Gay-iendly towns red stat draw LGBTQ tourists: 'We're here to be normal for a weekend'

eureka springs gay population

Northwt Arkansas ntas all the ntrasts and ntradictns of other small cy gay bars, isolated om gay neighborhoods but close to Amerin landmarks. Fort Smh and Fayetteville are one hour apart, but their two gay clubs are entwed by more than their relative proximy northwt Arkansas, home of Walmart's ternatnal headquarters and the ty,…

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GAY EUREKA SPRGS TRAVEL GUI

Eureka Sprgs is the Gay Capal of the Ozarks * eureka springs gay population *

Gray had done all, or close to , his 60-pl years – the ary veteran has been a hairdrser, puter programmer, award-wng AIDS advote, and drag queen (he performed as Patti Le Plae Safe, a Miss Gay Ameri wner). Now he mans the ont sk at a motel-turned-LGBTQ-iendly rort, the Wanroo Lodge, owned by a gay uple who recently settled Eureka themselv.

GAY-IENDLY TOWNS RED STAT DRAW LGBTQ TOURISTS: 'WE'RE HERE TO BE NORMAL FOR A WEEKEND'

* eureka springs gay population *

Soon, straight and gay upl were drsg drag as sultry saloon performers or macho wboys, pos that were “happily enuraged and monplace, ” Danos said. But ’s a divi that s rints have mostly been able to bridge wh kdns, said David Avanzo, who speaks fondly of a Wanroo regular – “your typil Ozark man” – who once told Avanzo that he’d never met gay men before patronizg the lodge. The days, Taylor said he don’t even “thk about beg gay bee seems so normal here as a uple to go out among straight upl.

A iend and former mayor was at the urthoe, too, and he married the uple on the spot – they beme the first male gay uple to legally marry Arkansas. Te, the Arkansas Supreme Court put the procs on hold (temporarily), but history had been ma this ty gaytn mec and the news went viral. This Victorian-era village on the Natnal Register of Historic Plac has been makg major gay history and headl for s.

Wh a disproportnately large LGBT populatn and dozens of gay-owned B&Bs, rtrants, bars, art galleri and trendy shops, this scenic ltle rort town ntled the Ozark Mountas is also the first and only cy the state wh a Domtic Partnership Registry (open to non-rints) and the first and only cy the state to officially endorse marriage equaly. “Our secret’s out, ” says the cy’s Gay Bs Guild (another first the state), “not even our streets are straight!

EUREKA SPRGS: SO GAY, THEY HAVE THREE PRI CELEBRATNS

Serly Gayly rears; ’s as if ’s always Pri Eureka Sprgs! Every day the bs all over town fly their rabow flags, gay upl n stroll down the streets of Eureka holdg hands and not be judged, discrimated agast or, for that matter, thrown out of town. * eureka springs gay population *

For gay travelers, has long been the premier travel statn the Mid-South regn of the untry, drawg thoands of gay visors each year om across the U.

— On the unt of three, about 50 gay upl kissed their partners the public square of a small town the Ozark Wilks, the event’s anizer, told the crowd to do over.

But Eureka Sprgs, Wilks, who ns Out Eureka, an LGBTQ event and rmatn anizatn, is workg to create what he se as an oasis: a space for LGBTQ people to explore a quat Southern town while beg weled exactly as they ci and towns red stat have also begun urtg lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer tourists, as a way of showg their openns and bee there’s money to be ma. ”Oklahoma Cy tri to entice LGBTQ tourists wh s annual Memorial Day gay roo and s small but thrivg southwt of Eureka Sprgs, Fayetteville is on a siar missn, tryg to appeal to LGBTQ people Arkansas and neighborg stat, for whom gog on vatn to a major cy is st prohibive — or not at all sirable. “Fire Island is fun, ” he add of the gay statn east of New York Cy, but Wilks wants to rema “te to who Eureka is” — a small town that’s wood, Southern and super gay.

GAYT PLAC IN ARKANSAS FOR 2020

’Fayetteville recently beme the first cy Arkansas to jo the Internatnal Gay and Lbian Travel Associatn, which provis ee rourc, travel suggtns and safety tips to LGBTQ travelers. Courty Vcent GriffExperience Fayetteville tak out ads gay newspapers nearby ci and neighborg stat toutg s attractns and makg sure queer and trans folks know they n vis whout worry.

GAYT PLAC IN CALIFORNIA FOR 2020

A lifelong Arkansan, she knows she’s fightg an uphill battle — while she lov the state, she acknowledg that isn’t always a great place to be LGBTQ, wh a lack of workplace discrimatn protectns and snt health re for trans, Fayetteville Pri, the biggt gay event of the year, has flourished, drawg visors om all over the regn.

A GAY GET-AWAY EUREKA SPRGS

The first para 2005 drew about 200 atten; last year, had over 15, Tanzella, print and CEO of the Internatnal Gay and Lbian Travel Associatn, was thrilled when Fayetteville wanted to be promoted by his anizatn.

Some “gay-iendly” plac she and her partner nsired seemed to ter only to men, while others, like Key Wt and Provcetown, felt too far om her home the South. The picturque town featur old saloons wh rabow flags, a hnted hotel, and dozens of other gay-owned shops, rtrants and bs. Every bar Eureka, rints like to say, is a gay Buckmaster, 36, mak the two-hour drive om her home Carthage, Missouri, to Eureka Sprgs a uple tim a year.

After Eureka Sprgs was hailed as the “Gay Capal of the Ozarks” a New York Tim article, Christy lamented that Christian fai “don’t want to expose their children to that. The anthis of the redneck stereotype, the micro mec has been a beyond-gay-iendly getaway for s - long before out was .

NEW YORK TIM LOOKS TO EUREKA SPRGS, THE GAY-IENDLIT ARKANSAS TOWN

So, sprg, summer and fall, Eureka Sprgs celebrat a trifecta of Diversy Weekends that attract thoands of gay and lbian gaytners. A microsm of San Francis, the mounta rort town has a disproportnately large gay populatn, dozens of gay-owned and gay-iendly B&Bs, hotels, rtrants, bars, nightclubs, art galleri, shops, turn-of-the-century Victorian hom and vtage trolleys plyg steep and narrow village streets.

THE GAYZARKS

Which is why, addn to boatloads of gay vatners, the three seasonal Diversy Weekends are among the most popular for hip heteros, too.

They are created exprsly for gay and lbian visors and hosted by the town's gay and gay-iendly bs and a small army of tirels volunteers. Article ntu the Supreme Court led favor of same-sex marriag, Ameri generally, and the gay muny specifilly, celebrated. Same-sex marriag, and the gay and lbian movement is more mastream than the natnal discsn has been brought to the foreont, at the state level, nversatns you know that an timated 0.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* EUREKA SPRINGS GAY POPULATION

New York Tim looks to Eureka Sprgs, the gay-iendlit Arkansas town — GetRelign .

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