THEGAYUK

Tag: USA

  • The Best Places for Gay Travel 2017

    The Best Places for Gay Travel 2017

    Planning a gay vacay this year but not sure where to go? While there are a lot of amazing destinations for gay travel, there are a few spots that are extra special when it comes to welcoming LGBTQ travellers, and some that have naturally become gay hotspots because of their fabulousness.

    gay travel gay hotel

    Hipster, designer and gay travel blogger extraordinaire Adam Groffman put together a list of some of the Best Places for Gay Travel in 2016 on his Travels of Adam site that he has kindly shared with THEGAYUK. Read on to get your inspiration for amazing gay travels for 2017.

    Here’s the thing about gay travel—you can pretty much do it anywhere. If you’re gay and you travel, guess what!? You’re gay travelling 😉

    But, still… there are some places which are just so much more welcoming, more friendly and more fun for gay travellers. Some travel companies make concerted efforts to court LGBTQ travellers, while others just naturally become hotspots thanks to their location, their creed or their clientele. Finding gay places when travelling can sometimes be a challenge—a lot of it depends on word of mouth (whether that arrives to you from friends, friends of friends, or through a gay dating app). But then there are also a handful of gay websites which make finding gay places easier. Probably the biggest international directory of gay cities is, predictably, GayCities.com. Their mix of user-generated content, stories, photos essays and events is all-encompassing.

    Each year, GayCities.com puts out a survey of the best gay cities, places, hotels and other travel things. It’s a fun survey where you can vote for your favourite gay places (I’m always voting for Berlin, hoping that it will win!).

    THE BEST PLACES FOR GAY TRAVEL 2016 MY PICKS!

    Best Gay City
    BERLIN

    As my adopted home, Berlin makes it to the top of every one of my lists—it’s great for foodies, for budget travellers, for luxury travellers, for sex tourism, for hipsters and for film fanatics. The other options on GayCities’ list of best cities are decent, but honestly: Berlin has a bit of something for everyone. New York City and Chicago are probably at the top of my list for best USA gay destinations, but with early closing times for the nightlife, it’s hard to really top Berlin.

    Best Foodie Paradise
    CHICAGO

    Chicago, nestled in the middle of America, is one of America’s most surprising cities. Unlike NYC and LA on either coast, Chicago sits right there in the middle, with the best of both worlds but its own distinct identity. When I last visited Chicago, I quite literally ate all the food—from fried pickles and pancakes to hipster donuts and BIG brunches. If ever there was a city designed for foodies, it is Chicago.

    Best Up-and-Coming City
    STOCKHOLM

    I think there are a lot of rising stars among the most gay-friendly cities. I’m currently writing this from Texas, where some of the Texan cities are surprisingly gay and—actually!—cool. But, in Europe, Stockholm’s pull makes it one of the coolest places to visit today. Stockholm doesn’t usually make it immediately on most USA tourists’ first-time trips to Europe, but with new budget airline connections, it’s only going to get more cool.

    Best Capital of Culture
    NEW YORK CITY

    New York City is an absolutely overwhelming city—it’s no wonder that it’s one of the world’s most popular cities. There are millions of things to see and do in NYC, from world-class museums, historic buildings and shopping—so much shopping! This year, the U.S. National Park Service even recognized the historic gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, as a historic monument. And don’t even get me started on Broadway—so much of the great theater and musicals originate here. Creativity and culture are bursting out of every pothole in this amazing city.

    Read more: Cheap and Free Things To Do in NYC

    Best Airline
    AMERICAN AIRLINES

    As a Oneworld alliance member, American Airlines is at the top of my preferred airlines. (It also helps that I grew up flying in and out of DFW airport in Texas—their hub.) While some frequent fliers might find AA more stuffy and business-oriented than other airlines, it’s surprisingly cool for being—literally—the world’s largest airline! Their Instagram is a fun sneak peek into the company culture—and it always goes rainbow each LGBT pride month.

