From my perspective - as someone who is married to a Paisa and has a very large family in Medellin - nobody is too uptight about someone being gay - even though a very Cathoic country - more of a live and let live attitude. We have a number of gay friends - nobody that we know is hiding in the closet.
Since I am not a part of the gay scene , no first hand knowledge - but I am sure there are lots of gay bars - there are no issues for gays at the average nightclub -- gay or straight best thing you can to do for increasing your nightlife fun - learn to dance. There is a neighborhood called Chapinero in Bogota, and a part of it is called "Chapigay".
From beauty salons, tattoo parlors, fashion shops, community centers, gay friendly travel agencies, and of course bars, restaurants, discotheques I have to say that I've been positively surprised by the acceptance of the gay community in Colombia. I had no idea Colombians had such progressive views.
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Still I am sure that a gay couple would face more negative remarks or looks in the streets of Bogota than in the streets of NYC , London, Berlin or Paris. It's not all rosy, but not as bad as one could expect either. Undiscovered too. But in general, numbers of tourists are low as Colombia still suffering from its past reputation despite currently being no more dangerous than any other Latin American state, and definitely safer than Brazil. Colombia has gay scene in any major or medium-size city and, in my opinion, one of the best in the world.
Bars aren't exactly part of latino culture so you will mainly find dance clubs and saunas. People here love to dance and are good at it. In fact, they say they can recognize foreigners from their lousy dance moves :. Bogota , being the biggest city, has the most to offer. This is actually the biggest gay club in the world, but the crowd isn't exclusively gay - lots of women and straight guys too.
On Saturday night 13 rooms are open with capacity for 10 people. The club is open Thu to Sat. Fridays 7 rooms are open while Thursdays only one. Another popular place to dance and socialize is El Mozzo, but I have not visited it. It's more for those that into electronic music. In Cartagena two good places are Le petit bar-disco I think it is open every day and stylish dance club D8 only open on weekends.
Two rooms of music - latino and electronic- good looking, athletic waiters and interesting design. You can have a great night there. Full of handsome guys. Tourists skip Barranquilla , but while this big port city does not have much to see, it knows how to party. And not only during the Carnival. I wasn't sure whether to visit, but taking into account its size, I was expected decent gay clubs there and to my surprise they exceeded my expectations. Out of all the places locals recommended two: Rumours and Lives. Rumours is a semi bar, semi club that plays electronic music: very fashionable, outstanding quality of music, classy, frequented more by wealthier young Colombians Thursday to Saturday.
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Lives is bigger, 4 rooms of music, - people, only open on weekends. Very mixed crowd. Basically, a smaller version of Teatron. There are many more places to go to, but I have not visited them. I was gutted I could not visit any in Medellin : as far as I know there is a great scene too. In Santa Marta , Voltage is a dance club on weekends. Cali and Bucaramanga has gay scene too. My mentioned places aren't exactly cheap for an average Colombian, and some like Rumours are frequented by wealthier crowd, so I suspect there are places for poorer gay Colombians to go to, too, but I know nothing about them nor whether it would be safe to visit them.
Few things to mention. Make sure you have an ID with you - Teatron is notorious for its strict security. No shorts. They let me in D8 wearing shorts maybe cos I was a foreigner , but Rumours in Barranquilla denied me the entry for that.
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Luckily my hotel was 5 min walk from there so I went back and got changed. Try not to get too drunk - while the country is much safer these days, there are always some bad people and wondering around the cities at night is not safe.
Make sure you take taxis to and from clubs. Otherwise enjoy it - few countries in the world will offer more to a gay traveller than Colombia. Grindr and Hornet are the most popular dating apps. You can also use them to ask locals about places to go to. The main issue is that not much English is spoken in Colombia, in fact, hardly any, so basic knowledge of Spanish would be very helpful.
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Interesting report though - as I stated above most Colombians could care less about someone's sexuality - they may comment on it but that is all it is - a comment. Yes Teatron in Bogota is in the heart of the Chapigay neighborhood I mentioned. I went there once, and yes it's HUGE!! Some rooms are clearly LGTB oriented, other rooms are more of mixed crowds.
On the state level, the yardsticks for measuring respect for L. More and more mental health professionals are speaking out unequivocally about its dangers, and more and more state legislatures are outlawing it for minors. But that leaves 41 states without any such prohibition. The geographic variations for transgender people may well be the starkest. Harper Jean Tobin, the policy director for the National Center for Transgender Equality , noted that there are states — Nevada, for one — where changing your designated gender on a government document requires only affidavits from people who know you.
Ah, Alabama. They all really like me. And I want you to look at me. You know me. The Alabama House voted 60 to 14 in favor of the bill, after which the Alabama Senate voted 23 to 9. Americans as the one we have now is, because some of those Americans live in Alabama — or Texas. Please upgrade your browser. Source: Human Rights Campaign.
After I was invited to share my coming-out story in the public library, patrons complained and the talk was canceled. I stay here because my children are near. Lou Anne Smoot 78, lesbian, retired teacher.
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I never had to worry about letting bosses know that I was gay. We can kiss on the street corner or in our front yard. Charles Castle 71, gay, retired school librarian. It makes me feel very unwelcome. I feel powerless.
I feel attacked almost. Josiah Masie 22, gay, in Laramie, near where Matthew Shepard was fatally beaten in a gay-related hate crime in I feel grateful. Keleigh Russell 23, lesbian, grew up in Wyoming, went to college in Montana.