With the Olympic Games well under way and the first medals snapped up, the worlds eyes are on Rio de Janeiro. But despite the hustle and bustle around the venues and inside the athletes village, living in Rio follows its own pace and its a fairly relaxed one.The city is, by far, Brazils gay hub: apart from welcoming over one million visitors flocking to the city each year, Christ the Redeemer also casts a watchful eye over the citys own, home-grown community. After all, 14.3% of Rios citizens identify as part of the LGBTI community.
At a population of 12.3 million people in the metropolitan area, that accounts for about 1.7 million people and those who arent LGBTI themselves are often described as open minded and extending a warm welcome to people from every walk of life.
Brazils second-biggest city may not have a clearly defined gay quarter, but ask around and people will generally point you in the same direction: towards the Rua Farme de Amoedo, in the affluent South Zone neighbourhood, or bairro, of Ipanema.
By Stephanie Gerdes – Full Story at Gay Star News
Image from Wikipedia, by Gabriel Heusl]]>