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

Contents:

• EASTERN EUROPE WAS ONCE A WORLD LEAR ON GAY RIGHTS. THEN RAN OUT OF SPEGOATS
• IN EU, THERE’S AN EAST-WT DIVI OVER RELIG MORI, GAY MARRIAGE, NATNAL INTY
• THE 15 WORST UNTRI TO BE GAY EUROPE
• HOW TRAVELG THROUGH EASTERN EUROPE TGHT ME TO APPRECIATE BEG A GAY AMERIN
• TIPS FOR GAY AND LBIAN TRAVELERS EASTERN EUROPE
• 9 MOST GAY-FRIENDLY COUNTRI IN EUROPE
• GAY RIGHTS EASTERN EUROPE: A NEW BATTLEGROUND FOR RSIA AND THE WT
• ANTI-GAY HATE ON THE RISE PARTS OF EUROPE, REPORT FDS
• THE EASTERN EUROPEAN GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT IS STGGLG TO BE MORE THAN A WTERN CSE

EASTERN EUROPE WAS ONCE A WORLD LEAR ON GAY RIGHTS. THEN RAN OUT OF SPEGOATS

Hungary’s hardle natnalist ernment passed a new law earlier this month banng ntent that “promot” homosexualy and genr change om beg shared wh children, effectively prohibg any discsn of LGBTQ them schools. “There’s a real regrsn happeng many different untri, and rights that had been regnized are now beg challenged, ” said Evelyne Paradis, the executive director of the European branch of the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA-Europe).

“You have plac like Germany, France, Spa where 85% or more say that homosexualy should be accepted by society and then once you’re past the dividg le, on the other si of the former Iron Curta, those numbers beg to fall pretty rapidly and then get even lower as you go to Rsia, ” he said. “When you look at the former Eastern bloc, the untri had a long tradn of really progrsive legislatn towards LGBTQ rights, Poland for stance crimalized homosexualy 1932, which is really, really early, ” Kościańska said.

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.

IN EU, THERE’S AN EAST-WT DIVI OVER RELIG MORI, GAY MARRIAGE, NATNAL INTY

The term “homosexualy, ” while sometim nsired anachronistic the current era, is the most applible and easily translatable term to e when askg this qutn across societi and languag and has been ed other cross-natnal studi, cludg the World Valu Survey.

Dpe major chang laws and norms surroundg the issue of same-sex marriage and the rights of LGBT people around the world, public opn on the acceptance of homosexualy society remas sharply divid by untry, regn and enomic velopment.

However, while took nearly 15 years for acceptance to rise 13 pots om 2000 to jt before the feral legalizatn of gay marriage June 2015, there was a near equal rise acceptance jt the four years sce legalizatn. In South Korea, for example, those who classify themselv on the iologil left are more than twice as likely to say homosexualy is acceptable than those on the iologil right (a 39-percentage-pot difference). And Poland, supporters of the erng PiS (Law and Jtice), which has explicly targeted gay rights as anathema to tradnal Polish valu, are 23 percentage pots ls likely to say that homosexualy should be accepted by society than those who do not support the erng party.

THE 15 WORST UNTRI TO BE GAY EUROPE

But even untri like France and Germany where acceptance of homosexualy is high, there are differenc between supporters and non-supporters of key right-wg populist parti such as Natnal Rally France and Alternative for Germany (AfD). In 25 of the 34 untri surveyed, those who say relign is “somewhat, ” “not too” or “not at all” important their liv are more likely to say that homosexualy should be accepted than those who say relign is “very” important.

HOW TRAVELG THROUGH EASTERN EUROPE TGHT ME TO APPRECIATE BEG A GAY AMERIN

A gay male uple Sarajevo, Kenan, a Bosnian, and Milan, a Serb, plan to emigrate to the gay-iendly Netherlands, but the war strands them Serb-ntrolled terrory, and Kenan adopts female drag to avoid beg found out as a circumcised Mlim. In Fe Dead Girls Iva and Marija move to an apartment buildg that is home to a rogu' gallery of characters: a war veteran sufferg om post-trmatic strs, a prostute paid to break up the uple by a prit who is one girl's father, a homophobic gon of an apartment manager, and her son, a slacker mama's boy who rap one of the pair to prove his masculy.

