San Francisco immediately comes to mind, of course.
So, consider these factors:
[ul]
[li]Size of gay population.[/li][li]Percentage of population that’s gay.[/li][li]Attitude of locals toward gays.[/li][li]Popularity with gay tourists.[/li][li]Availability of gay entertainment (gay bars, etc.).[/li][/ul]
So what truly is the most “gay” city in the world? My money is on one of three places:
[ul]
[li]San Francisco. Because it’s San Francisco.[/li][li]New Orleans. Don’t know what it’s like when it’s not Carnival season, but Mardi Gras seems to attract gays by the busload. There’s a whole section of the French Quarter that’s one gay bar/gay porn shop after the other. I’m not gay, but what I’ve gotten from NO on my three trips there is that the gay scene must be pretty big down there.[/li][li]Paris. Maybe that’s why they call it “Gay Paree.” I’ve been there a couple of times, too, and it seems that there was a pretty active gay scene. This site claims that Paris is the place to be if you’re a gay tourist.[/li][/ul]
So, gays of the SDMB: what’s the scoop? Paris? New Orleans? Somewhere else? Amsterdam, perhaps? Rio? London?..
I’m with Caught@Work on this one. I don’t have an official cite, but I hear it regularly said that Sydney is the gayest city in the world, after San Francisco.
And to think, it’s just an hour’s flight away! Yippee!
It really doesn’t get any Gayer than a very Gay friendly city council that wants to take over the Gay Pride Festival because they think the local grass roots organization isn’t doing it justice (and they are right.)
Plus they have had a Domestic Partners registration that is considered legal by every business requiring it for insurance purposes.
Add to that a main street (Santa Monica Boulevard) running through the entire city that has predominantly gay bars and businesses.
In Europe, Berlin would rank way up there.
So would Amstedam.
London, Munich, Paris, and Frankfurt have a few pocket areas, but I wouldn’t consider those cities in the same catagory as West Hollywood or San Francisco or New York.
Cape Town, is the gay capital of Africa. Observe the Mother City Queer Project which is officially endorsed by Cape Town Tourism (which hopes to attract the so-called ‘Pink’ tourist dollar). We have a decent sized gay district and the city is very gay friendly.
Isn’t Sydney just really gay during Mardi Gras? Maybe it’s cause I’ve got quite a few good gay friends in Brisbane and not in Sydney but it’s never seemed to have a bigger (proportionally) gay scene.
There was some article in a Melbourne newspaper (The Age)a short time back about how Melbourne was actually gayer and BONUS more bohemian than Sydney. Not sure why you’d tout that as some huge advantage, but what can you do?
I didn’t know Sydney was considered so gay. I mean, sure, there’s Mardi Gras and Oxford St, but I never really thought that it had much more than your average big city.
** j_kat_251** is correct. Here’s the article. Melbourne has more same-sex couples per capita than both Sydney and San Francisco.
**Which leads me to say: Melbourne is soooo gay!
(Incidentally, this is the second time in two days that I’ve posted info on Melbourne in response to an IMHO question. They’re gonna take back my magic Perth decoder ring if I keep this up. :))
jjimm: Yes that’s causing quite a stir at the moment here though. But it definitely reeks of organised crime. There are two survivors though so hopefully once they recover the full story (organised crime or hate crime) will come out.
The data is going to skew small. I know some fairly small towns in Iowa with fewer than 100 people with three or four gay couples. That would bring the percentage up towards 10+%. And they’d be pretty accepting too, in my experience.
I’ve been there a couple of times, too, and it seems that there was a pretty active gay scene. This site claims that Paris is the place to be if you’re a gay tourist.[/li][/ul]
