Fort Lauderdale

LGBT Travel Guide

Why you should go to Fort Lauderdale !

Fort Lauderdale, a city of waterways, is known as the Venice of America and the Yachting Capital of the World. It forever became the quintessential spring-break resort town in 1960 with "Where the Boys Are," but it's a full-service destination today with museums, theater, art walks, nightlife, casinos, shopping, music festivals, horse racing, wilderness adventures, yachting, professional sports and fine dining. Its busy international airport has non-stop flights to more than 125 US cities and service throughout the hemisphere and to Europe. Port Everglades is the third busiest cruise port in the world and the 10th business container port in the US. And, yes, its beach remains iconic with 23 miles of golden sand from one end of Broward County - of which Fort Lauderdale is the county seat - to the other.

What makes Fort Lauderdale a standout destination for LGBTQ travelers is Wilton Manors, which isn't just a gayborhood but whole municipality having one of the highest LGBTQ populations in the US, sandwiched on some lists between Provincetown and Palm Springs. The two-mile-square (5 sq m) community was a rather nondescript residential neighborhood until the 1980s when a gay gentrification began. In 1988, it elected the first openly gay government official and by 2000 was the second town in the nation to have a gay majority on the city council. LGBTQ-owned businesses predominate with Wilton Drive - the main thoroughfare - an arts and entertainment district.

The annual Stonewall Pride festival in June draws 20,000 - 30,000 participants as does the Wicked Manors Halloween street party in October. It also has beach bear weekends, LGBTQ movie and theater festivals and the Stonewall National Museum and Archives.

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