Fort Lauderdale, USA
Introduction
Through the 1970s to the 1990s, Fort Lauderdale (aka Ft. Lauderdale) was basically considered the “spring break” capital of the United States. Straight university students flocked to this fairly inexpensive and sunny destination to get loaded and party, leaving a trail of beer cans, vomit and mayhem in their wake. Rumor has it this is even where the “wet t-shirt contest” was born. The beach was lined with cheap t-shirt stores, fast-food outlets and a lot of junky shops.
With those horrible Ft. Lauderdale memories in mind (my grandmother lived there when I was a kid in the 80s), I had no desire to visit the city again, but a recent conference meant I was going whether I wanted to or not. And I’m glad I did. Oh, how the times have changed! Ft. Lauderdale is now a relaxing South Florida destination without all of the South Beach pretension you find in Miami…. and the lesbians have started to take notice.
While Miami was a gay and lesbian Mecca in the 80s and 90s, it looks like Ft. Lauderdale, located just half-an-hour away, is the new queer sunshine destination of choice. There’s great shopping, a beautiful beach, a gay neighborhood, gorgeous areas to walk around, and it’s a lot cheaper than nearby Miami. Spring break exists no more, and all of the crappy stores along the beach have been torn down and replaced with luxury hotels. Even though there’s still tons of strip malls and a car rental is a must, Ft. Lauderdale’s queer star is on the rise.
The city has done a lot of advertising to attract gay men, but virtually nothing to attract lesbians. That said, it’s still very much a lesbian-friendly destination. You’ll find a couple of lesbian bars in town and Wilton Manors, the local gayborhood (which is actually its own municipality with an openly gay mayor), is developing nicely. Ft. Lauderdale is the kind of place you visit when you just want to hang with your sweetie at the beach or hotel pool, go out for meals, drop a few bucks at the malls and maybe have a couple of drinks at the local lesbian bar. There’s nothing overly fancy about it, but sometimes that’s exactly what people are looking for.
Thanks for newsport appriciate it very much.You Guys have something in Republica,Dominicana?It will be nice to knowThanks again wish you all the best for 2009!
Tootz Concepcion on Jan 01, 2009
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