s hot LGBTQ+ event is Fierce’s Healg Garns of Bab (27 June - 17 July): part of Birmgham 2022 Ftival, ’s an artistic rponse to this summer’s Commonwealth Gam, celebratg “what the Brish Empire tried (and failed) to stamp out”.
Mykonos’s rep as queer heaven dat back to the 1970s, when Jackie Onassis beme a regular visor (she first vised 1961), before blossomed as gay rort the 1980s, wh acmodatn sprgg up for the largely male clientele.In 2022, you n hang out at tablished hotspots Jackie O, bar Porta or Kastro’s, and stay at the Super Paradise (doubl om £249), handy for the island’s ma LGBTQ+ beach. Photograph: Subodh Agnihotri/AlamyFor many gay men of a certa age, Fland is extribly associated wh leather-clad inic hero Tom of Fland, whose books pict a ggedly sexualised masculy durg a time pre-1971 when homosexualy was still illegal. Now you n take a tour of where thor Too Laaksonen lived his whole adult life, passg the Kansalaistori (People’s Square) ont of parliament, once a clanste meetg pot for gay men.LGBTQ+ karaoke fans should check out Mann’s Street, a boozy stutn; other fun spots are Street Pri the Kamppi district, and Kvääristö, a jot for queer women, transgenr, and non-bary people.
Poland's right-wg populist lear Andrzej Duda me to power last year on a platform cryg a ‘LGBT-iology’ he alleged was spreadg throughout his untry at the expense of tradnal fay valu. Now, dozens of Polish municipali have enacted "LGBT iology ee zon" makg members of the gay muny this European Unn member state fear for their safety. Simon Ostrovsky reports om Poland wh support om the Pulzer Center. * gay towns europe *
Meanwhile, Madrid Pri (1-10 July) is the send biggt the world (after San Francis) and by far the largt Europe, attractg more than a 1.5ln people each year, cludg 300,000 overseas visors.Spa self is one of the most LGBTQ-iendly untri the world: same-sex sexual activy was ma legal 1979, and was the third untry to legalise gay marriage, 2005. First stop has to be Chue, Madrid’s “gaybourhood” wh bars and venu dotted around Plaza Chue (also don’t miss the recently refurbished Merdo San Antón for tasty food stalls and a rooftop terrace).
Equalx, a llaborative knowledge base for the global LGBT movement that maps the legaly of homosexualy, intifi a number of factors cludg eedom to change genr and to adopt – although hasn’t ranked untri or ci orr of bt to x om the Human Rights Campaign looks at municipal servic, law enforcement and the cy learship’s public posn on equaly across the US. Arguably the size of the LGBT populatn urban areas uld reflect the level of iendls, as “many LGBTI folk head to ci om ral areas bee of the promise of a eer, more tolerant life there, ” says André du Plsis, executive director of the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn.
San Francis has often been lled the “gay pal of the world” for s culture of tolerance and vibrant even when ci seem progrsive on the surface, the lived experience of members of the LGBT muny n tell a dramatilly different story.
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“For a certa social strata [sic], Cape Town and Johannburg are gay mecs, but at the same time black lbians livg poor areas there are alg wh vlence and targeted rape, ” says Graeme Reid, director of the LGBT rights programme at Human Rights Watch.
“Wh the electn of an openly homophobic print, Jair Bolsonaro, who has famoly said he would rather have a ad son than a gay son, R’s reputatn as a statn cy may falter, and vlence crease, ” Reid says. ”‘Gay Disneyland’Conversely, some untri wh backward and dangero attus to the LGBT muny, such as Iran and Sdi Arabia, discreet but vibrant unrground scen n thrive.