Through credibly hont terviews wh gays, gay rights lears--and blatant homophob--director Vladislav Kvasnicka has created a film that ptur the nocence of an cipient social movement as well as a chillg look at the culture they're up agast. Disturbgly, the film not only ends wh vigt of three happy straight upl, leavg the fate of the lbian affair open to speculatn, but also hts at the evil father's latent homosexualy, prumably ed by a childhood moltatn an orphanage.

TIPS FOR GAY AND LBIAN TRAVELERS EASTERN 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+ 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. 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.

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.

9 MOST GAY-FRIENDLY COUNTRI IN EUROPE

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.

GAY RIGHTS EASTERN EUROPE: A NEW BATTLEGROUND FOR RSIA AND THE WT

The top 15 worst untri to be gay EuropeShow all 15The most LGBTI-iendly European natns were Malta, Belgium and the four years at the top of the Rabow Europe list, the UK has fallen to third, a year after movg down to ILGA's Rabow Europe list is an annual review of 49 European untri, ranked on a sle between 0 per cent (untri wh gross vlatns of human rights and discrimatn) and 100 per cent (untri which show rpect of human rights and full equaly)'s the most ridiculo thg you've been asked about LGBT relatnships? Adam* said was dangero to e out as gay his home untry and feared beg forced to an arranged marriage wh a said he was "so lucky" to wed his soulmate, Ray, Manchter and wish everyone uld marry who they love.

'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough" said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'" Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3, 000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022.

ANTI-GAY HATE ON THE RISE PARTS OF EUROPE, REPORT FDS

Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos" relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife.

The uple, who live London, said a "really betiful memory" was on the way home when one of their sons shouted out of the black b wdow to Trafalgar Square, "My dads jt got married" and cheered "Yay, gay marriage". I’ve always thought of Europe as more progrsive than the rt of the world, but when to beg gay, some of the eastern untri have more mon–or at least as much mon–wh the notorly homophobic untri of Ai and the Middle East than wh the rt of the ntent.

If I’ve gaed anythg as a gay man on my ongog Balkan adventure (next and fal stop: Romania) bis the benefs of a good VPN, ’s more gratu for the eedom to be out back home and jt as much passn for those here who ci to stay . In a Europe where boundari are beg erased and young people travel often and engage cultural and study exchange programs and the availabily of rmatn om endls sourc, homophobia persists and terrat acrdg to some studi. In the Catholic untri of Eastern Europe (Croatia, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia) where relig beliefs repudiate homosexualy, gay and lbian travelers won't fd many tablishments that lay out the wele mat for them.

THE EASTERN EUROPEAN GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT IS STGGLG TO BE MORE THAN A WTERN CSE

The followg travel guis are available at many bookstor, or you n orr them om any onle bookseller: Frommer's Gay & Lbian Europe (), an excellent travel rource to the top European ci and rorts; Spartac Internatnal Gay Gui (Bno Gmünr Verlag;) and Odysss: The Internatnal Gay Travel Planner (Odysss Enterpris, Ltd.

Compared wh Wtern Europeans, fewer Central and Eastern Europeans would wele Mlims or Jews to their fai or neighborhoods, extend the right of marriage to gay or lbian upl or broan the fn of natnal inty to clu people born outsi their untry. Survey rults suggt that Europe’s regnal divi over same-sex marriage uld persist to the future: Across most of Central and Eastern Europe, young adults oppose legalizg gay marriage by only somewhat narrower margs than do their elrs. Most of the adults say they “gradually drifted away om relign, ” though many also say they disagreed wh church posns on social issu like homosexualy and abortn, and/or that they stopped believg relig teachgs.