  • HOTEL REVIEW | Santiago Resort

    HOTEL REVIEW | Santiago Resort

    ★★★★★ | Santiago Resort

    The Californian TREAT in RETREAT

    Located in a highly desirable neighbourhood in Palm Springs, California sits a quaint resort that is the recently refreshed Santiago. The friendly and attentive staff welcomes you to this gaysclusive 24 room – awe-inspiring resort. Most rooms boast landscape views of the towering mountains that surround this swim suit optional resort. The long list of amenities includes TV, DVD, fridge, microwave, king size beds, ceiling fans, housekeeping, WiFi, heated oversized pool, and Jacuzzi that are all a stone’s throw away from the tropical exotic surroundings that light up this resort. Santiago is one of the very few resorts that also offer both complimentary continental breakfast as well as a healthy light lunch that varies daily. As this resort sits proudly near downtown Palm Springs you will be neighbours with the bustling areas that will cater for your retail, wining, dining and dancing needs.

    Sometimes when we travel we think that we have to go out and explore or else we feel as though we are missing out on something and Santiago has this natural pull to the resort that even though the area is waiting to be explored…so are the hammocks, the fire pit and the views that come with both. OK so one might think that there is only so many views that one can take – I stayed here in January and back home in London it’s not very often you get to look at a backdrop of snow-capped mountains behind a canvas of clear blue skies whilst drinking English Breakfast tea (of course). When dusk starts to creep in and you are backstroking in the warm pool it’s difficult not to get carried away with a number of stars that twinkle away from any light pollution. I left thinking is Palm Springs closer to the moon – it seems that way.

    Santiago is the treat in retreat!

  • Michelle Visage points out the HUGE difference between Obama’s Big day and Trumps

    As inaugurations go, President Trump’s wasn’t the smallest in history, but as Michelle Visage has pointed out it certainly was no match for President Obama’s in 2009.

    CREDIT: Whitehouse Photographer

    Hundreds of millions tuned in to watch the inauguration of Donald Trump, however, the turn out to watch the event live in Washington DC was well below that of Obama’s 2009 swearing in.  Michelle Visage was quick to share a shocking image showing the poor turn out, where huge areas of land outside the Capitol Building in Washington DC stand empty.

    In 2009 Obama’s inauguration set a new record for attendees, although there is no official count. It was considered that over 1.8 million people turned up to watch the event. Donald Trump was unable to match the 44th President’s numbers or approval rating at the time of their respective inaugurations. Obama’s was 68 per cent. Trump’s is 37 per cent.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BPgZuFfgtf2/?taken-by=michellevisage&hl=en

    According to Washington DC’s own transport system passenger numbers were well down.

    They tweeted that as of 11 AM on Trump’s inauguration 193,000 trips had been made compared with 513,000 on Obama’s inauguration in 2009. Even Obama’s second term swearing in had over 317,000 trips made.

    Within hours of Trump becoming the 45th President, there was panic amongst some in the American LGBT community as the Whitehouse’s official website scrubbed it’s LGBT page, leaving users with just an empty white screen.

     

  • White House website removes LGBT page

    White House website removes LGBT page

    Concerns have been raised after the White House’s official website removed the LGBT page after President Trump’s inauguration.

    Donald Trump
    CREDIT: By Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America (Donald Trump) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
    As the world was watching Donald Trump becoming president, tech teams at the Whitehouse.gov were removing some key pages on the website including the LGBT page that President Obama’s adminstation posted to assure the community on their committment to LGBT rights and equality.

    Vistors to www.whitehouse.gov/lgbt are now greated with a clear white page with no writing.

    Former Star Trek actor George Takei was one of the first stars to draw attention to the deletion.

    https://twitter.com/GTremblayVoice/status/822533037271511041

    One commentor on Twitter pointed out that the site’s adminstrators hadn’t removed the meta tags from the bio.

    The site is just in transition as Trump’s own team looks to update information and bring forth their own policies. As with each new adminstration the official White House website, Twitter and other social media accounts are all archived for history.

    So far the current adminstration have uploaded policies on energy, jobs and growth, making the military strong, standing up for law enforcement and trade deals.

     

  • Wife of Pulse Massacre killer arrested

    The wife of the Pulse nightclub shooter, who shot dead 49 people in American’s deadliest gun attack, has been arrested by the FBI.

    CREDIT: WalterPro/FLICKR CC

    The widow of the Pulse massacre shooter, Noor Salman, has been arrested by FBI agents and is expected to face charged of obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting. She was arrested in her San Francisco home on Monday. The arrest was first reported by The New York Times.

    In June 2016, the shooter, entered into the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida and began firing indiscriminately at the patrons. He killed 49 people and injured more than 50 others. It became the worst gun attack on American soil.

