The Safest U.S. Cities for LGBTQ Tourists for Pride Season

The Safest U.S. Cities for LGBTQ Tourists for Pride Season

This weekend, a large number of LGBTQ tourists will be flocking to Washington, D.C. for World Pride. This year, travel for the queer community is a mess. Nations like Denmark, Ireland, and Germany have issued travel warnings for coming to the US for Pride, even D.C. has issued precautions, and the government keeps changing travel restrictions, whichever way the wind blows. What's a gay to do? Misterb&b, the world’s largest community of LGBTQ+ hosts and hotels, and gay traveler reviews, has put together a Pride Safety Index to offer its suggestions of the safest US cities for LGBTQ tourists this Pride season. They've also put together a list of the hottest international Pride spots to hit up this year.

To create the Pride Safety Index (PSI), the travel site used data that includes their most booked cities, state policies towards the queer community, local protections, state anti-LGBTQ bills, community support like PFLAG, and reported hate crimes. A higher score reflects increased LGBTQ safety and inclusivity.

Here are the safest US cities, according to the PSI, followed by their safety score.

#1. Chicago, Illinois (0.925818)

#2. Seattle, Washington (0.8820167396811622)

#3. San Francisco, California (0.859765)

#4. Portland, Oregon (0.828624)

#5 San Diego, California (0.819190)

#6. Honolulu, Hawaii (0.805810)

#7. Denver, Colorado (0.803871)

#8. Albuquerque, New Mexico (0.801627)

#9. Las Vegas, Nevada (0.794831)

#10. Providence, Rhode Island (0.788671)

#11. Cathedral City, California (0.785347)

#12. Palm Springs, California (0.782136)

#13. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (0.776131)

#14. New York, New York (0.75)

#15. Washington, Washington DC (0.737)

#16. Los Angeles, California (0.728369)

#17. Atlanta, Georgia (0.712163)

#18. Tampa, Florida (0.699735)

#19. Wilton Manors, Florida (0.626081)

#20. Oakland Park, Florida (0.626081)

#21. Orlando, Florida (0.624527)

#22. Miami, Florida (0.622352)

#23. Fort Lauderdale, Florida (0.619867)

#24. Salt Lake City, Utah (0.584884)

#25. Indianapolis, Indiana (0.574057)

#26. Phoenix, Arizona (0.539445)

#27. Nashville, Tennessee (0.529054)

#28. Dallas, Texas (0.368089

#29. Houston, Texas (0.338946)

#30. Austin, Texas (0.338738)

We aren't surprised by a lot of these, but are surprised to see gay meccas like NYC and Los Angeles further down on the list. And despite all the anti-LGBTQ sentiment by the Florida government, there are still several cities in that state that made it to the list. The US is losing its place as a queer travel destination rapidly. Misterb&b also shares that there has been a 40% drop-off in searches for travel to US Prides this year. Canada has dropped a whopping 66% of bookings to the US, going to the UK, Netherlands, Costa Rica, and Colombia instead.

As far as international Pride hot spots, the site reported the following destinations:

#1. Barcelona, Spain

#2. Berlin, Germany

#3. Maspalomas, Spain

#4. Orlando, Florida, USA

#5. San Juan, PR

#6. Paris, France

#7. Montreal, Canada

#8. Provincetown, Mass, USA

#9. Mexico City, Mexico

#10. Amsterdam, Netherlands

#11. Toronto, Canada

#12. Calgary, Canada

#13. Warsaw, Poland

#14. Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

#15. Rome, Italy

The US is included in only 3 cities this year.

Are you planning on traveling anywhere non-local for Pride this year?