Posted on 12/12/2006 5:43:34 AM PST by Mr. Brightside
Top gay-friendly city: San Francisco
Mon Dec 11, 1:50 PM ET
WASHINGTON - San Francisco was named the top "gay-friendly" destination in a new survey of gay travelers conducted by the Travel Industry Association.
Following San Francisco on the list's top 10 were Key West, Fla.; New York City; Fire Island, which is part of Long Island in New York; Provincetown, Mass.; Los Angeles; Miami-South Beach, Fla.; Las Vegas; New Orleans, and Palm Springs-Palm Desert, Calif.
The national survey was conducted by the Travel Industry Association in partnership with Harris Interactive and Witeck-Combs Communications.
Nearly half of gay and lesbian travelers said that whether a destination has a "gay-friendly" reputation matters when they are making leisure travel choices.
A place where "they can hold their partner's hand in public" without fear of harassment was cited as an example of something that more than half of gay men and more than two-thirds of gay women look for when they are choosing a destination, according to the survey.
Bob Witeck, CEO of Witeck-Combs Communications said the survey showed that gay and lesbian travelers are not looking for special treatment, but are simply "expecting consideration and equal respect given all customers."
Four out of 10 gay and lesbian travelers also said they consider a destination gay-friendly if it "is known to be culturally welcoming and to support diversity" and gay rights.
Only a third of gay men and 18 percent of lesbians cited "gay nightlife, gay clubs and bars" among their top considerations for gay friendliness.
The national online survey was conducted among 2,020 self-identified gay travelers 21 and older who have taken at least one leisure trip within the past 12 months.
The survey also polled 1,010 adults who self-identified as heterosexual and who also have taken at least one leisure trip in the past year. The heterosexual travelers were included as a way to compare the two groups. The survey found, for example, that gay men tend to spend more on trips than lesbians and heterosexuals.
A whole city occupied by them? Now that's scary. Thanks for the update. Obviously, I've never been there (nor to Boston).
...you got that right....I don't fear SF and it is actually fun to visit...I would say 90% of the time I go you DO NOT see open gay expression especially in the tourist spots.. you get near Union Square or of course the Castro District then yes.....San Diego where I also lived has a much bigger gay population the SF....SF may be friendly to them but it is not IMO the most openly gay city....just the more infamous.....
Thought it was going to be Columbus, Ohio.
Give it time.
McGreevey's gonna have to get out there and "lobby" harder for New Jersey.
Well, this is simply a FABULOUS piece of news!
If you drop your car keys in Cherry Grove, you'd better kick them all the way to Westhampton Beach ... :-)
Or Re-homo beach, DE.
"Don we now our gay apparel."
Well, I beg to differ with you. I stayed near Capitol Hill and it was there all the time. Also saw it at Lake Washington.
"It's a list of vacation spots, not places to live."
Guess you've never been to Austin. Lots of vacationers.
Thailand?
Isn't Thailand where all the homos, like John Mark Carr go for their gay sex/pedo romps?
SF isn't gay friendly, its straight hostile.
No, I haven't, but I just don't think it's got the national vacation profile a lot of other places do. Maybe for music fans, but that's not the same as homosexuals.
Yeah, it was a reference to the threads from that time having pages of posts that just said "Thailand?"
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