    During his rampage, the shooter claimed the attack was on behalf of the Islamic State. It is also known that Ms Salman texted her husband during the attack.

    ALSO READ:

    Who were the 49 victims of the Pulse Massacre?

    Pulse survivors will not be billed by Orlando hospitals

    FBI find no evidence that the Pulse Massacre was a hate crime

    Orlando shooter was shot 8 times before being finally downed

     

    Ms Salman had also given conflicting accounts about her knowledge of her husband’s intentions when questioned by officials. Her attorney, Linda Moreno of Tampa, said Ms Salman had no prior knowledge of the events that would tragically happen in June last year.

    “Noor Salman had no foreknowledge nor could she predict what Omar Mateen intended to do that tragic night,
    “Noor has told her story of abuse at his hands. We believe it is misguided and wrong to prosecute her and that it dishonors the memories of the victims to punish an innocent person.”

    She is expected to appear in court, in San Francisco on Tuesday.

     

  • Alexander Gustavo’s fiancé speaks out after his death

    Alexander Gustavo’s fiancé speaks out after his death

    We reported yesterday that adult star Alexander Gustavo’s died yesterday after a self-inflicted gunshot. His fiancé has spoken out about being “broken” after learning that he died.

    CREDIT: Alexander Gustavo / Twitter

    Bisexual adult star, Alexander Gustavo, 31,  was found dead, after an apparent self-inflicted gun-shot wound to the head. His fiancé, whom he was supposed to be married to this month, has spoken to Str8UpGayPorn to speak about the relationship Alexander had with her son and how broken they both after his death. She said that although most people only knew him as a porn star, she “knew him as much more”.

    In a statement she wrote,

    Alexander Gustavo was 31. He was a loving father to our son, and he considered him his own. They had an unconditional love and my son is broken, and he misses his daddy dearly. He was loved by many and will always continue to be loved by everyone, and will be missed by all those lives he touched. I know I will never be able to replace the bond we had and will always have. Forever will he be in my heart.

    I wish all this were a dream. He was awesome at what he did for a living, and many loved his work, including myself. After a hard day of filming he would like to play craps at Texas casino to unwind, then come home and take a shower with me and sleep. He was a natural, and he loved what he did.

    Most people just knew him as a well known porn star, but I knew him as much more. I’m beyond broken that we will not be getting married this month; he was who I wanted to spend my life with. His laugh and smile and corny jokes is what people mostly know. He always made sure he came home to tuck my son in at night, watch a movie, and snuggle me to sleep.

    Just, sadly, this time he had not made his way home. One day I will see him again, and I can’t wait for that day.

    If you have been affected by this story please reach out to Switchboard, the LGBT+ helpline on 0300 330 0630 or the Samaritans on 116 123

  • Naked man on top of bus stops traffic

    Naked man on top of bus stops traffic

    A naked man atop a metro bus in Hollywood has stopped traffic with his naked antics and the internet is loving it.

    Belair, Hollywood
    By Leahcim506 at English Wikipedia (Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
    According to news sources on the ground, a naked man was strutting and posing on top of a bus in West Hollywood during Thursday afternoon on one of the world’s most famous road, Sunset Boulevard.

    Eye-witnesses saw him sunbathing, posing, strutting the length of the bus before cops were able to handcuff him and take him into custody.

    Officers were unable to make the man climb down a ladder so they buckled him to a stretcher to carry him off the bus.

     

    Naturally, the Internet had a field day and the naked man even became a “moment” on Twitter, with some even believing that the whole stunt was part of an advertising campaign for Amazon’s The man In The High Castle. Others feared for the man’s mental health.

     

    https://twitter.com/i/moments/806999566197276672

     

  • Homophobia on Twitter spiked on days around the US election

    Homophobia on Twitter spiked on days around the US election

    Statistics provided by NoHomophobes.com show that online homophobia spiked the day after the US election on the 8th and 9th of November.

    has homophobia increase in the US since Donald Trump victory
    CREDIT: NoHomophobes.com

    • Trans’ hotline report that their call volume tripled during the period.

    • Alleged abusers cite Donald Trump’s victory during their reported attacks.

    • Homophobia on Twitter reaches levels not seen since January 2014.

    Bucking the downward trend of homophobia on Twitter, the Twitter homophobia monitor NoHomophobes.com recorded a staggering increase of homophobic tweets on the 8th and the 9th of November.

