Eastern Europe was once a world lear on gay rights. Then ran out of spegoats | CNN

Contents:

• 9 MOST GAY-FRIENDLY COUNTRI IN EUROPE
• WHERE EUROPE STANDS ON GAY MARRIAGE AND CIVIL UNNS
• 20 YEARS OF GAY MARRIAGE THE NETHERLANDS: 20 THOAND UPL
• AND THE GAYT CY EUROPE IS... (DISVER OUR TOP 10 WNERS)
• EASTERN EUROPE WAS ONCE A WORLD LEAR ON GAY RIGHTS. THEN RAN OUT OF SPEGOATS
• GAY EUROPE TRAVEL GUI
• ONE INTERRACIAL GAY COUPLE TRI TO TRAVEL FEARLSLY — AND SOMETIM FDS ACCEPTANCE SURPRISG PLAC

9 MOST GAY-FRIENDLY COUNTRI IN 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.

WHERE EUROPE STANDS ON GAY MARRIAGE AND CIVIL UNNS

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.

20 YEARS OF GAY MARRIAGE THE NETHERLANDS: 20 THOAND UPL

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.

AND THE GAYT CY EUROPE IS... (DISVER OUR TOP 10 WNERS)

Netherlands2001EuropeFirst untry to legalize same-sex marriage after Parliament passed the law December Zealand 2013Asia-PacificFirst untry the Asia-Pacific regn to allow gays and lbians to 2009EuropeThe law replaced a 1993 statute permtg civil unns. Slovenia 2022EuropeFirst untry formerly munist Eastern Europe to legalize same-sex Ai 2006Sub-Saharan AiOnly Ain untry where same-sex marriage is legal; several untri on the ntent have passed laws that ban homosexualy recent 2005EuropeBeme the third untry globally to legalize same-sex marriage after a vote s closely divid 2009EuropeGay and lbian upl Swen prevly had been allowed to register for civil unns sce 1995. 1%) st ballots favor of legalizg same-sex marriage a 2021 2019Asia-PacificA urt lg prompted a change the law that ma Taiwan the first jurisdictn Asia to perm gays and lbians to Kgdom 2014EuropeLegal same-sex marriage took effect Northern Ireland 2020, six years after the change England and Wal.

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

- Europe, gay marriage pneers - On October 1, 1989, for the first time the world, several gay upl Denmark tied the knot civil unns, which while givg their relatnships a legal standg fell short of full was the Netherlands that first allowed gay marriag, givg more rights April then 16 European untri have followed su acceptg gay marriag: Atria, Belgium, Bra, Denmark, Fland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spa, Swen and most recently European untri allow only weaker civil partnerships for the LGBTQ muny -- cludg Croatia, Cyps, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy and Slovenia, which rejected gay marriag a 2015 referendum. Half of s 32 stat have legalised gay civil unns 2015, and s ngrs on Tuday passed a bill legalisg full-blown same-sex left chang that would have paved the way for legal same-sex marriage out of s new nstutn adopted 2019.

Taiwan, first AsiaWhile much of Asia is tolerant of homosexualy, May 2019 Taiwan beme the first the regn to allow gay Japan, a urt northern Sapporo led 2021 that the untry's failure to regnise same-sex marriage is unnstutnal, a landmark first verdict on the issue. Atralia (2017) and New Zealand (2013) are the only plac the wir Asia-Pacific regn to have passed gay marriage the Middle East, where homosexualy is reprsed, Israel leads the way terms of gay rights, regnisg same-sex marriag that are sealed elsewhere although not allowg such unns the untry self. Several untri the nservative regn still have the ath penalty for homosexualy, cludg Sdi Arabia and the Uned Arab marriage one untrySouth Ai is the sole natn on the Ain ntent to allow gay marriage, which legalised 30 Ain untri ban homosexualy, wh Mrania, Somalia and Sudan havg the ath penalty for same-sex relatns.

GAY EUROPE TRAVEL GUI

You’ll fd a number of monuments around the cy memoratg the many LGBTQ victims of WWII, wh the Schwul Mm documentg the art, culture and history of Berl’s homosexual muny, which was long centred , Nollendorfplatz is still the place to be if you’d like to see the cy’s bt fetish clubs and leather bars, wh September brgg wh the Folsom Europe BDSM and subculture ftival.

Drawn through wh waterways and nnected by hundreds of photogenic bridg, Amsterdam is the cy of the cyclist, allowg for scenic ris along the Prsengracht nal and the Amstel River which both bee awash wh para boats durg the annual gay nal pri.

While explorg the cy, be sure to look for the Homomonument, a se promoted as a livg monument to homosexuals opprsed and persecuted around the world, also learng more of the cy’s LGBT history at the Pk Pot rmatn sk close by.

ONE INTERRACIAL GAY COUPLE TRI TO TRAVEL FEARLSLY — AND SOMETIM FDS ACCEPTANCE SURPRISG PLAC

Copenhagen, DenmarkWh Denmark beg one of the first European natns to legalize same-sex marriage 2012 (and same-sex unns back 1989), ’s pal of Copenhagen certaly has the crentials to be crowned gay pal of Europe. Though smaller events like World Aids Day and the EuroGam are celebrated throughout the year, the pnacle event for the gay muny mt be Copenhagen Pri, which actually happens twice a year both June and well as your ual dance clubs, Copenhagen go one better wh a selectn of sophistited gay spots near Cy Hall, while the alternative scene meets nearer Central Statn or Vterbro, the cy’s old Red Light District.

Bis hostg the UK’s largt pri para, Manchter also hosts Queer Contact arts ftival, Drag Ft UK and Sparkle Ftival, wh more drag events and themed nights happeng nightly the Gay Village on Canal Street the cy’s bt gay bars, clubs and LGBTQ venu.

Mgle good gay pany on Sat-Jaqu, fdg most of the nightlife actn on Marché Au Charbon, particularly the month of May when the narrow streets and sloped lan behd Grand Place fill wh revellers for an entire week of pri celebratns, culmatg on Saturday for Pri Day Bssels. Vis durg Febary to attend a number of LGBTQ History Month events held across the cy, otherwise tryg for Trans Pri and Ey Wi Open Ftival, or for regular performanc by the Gay Men’s Chos or edy nights at Bent Double.