Atlanta

The heart of the LGBTQ+ scene is Midtown, around 10th Street and Piedmont Avenue. Right next to it is Ansley Square, a small shopping center that has been a gathering point for the community for decades. Bars, cafés and clubs are within walking distance of each other, between high-rises and the sprawling Piedmont Park. One of the largest Black Pride scenes in the country gives the city's queer life its own character. Beyond Midtown, neighborhoods such as nearby Virginia-Highland and parts of East Atlanta have earned a reputation as open, mixed places to live.

A fixture is Blake's on the Park, a meeting place for decades and known for its drag shows. If you like it rougher, head to the leather and Levi's bar Atlanta Eagle with its big outdoor patio. For long club nights with DJs and performances there's X Midtown, while Friends on Ponce, with its pool tables, is more of a no-frills neighborhood bar. With short distances, it's easy to hit more than one place in a night. On weekends the bars usually fill up late, but then things often go on into the early morning.

Spring and fall are the most pleasant times to visit, since Georgia summers get hot and humid. In October, Atlanta Pride takes over Piedmont Park (in 2026 on October 10 and 11) with a parade and a two-day festival in the park that regularly draws more than 300,000 people and is one of the biggest Prides in the Southeast. If you want to be there for the festival, book early, as prices rise sharply around that weekend.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world. Flights take about ten hours from London and about two and a half hours from New York. From the terminal, MARTA trains take you straight to Downtown and Midtown in just over twenty minutes. Within the gay neighborhoods you can often walk, and for longer distances MARTA, ride-hailing or a rental car are handy. During the day, worthwhile stops include the World of Coca-Cola, the huge Georgia Aquarium, the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park and the green BeltLine trail. For US citizens this is a domestic trip; UK citizens need no visa for up to 90 days but must have an approved ESTA before travel, so check the current rules before you go.

In a rather conservative region, Atlanta is seen as a liberal refuge, and in Midtown you can usually move around as a queer person without worry. Same-sex marriage is recognized at the federal level, but Georgia has no statewide anti-discrimination law that explicitly covers sexual orientation and gender identity. Outside the gay areas and in more rural parts of the state, the climate is noticeably more reserved, so open affection is not taken for granted everywhere. At night, as in any big city, use common sense in some neighborhoods, but in the core of the queer district things are easygoing.