    The monitoring service checks every tweet sent on the social network for one of four terms “faggot”, “no homo”, “so gay” and “dyke”. The website was created by the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services, at the University of Alberta, to “show the prevalence of casual homophobia in our society.”

    Since January 2014 the use of those terms has actually decreased to around 45,000 uses of the word “faggot” per week, however, on the 10th November, the term “faggot” was Tweeted over 32,000 times in just one day.

    Doctor Kris Wells, pulled the data for the use of the word “Faggot” for us and it’s pretty grim reading,

    •  March 5 – 6,509 (times the word was used)
    •  April 3  – 11,406
    •  July 24 – 6,963
    •  August 14 – 7,209
    •  Sept 11 – 7,089
    •  Oct. 16 – 5,598
    •  Oct. 21 – 3,344
    •  Nov. 4 – 5,869
    •  Nov. 7 – 6,407
    •  Nov. 9 – 10,225

    •  Nov. 10 – 32,167

    •  Nov. 11 – 8,863
    •  Nov. 12 – 6,110
    •  Nov. 14 – 7,659
    •  Nov. 20 – 6,747
    •  Nov. 27 – 6,386

    Commenting on the finds Dr Wells commented, “So we definitely see the reality of a Trump presidency kick in on Nov 10th, two days after the election”.

    Donald Trump Cited

    In fact, the spike of homophobic language on the two days around the US Election returned to levels found in April 2014. The Guardian noted that there was a spike in reports of hate crimes in the aftermath of the result. Many victims claimed that their alleged abusers cited Donald Trump’s victory as their reasoning for their attacks.

    The national trans’ hotline, The Trans Lifeline, told the Guardian that call volume had tripled on the Tuesday into Wednesday morning.

    There were numerous reports of death threats, physical assaults and anti-gay and anti-trans graffiti sprayed onto cars. One car had a note left on it which noted,

    “Can’t wait until your ‘marriage’ is overturned by a real president,” read a sign left on a car in North Carolina. Gay families = burn in hell. Trump 2016.”

    Another gay man was assaulted in an alley in Santa Monica who was told, “We got a new President you f***ing f****ts”.

    Have you experienced a homophobic assault since the US election? Get in touch to share your experience.

     

  • COMMENT | Sleepwalking into the political closet – Gay Trump voters are a warning to us all

    COMMENT | Sleepwalking into the political closet – Gay Trump voters are a warning to us all

    Given we’ve all become political pundits over the last few weeks, let’s try a little thought experiment. Take a moment to imagine you’re running for election. 10 million LGBT votes up for grabs. What policies do you think would be vote winners?

    You’ll be forgiven if gay conversion therapy is low down on your list. Likewise, any policies that allow shops to refuse LGBT customers. And I doubt you’ve written down that companies should be able to fire people because of who they have sex with, rather than competency in the job.

    So it’s not unreasonable that all three – just for starters – would be a complete turn-off. What then are we to make of the 14 percent of LGBT voters who plumped for Trump?

    Take a look at what they voted for:
    1) Opposing a ban on electrocution therapies to ‘shock away the gay’
    2) Attacking same-sex adoption and parenting
    3) Repeal of equal marriage – he’s now claimed the law is settled, but do we really believe anything he says?
    4) A new law that would allow rampant religious discrimination of LGBT people, in the workplace, as consumers, when they’re ill

    Almost a million LGBT people looked at this platform and gave it a thumbs up. Or at best, a dismissive shrug. That’s a lot of turkeys voting for Christmas.

    For anyone working on equality and human rights issues, this is the loudest of wake up calls. The hard-won progress achieved by western countries over the last few decades always seemed irreversible, even if we knew better in the back of our minds. Plus, we had our opponents pegged. We knew the far right and fundamentalist Christians wanted to push the LGBT community back in the closet and lock the door, but they were on the fringes.

    Turns out we didn’t spot the danger of those much closer to home. Before this election, who would have thoughts there were LGBT people who were willing to overlook policies that would fundamentally attack their human rights. Not only that, but they would also support a candidate who has fanned the flames of the far right, empowering those very groups that have attacked the LGBT community so viciously for all those years.

    What’s going on? Ask LGBT people who voted Republican at this election and they’ll claim that Trump is actually a friend of the gays, proving that Facebook isn’t the only one with a strange definition of that term. Strict controls on immigration will protect the LGBT community from anti-gay foreigners, they say. Have they not noticed the huge elephant in the room? The one with the white pointy hat and robes? It’s like jumping into the jaws of a crocodile to hide from a wolf howling in the distance; I guess ‘they’re homophobes, but at least they’re our homophobes’.

