Now that Pride season is in full-swing, we thought we’dshare our picks for the top LGBT soirees around the world.
10. Pensacola Memorial Day Weekend
May 27-30
The local scene this weekend is like no other, thousands ofsexy, half-naked and bronzed guys and girls of all ages and types. Find a nicespot for yourself on the beach and enjoy the scenery. The best part of PensacolaPride is meeting new people (alcohol and themed-tents help to this end). Fromdrag-queens to rehab stations, you'll find miles of entertainment.
9. Montreal
Aug 4-11
The city of Mary knows how to throw a party and gay bride isone of the best! The parade will starton the corner of Guy Street and travel east on René-Lévesque Boulevard,culminating on Sanguinet Street and the Village. The crowd will march to PlaceÉmilie-Gamelin where everyone is invited to continue the celebrations duringthe MEGA T-DANCE until the closing show.
8. Madrid
July 1-3
The parade on Saturday is by far the largest gay parade inSpain and one of the biggest parades throughout Europe, with thousands ofinternational visitors. Known as MadridOrgullo (abbreviated Mado, orgullo is the Spanish word for pride). In this city long characterized by itsformality, Chueca has emerged into a place where people feel free to let theirhair down. The gay community turned Chueca into a safe zone for cutting loose,expressing creativity and having a good time.
7. New York City
June 23-27
If you can handle pride here, you can handle itanywhere. In New York City, Pridecelebrations typically center around five events. The Rally (the earliest of the events, takingplace June 18), PRIDEfest, the March, the Dance on the Pier and Rapture on theRiver. The events all take place in the West Village, very close to the city'sother gay-popular neighborhoods like Chelsea and the East Village.
6. London
June 18-July 3
London has quietly developed a robust and visible LGBTcommunity centered around the busy SoHo district. The Parade is an explosion of Pride in theheart of London, attracting over 1 million people in a celebration ofdiversity. Pounding house music can beheard on Old Compton Street and beyond, celebrating equality, uniting people ina celebrative atmosphere where all are welcome and fostering a sense ofcommunity within the LGBT population.
5. San Francisco
June 25-26
The theme is “In Pride We Trust” and the event will be heldover the weekend of June 25 and 26, 2011. With more than 200 paradecontingents, 300 exhibitors and more than a dozen community-run stages andvenues, the San Francisco Pride Celebration and Parade is the largest gatheringof LGBT people and allies in the nation. The two-day celebration is free andopen to all.
4. Buenos Aires
Nov 4-10
Steamy days and sultry nights are bound to get your pulsethrobbing! Buenos Aires is a smart andsexy city that is full of passion, dance and history. The annual gay pride event celebrates thebeginning of the first ever gay group in Buenos Aires in 1969. This flamboyantfestival is filled with parties, forums and of course a raucous parade.
3. Berlin Christopher Street Day
June 22-25
Berlin CSD started as a small demonstration with a fewhundred participants in 1979. In the last few decades it grew to become aspectacular parade of hundreds of thousands. Together with guests from home andabroad, revelers take over and let loose. Leading up to the parade are variousevents like the Swing dance Gay Night at the Zoo or the CSD on the Spree(Berlin River). Apart from mainstream CSD there is the transgeniale CSD held inKreuzberg, which is less commercial.
2. Amsterdam
July 30-Aug 7
In 1987, Amsterdam became the first city in the world todedicate a monument to persecuted gays. More than a decade later, theNetherlands legalized registered partnerships and then same-sex marriage withequal rights and benefits. Oh yeah, the gay scene in Amsterdam is doing justfine. Gay Pride Amsterdam is unlike anypride event in the world. Count onstreet parties all weekend long, the best club circuit parties and of coursethe famous Canal Parade on Saturday.
1. Sydney Mardi Gras
Feb 17-21
Rainbow flags fly year-round but more than a million gaysand lesbians converge on the city for Sydney Mardi Gras (one of the only gay prideparades in the world without a specifically gay name but with an entirely gaymeaning). The event rocks the city forweeks, draws gays and lesbians from all over the globe and is arguably thelargest pride celebration in the world. The city’s famed “gayborhood,” which lines Oxford Street, is abuzz. Thedrag queens are the greatest in the World. Their almost nightly shows at venues like Stonewall and Arq drawhundreds of revelers who bask in such wonderment as “Going Gaga,” a 30-minutereview of the reigning Queen of Pop.