10 of Europe’s bt statns for LGBTQ+ travellers this Pri season | Gay and lbian travel | The Guardian

Contents:

• I PAI PIù GAY-IENDLY D’EUROPA: CLASSIFI 2021
• 9 MOST GAY-FRIENDLY COUNTRI IN EUROPE
• GAY-FRIENDLY COUNTRI / GLBTQ+ FRIENDLY COUNTRI 2023
• GAY PRI CALENDAR
• TURISMO LGBT: TOP 5 PAI PIù GAY-FRIENDLY L MONDO
• GAY MOSW · CY GUI

I PAI PIù GAY-IENDLY D’EUROPA: CLASSIFI 2021

L’Europa è un ntente bellissimo e visare pai e ctà alla sperta lla va gay, lle gay street o addirtura di teri quartieri gay e quello di Berlo è davvero bello.

Come ogni anno, il 17 magg viene pubblita una ricer tersante rilasciata dall’ILGA (Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn) su quanto sono clive ed LGBTQ+ iendly le nazni che pongono l’Unne Europa.

Come ogni anno, ILGA Europe (Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn) rilascia i dati di una ricer molto tersante che analizza quanto sono clive ed LGBTQ+ iendly le nazni che pongono l’Unne Europa e l’Europa geografi. 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+ 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 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.

9 MOST GAY-FRIENDLY COUNTRI IN EUROPE

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 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 cy’s olst gay bar The Waterloo dat back half a century, while another classic spot is the Unrground bar, equally fun for drag or karaoke. Nearby Delmoni’s (known lolly as “Del’s”), has been Merchant Cy’s “gay triangle” sce 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.

GAY-FRIENDLY COUNTRI / GLBTQ+ FRIENDLY COUNTRI 2023

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 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 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 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. You might even be able to jo the Helski Homovaas (Helski Gay Invasn), whose purpose is to “shake up the gay scene” by takg over random straight bars.

GAY PRI CALENDAR

5ln people each year, cludg 300, 000 overseas 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).

LuxembourgAdolphe Bridge Luxembourg CyNilas Enomou / NurPhoto via Getty Imag fileLuxembourg’s prime mister, Xavier Bettel, is one of only three openly gay heads of ernment the world. In 2019, durg an addrs at the Uned Natns, Bettel lled on world lears to nmn hate speech, sayg, “Homophobia is a personal choice, and we have to fight agast .

TURISMO LGBT: TOP 5 PAI PIù GAY-FRIENDLY L MONDO

Nilas Enomou / NurPhoto via Getty Imag fileA new bridge beg built Belgium’s pal, Bssels, will be named after inic gay rights activist Suzan Daniel, who found the untry’s first LGBTQ associatn, acrdg to The Bssels Tim. Lisbon also has a very popular and well attend Gay Pri Ftival and para and the ternatnal Queer Lisboa Gay and Lbian Film Ftival every year, too.

Belgium was the send European untry to legalize gay marriage and the send to crimalize same-genr relatnships all the way back 1795. Ireland may seem like a rather nservative untry, but beme the first European natn to legalize gay marriage by a popular vote 2015. A poll done 2019 said the 87 percent of Luxembourgers believed gay, lbian, and transgenr people should have the same rights as heterosexuals.

Ahead of the Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (May 17), the Rabow Map provis a eful rource for unrstandg the LGBT rights suatn across Europe.

GAY MOSW · CY GUI

ILGA-Europe is the European Regn of ILGA, the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn and is a drivg force for polil, legal and social change Europe and Central Asia.

While attracts visors om all mographics their mass durg peak season, the island has plenty to offer the LGBT muny, om s host of gay bars and nudist beach to s annual ternatnal gay ftival, XLSIOR. Via San Gvanni Laterano was officially signated a gay-iendly neighbourhood 2007 and has now rightfully earned the nickname of ‘Gay Street.

One of the most famo gay-iendly bars the district is lled Havana, which occupi 2 floors, featur a legendary bar, and has a distctive dtrial appearance. If you’re more terted shoppg than partyg, head over to Löwenherz, one of the world’s largt gay and lbian bookstor wh over 12, 000 LGBT tl on s shelv. For those lookg for a gay-iendly optn a European statn, ILGA-Europe has jt published s annual report revealg the top 10 European untri that afford their cizens and visors wh the most extensive LGBT+ rights and protectns.

Events like Maspalomas Gay Pri May or the Wter Pri  November have attracted many gay and lbian tourists, and the islands’ LGBT+ support has created a lucrative, acmodatg culture for both sgle and uple travelers. Influential gay men and lbians have long played a role Brish history, cludg notable nam like Osr Wil, Virgia Wolfe and cryptanalyst Alan Turg.

The gay scene is a b smaller Portugal’s major ci pared to other large European ci, however, ’s still very veloped and has a lot to offer for any LGBT+ traveler. The pal cy of Copenhagen also has one of the olst gay bars, Centralhjør, which has been open sce 1917 and officially beme a gay bar the 1950s. Copenhagen is an urban cy wh a populatn creepg jt over a ln habants and is also pecially gay-iendly wh a small, but noteworthy llectn of gay bars cltered around Rodhpladsen, the cy hall square the center.

Xavier Bettel was elected as the prime mister of Luxembourg 2013 and 2018 he beme the first openly gay prime mister to be reelected for a send term.

Specifilly, the Belgian Lbian and Gay Pri Ftival has prospered sce 1996, offerg a ‘straight-iendly’ event while acmodatg the untry’s Rabow Week. Here’s the lowdown on seven popular untri that are — spe their flaws — worthwhile travel statns, ranked om the least to the most gay iendly plac Eastern Europe. When travelg the Rsian Feratn, ’s bt to keep md that sce 2013, there has been a law place that basilly mak illegal to engage the “promotn of homosexualy to mors, ” which they term “gay propaganda.

“Don’t tell people this, ” I was advised by a uple their 20s that my partner and I were sharg a table wh at a Kyiv Christmas market after we told them we were a gay uple. There’s also Café Gallery, the kd of warm and welg space that every cy needs, a gallery/fé/bar/club that accepts all typ of people, om gay to straight to trans, and om young to old.

The spac mentned above embody one of the secrets of LGBTQ life not-so-iendly plac — the muni are ually que bond and highly supportive of one another, makg Geia, at least safe bubbl, one of the most gay iendly plac Eastern Europe. In 2021, he enacted further legislatn that censors LGBT posive ntent om movi, books, or public advertisements, and severely rtricts sex tn school, forbiddg any rmatn thought to “enurage genr change or homosexualy. Romania’s urban centers feel very safe, but neverthels, is advised that public displays of affectn should be avoid bee many people — police officers particular — still garner some homophobia.