    Then there are the voters who claim that there are ‘bigger issues to solve’. It’s hard to disagree with that sentiment when American fascism is on the rise. But I guess that’s not what they mean. They’re primarily talking jobs and wages. In short, for the sake of a decent pay cheque each month they’re not too fussed with outright racism, they’re fine with a Muslim registry, and if women are caught in the cross-hairs too, well so be it.

    As a group LGBT people have suffered the very worst forms of discrimination and prejudice. Although many now live under almost full legal equality, none of us should be blind to how hard it was to get here, or the ongoing struggles of minority groups within our community. LGBT people of all stripes should be defending equality and human rights like our lives depended on it, because at one time, that was exactly the case. And for others it still is. Yet there are those who seem content to vote us all back into the political closet. It makes you wonder just how bad it would have to be before groups like Gays for Trump prioritised equality? A Uganda-style ‘kills the gays’ bill and maybe they’ll pause for thought?

    We need to find answers to why people are so willing to give this administration the benefit of the doubt. And urgently, because you’d probably find similar constituencies across the Western world right now. Fascists and the far-right are on the march, in America of all places. If the dream of progress is about to turn into a nightmare for many LGBT people, it’s time we all woke up.

    Follow Andrew Legon on Twitter

    Opinions expressed in this article may not reflect those of THEGAYUK, its management or editorial teams. If you’d like to comment or write a comment, opinion or blog piece, please click here.

  • Nearly seventy percent of GayUK readers fear travelling to US following Donald Trump victory

    Nearly seventy percent of GayUK readers fear travelling to US following Donald Trump victory

    Shocking statistics from a flash poll undertaken by THEGAYUK has shown that they have concerns about travelling to the US after the results of the presidential election.

    A Trump presidency could cause troubles for the LGBT tourism industry in the US after a flash poll undertaken by THEGAYUK on Twitter showed that 69 per cent of potential LGBT holiday-makers have concerns travelling to the US after the election of Donald Trump as the country’s President-elect.

    A further 15 percent who responded said that they were unsure whether the election’s result would make them less safe, while 16 percent said that it made no difference to their opinion on travelling to the States.

    Donald Trump was made President-elect after a historic vote on the 9th November 2016.

    When we asked our Facebook followers, “Do you think travel to America as someone LGBT will change under President Trump and VP Pence?” we received a mixed response.

    Scott said,

    “For at least the next 3 months or so racial and other tensions are far too high. Unless you’re heading to California or possibly New York I’d stay away for a while.”

    While Johnathan said,

    “That’s a tough one… I can’t see Trump making laws that says all LGBT people must be round up and imprisoned, so the odds of his government affecting my holiday is quite slim.

    On the other hand though, if you’re visiting small towns in America then I would question how safe I felt against the gun wielding public. However, I don’t think an election can turn someone homophobic. You’re either already pro gay so would be happy to see me pre or post Trump, or you’ve just always been a c**t.”

    While Anthony pointed out,

    No. Why would it? I very much doubt he is going to roll back LBGT rights. He’s not that stupid.

    You can read more about what our readers thought in the new issue of THEGAYUK which is out now. Subscribe for FREE and download immediately.

  • Gay marriage “fine” by Donald Trump

    Gay marriage “fine” by Donald Trump

    Donald Trump has said that the gay marriage laws in the US are “fine” and “done”.

    CREDIT: By Michael Vadon [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsFollowing last week’s shock US Presidental election result in which Donald Trump was made President-elect, many gay rights activists have raised concerned that the same-sex marriage law, which was enacted in 2015 would be repeal.

    Concern was sparked when Trump said that he would “consider” the repeal of the legislation during an interview with Fox News during his presidential campaign.

    However, seeming to calm some concerns, the President-elect said during his CBS 60 Minutes interview, that gay marriage was “fine” with him and the courts had decided to rule in favour of same-sex marriage and it was “done”.

    He said,

    “it’s done,” adding “these cases have gone to the Supreme Court, they’ve been decided. And I’m fine with that,” adding that his views on the subject are “irrelevant.”

    Trump has in the past said that he does not believe that gay people should be discriminated against, but that he was against gay marriage.