Miami Beach Pride’s Biggest Events – The Nomadic Boys

BLOG - Miami Beach Pride's Biggest Events - The Nomadic Boys

“Miami Beach Pride is one of the biggest and best gay events in South Florida which you will not want to miss!”

While Miami Beach Pride may not be one of the biggest pride events in the world, it’s certainly one of the most exciting and unique…how many Pride events do you know that take place along a beach?

My partner Teraj is a Miami native so, naturally, we have visited this vibrant city many times over the past few years. In particular, we love going to Miami Beach Pride and always attend in full glitter and rainbow paraphernalia! In this guest post, I’ve set out why we love it so much, from all the many special events, social mixers and must-attend parties.

Here’s my rundown of the most anticipated parties during Miami Beach Gay Pride.

Official Miami Beach Pride Pool Party

Nothing says “Miami” quite like a pool, a few cocktails and of course, lots of hot guys! Miami Beach Pride gets this spot on with the official Pride Pool Party. What I love about it the most is that they always feature amazing international DJs every year, like DJ Ralphi Rosario, Dan Slater and Dani Brasil. This is where you want to see and be seen (especially if you enjoy watching hotties in skimpy bathing suits)!

General admission is usually only around $40. For a bit more, you can also get a VIP access, which includes an open bar with a private terrace. 

You will naturally find us in the VIP area getting our dose of Vitamin D and soaking up all those yummy cocktails!

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Miami Beach Gay Travel Resources

Gay Georgia – The Nomadic Boys

Gay Georgia - The Nomadic Boys

A country right after our own hearts…

Georgians love all things wine, cheese and more wine. We decided to nourish our inner queens and spend a few weeks exploring this underrated ex-Soviet country, admiring the stunning landscapes, dining on delicious gourmet food, trying plenty of the famous Georgian wine, visiting castles and towers, and even squeezing in a few nights out in the gay bars of Tbilisi. 

With an epic backdrop that consists of looming mountains, ancient buildings, cobbled streets and bespoke restaurants, the cities of Georgia are never out of touch with nature. Even architecture snobs will be won over by the charming design of the Renaissance-style buildings in Tbilisi, the Stone Age style houses in Ushguli and the ‘city of caves’ in Vardzia. 

We’ve compiled a list of the best things to do for gay travellers to Georgia, which include trekking through the mountains of Kazbegi (our personal highlight!), visiting the former Georgian capital of Mtskheta, and of course, embarking on a wine tasting tour! 

LGBTQ Rights in Gay Georgia

When it comes to treatment towards LGBTQ people, let’s just say Georgia doesn’t have the sparkliest track record. Many Georgians consider queerness as a deviation from traditional ways of living. In a Pew Research Centre survey about the acceptance of homosexuality in East Europe carried out in 2015/2016, Georgia ranked as one of the least tolerant countries: a whopping 93% of the Georgians polled agreed that homosexuality should not be accepted by society. In addition, public events like Pride are often met with backlash and gay people don’t have the legal right to marry, enter a civil union or serve openly in the army.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Gay Moldova – The Nomadic Boys

Gay Moldova - The Nomadic Boys

Moldova is all about wines. Lots of delicious, fine wines that you’ve probably never heard of. What used to be a small slice of the Soviet Union is now one of the most underrated parts of Europe begging to be discovered.

So big is the wine scene of Moldova that the country famously has the largest underground wine cellar in the world. The Milestii Maci cellars are as notorious as they are humongous, holding a record 1.5 million bottles of wine.

There are lots of fun things to see and do in this undiscovered part of Eastern Europe, but as is the case with most places in the region, LGBTQ rights have a lot of catching up to do. We summarise our experience travelling around Moldova in this detailed gay country guide.

LGBTQ rights in Moldova

Moldova, sadly, is strongly influenced by the very conservative Eastern Orthodox Church, which frowns on LGBTQ rights. Anti-discrimination laws for hate crime and gender identity are yet to be passed and the country implemented a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in 1994, which is still in place.

On the plus side, being gay in Moldova is legal (since 1995) and anti-discrimination laws exist in employment and in the media. In addition, gays are (theoretically) allowed to serve openly in the army and the right to change legal gender was introduced (but only following a psychiatric diagnosis). 

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Best Spain Gay Pride Events – The Nomadic Boys

Best Spain Gay Pride Events - The Nomadic Boys

Shirtless men dancing on floats. Drag queens lip-syncing for their lives. Friends running through the streets with faces smeared in glitter and dressed in rainbow colours!

Pride is as much a party as it is a protest. Often used to highlight issues where LGBTQ citizens are not granted the same rights as their straight peers, such as blood donation, the existence of conversion therapy, or loose discrimination laws, the Pride march is a fantastic way to get society to listen up, and address the issues at hand.

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Best Gay Pride Outfits for Summer – Nomadic Boys

Gay Pride outfits - The Nomadic Boys

We sure do! Whether it’s for Halloween, or transforming into a geisha in Japan, or even into beautiful mermen in the Philippines…

Pride is one of our favourite events for dressing up. There are always so many different fabulous and sexy options to try out. Most importantly of all, dressing up for Pride gives us the chance to publicly celebrate our LGBTQ community’s hard-earned right to live freely, to love who we want, whilst having a great deal of fun at the same time!

What began as a protest march for basic human rights in 1978, has today morphed into a positive celebration of being queer, and not feeling ashamed of it. Sadly, there are still many parts of the world where being gay can get you arrested, or even murdered! Even for us, when walking the streets of say, London or Toronto, before we dare any public displays of affection, first we look around and carry out a full risk assessment.

For these reasons alone, Pride matters today more than ever, and we embrace each one with buckets of enthusiasm and love.

