Ocean Realm

When you think about Mexican culture, what do you think of? More than likely, you think of a culture of machismo and the traditional values of the Catholic Church. While all of this is also true, Mexico is a modern society and as in the US and other Western countries, homosexuality is accepted in Mexican society.

Mexico City and the state of Coahuila already provide civil unions to same sex couples, while the states of Jalisco, Colima, Guerrero, Veracruz, Puebla and Michoacan are close to doing the same.

It seems Mexico is a more progressive country than you may have thought! This is not to say that many gays and lesbians are not in the closet in Mexico. Despite broad acceptance, many homosexuals still prefer to keep their preferences a secret.

Mexicans prefer to be more discrete then Americans, however gay travelers are greeted warmly in most of the country. As a matter of fact, in 2007 Planetout named Mexico travel destination of the year.

Mexico offers a lot of wonderful places for gay tourists to visit. The following cities are the top gay travel destinations in the country.

Cancun. This is the number one spot, having wrested the title from Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco. While you commonly think of college kids on spring break when you think of Cancun, it’s also a great place for gay and lesbian vacationers.

Cancun is located in the subtropical climes of Quintana Roo on the Yucatan Peninsula. The temperature in Cancun averages 81 to 95 degrees, perfect weather for beach going and relaxing all year. Cancun has an active gay scene and a lot of nightlife going on downtown, a mere 15 minutes from the Zona Hotelera.

The Karamba is the most popular club with a 30 year history of drawing a young crowd including a lot of international tourists. The Picante is another one not to miss, with its friendly mixed crowd. This club is popular with gay and straight, transvestites and everyone else.

Villas Tacul is Cancun’s gay-oriented beach, but the Playa Delfines is more popular, being the city’s largest beach. Most of Cancun’s more than 100 hotels are gay friendly, so there’s always a great place to stay.

Mexico City. As Mexico’s largest city (and in fact, Mexico City is even larger than New York City), Mexico City has a large gay and lesbian community and has even legalized same sex civil unions. Mexico City offers a lot of gay nightlife and culture, with many gay clubs, including a few dozen in the Zona Rosa alone. There are gay theater groups and an annual Gay Pride Parade.

Guadalajara. The second largest Mexican city also has a large homosexual population, including a large lesbian community. The city has a gay cultural center and a widely popular gay radio show. Guadalajara has really large population of lesbians. For entertainment there are gay bars, and about two dozen gay clubs located mostly in the Zona Rosa. And then there is the Annual Gay Pride Parade.

There is a long list of gay bars and clubs. But here is just a couple. The Angel’s bar that plays electronica. Monica’s Disco plays Latin rhythm disco. To locate other clubs and bars for a bit of nightlife look for La Guia Rosa or Zona Gay.