You don’t have to dress up for Pride if you don’t want to of course. There is no strict dress code, and everyone is welcome. But this is the perfect time of year to really let loose and go wild with feather boas, glitter, angel wings and lots and lots of rainbow accessories. So for those of us who love a bit of dress up, here are our 10 best Pride outfits to feel sexy and fabulous.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at The Nomadic Boys

 

Best Gay Pride Events – The Nomadic Boys

Best Gay Pride Events - The Nomadic Boys

Gay Pride events are as important now as they have ever been. Whilst we are fortunate to come from a part of Europe (UK/France) where being gay means we have almost the same rights as our straight counterparts, sadly there still exist many places where simply being gay can get you killed.

There are over 70 countries in the world where being gay is an illegal crime. What’s worse is that in 7 of these, the governments actively impose the death penalty for consensual same-sex acts, specifically: Brunei, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan.

Today Pride events are not only an important way to celebrate who we are, but they act as a crucial symbol to LGBTQ communities around the world to show we are not alone and we are fighting together for full equality and recognition everywhere.

In this article we celebrate the 10 best gay Pride events from around the world, which we think are the most unique and important. Whichever Pride event your travels take you to, always make sure you have adequate travel insurance.

1. New York (USA): where Pride was born

New York is where the Pride movement was born. Following the police raid of the gay Stonewall Inn on 28 June 1969, the LGBTQ community said “ENOUGH!” and started a serious of demonstrations led by drag queen Marsha Johnson. This became the catalyst for LGBTQ movements across the US in 1970, and then around the world.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at The Nomadic Boys

Cape Town Gay Pride – The Globetrotter Guys

Cape Town Gay Pride - The Globetrotter Guys

Gay Pride in Cape Town was not what we expected at all! It really is quite unique compared to many of the other gay pride events we have been to and we highly recommend you add it to your pride bucket-list.

We found Cape Town Pride to be so unique because of the people. We have never seen such a diverse and inclusive crowd of people at a pride festival! Most pride festivals we have been to have been 95% men (which of course is nice for us!), however this is not the case for Cape Town gay pride at all.

There is an even spread across all genders, age, sexuality and race – everyone is well represented which of course is what pride is about. We spoke with the Festival Director of Pride, Matthew Van As and he explained that there is a common misconception that Cape Town Pride is going to be just a festival full of the stereotypical white male crowd – the reality is completely different and as a result Cape Town Pride had a very diverse and local feel to it!

Lets take a look at all you need to know about Cape Town Gay Pride and let us convince you to get yourself booked for next year!

Full Story at The Globetrotter Guys

Cape Town Gay Travel Resources

 

Disneyland Paris Plans First Official “Magical Pride” Celebration – Joe.My.God

Magical Pride

Although Gay Days has been celebrated at the Disney parks for decades, ever since the first one in 1991 (right here in Orlando!), Disneyland Paris has just made history by becoming the first to organize an official LGBTQ Pride event, finally acknowledging openly that pink money pays their bills, too.

Magical Pride happens June 1, 2019, and will include a “Magical March of Diversity” parade, as well as several different music performances. Inspired by Orlando’s and Anaheim’s massive Gay Days parties, the first – though it was unofficial – Magical Pride took place at Disneyland Paris in 2014. Now it’s getting the nod from the park.

London Pride – The Nomadic Boys

London Pride - The Nomadic Boys

God made the rainbow so we could sashay down the catwalk to heaven…

…and of course along the streets of London during Pride!

But can you imagine, in other parts of the world, the cover image for this blog post alone would likely get us arrested or even killed.

Whilst we are lucky to live in a place where we can love who we want freely, there are still 74 countries where being gay is still a crime, and many others where the mere mention of being gay can lead to you losing your job, being ousted by your family or even worse, beaten up and killed.

We saw this a lot during our big trip in Asia, such as with our friend Joko from Java in Indonesia, Kaluu from Colombo in Sri Lanka and particularly in Russia.

This is why we think it is important to come to Pride events – to march for those who can’t. Whilst the parades are always a lot of fun, they are also a strong and symbolic message of love, unity and acceptance for our LGBTQ family around the world, who we want to be celebrated, respected and embraced by all – #pridematters

We’ve attended numerous gay pride events around the world including the gay pride festival of Puerto Vallarta, the Canada Fierte pride in Montreal and the gay Pride of Cyprus in Nicosia. Our favourite, which we always look forward to every year is Pride in London. As proud Londoners, we are of course very bias, especially as this is where we met back in 2009. But each time we go to Pride in London, we have an amazing time.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at The Nomadic Boys

London Gay Travel Resources

Latin America Gay Pride – The Nomadic Boys

Latin America Gay Pride - The Nomadic Boys

During our travels in Latin America, we went to some pretty awesome gay pride events, particularly in Mexico, Argentina and Uruguay.

The most famous is of course in Sao Paolo, which is the largest in the world – these guys sure know how to put on a decent party. Here are our top gay pride events we discovered in Latin America during our travels, which you also need to check out.

São Paulo Pride in Brazil

In all lists about the largest gay pride events, the “Parada do Orgulho LGBT de São Paulo” always comes out top: it is famous for having the largest gay pride festival in the world, with estimates of around 5 million people attending – simply incredible!

It all began in 1997 as a modest political march by the LGBTQ “Paulistas” (local nickname for the people of São Paulo). Today the São Paulo Pride has mushroomed into one mammoth colourful pink event, whilst still retaining a strong political stance, particularly in light of the high levels of homophobic violence across the country.

São Paulo Pride takes place in June. We recommend checking their Facebook events page for the most up-to-date information about the next event.

We got excited when one of our favourite Netflix shows, “Sense8” used Sao Paolo pride for sexy Lito to come out, then publicly kissed Hernando in front of everybody. The cast even attended the 2016 parade and had their own raunchy float.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys