Their Reef & ‘Ritas Snorkeling adventure is a half-day tour that goes out to the Florida Reef (also called the Great Florida Reef) and includes unlimited margaritas!īack on land, though, there are still plenty of activities. Some of their more popular options include full-day excursions for parasailing, jet skiing, kayaking, and snorkeling. The subtropical climate in Key West, the best activities are outside-and manyįury Water Adventuresoffers a variety of high-adrenaline water activities and sports. While there aren’t many sandyīeaches, there’s still plenty of sunshine and swimming pools. Surprising amount of things to see and do. LGBTQ TravelĬontinental USA, and an island of just four square miles, Key West has a The number of attractions and things to do are endless it’s easy to lose track of time when in Key West. Today, that carefree attitude toward life is still there. It was in the 1970s when many gay men and lesbians started to flock to the city, attracted by the climate, the creative community of locals, and an accepting and open atmosphere. Maybe that’s what has attracted LGBTQ travelers to Key West for decades. Tennessee Williams wrote about Key West, “I can write anywhere, but I write the best here.” Something in the spirit of Key West just makes it that kind of perfectly livable, perfectly enjoyable destination. The subtropical climate, the warm & friendly locals, the quiet nights abuzz with laughter and love. It felt like I’d landed in another world.
Hotel, the windows down, a breeze through the window and palm trees overhead The warm, humid air on a late winter weekend was a welcome
Waiting area for luggage, taxis, and snacks. Walking on the tarmac, an airport with local art on the walls, and a single Just like I remembered from my childhood visits decades before. SPONSORED - From the moment I landed in Key West, I Stay tuned for more travel stories and reviews from my Key West trip later this year.įor more information about the Florida Keys and the COVID-19 crisis, click here. While traveling is not currently recommended, Key West is a fantastic year-round destination, so please use this guide to plan for your future trips. Virtually all tourism-related businesses, including beaches, boat ramps and fishing piers, have temporarily closed. “The army then acted like a giant centrifuge, creating the largest concentration of gay men inside a single institution in American history,” Charles Kaiser argues in The Gay Metropolis: The Landmark History of Gay Life in America.Note: Like most cities and states, Key West is temporarily closed to visitors until further notice, due to concerns about the threat of coronavirus. More Americans would “come out” - or at least meet men or women for whom they had romantic feelings - during and after World War II, a key turning point, as the draft brought together Americans nationwide and shipped them abroad together.
Many men kept their gay lives hidden from potentially hostile straight observers (by “putting their hair up”), in other words, but that did not mean they were hidden or isolated from each other-they often, as they said, “dropped hairpins” that only other gay men would notice. Many gay men, for instance, described negotiating their presence in an often hostile world as living a double life, or wearing a mask and taking it off…each suggests not gay men’s isolation, but their ability-as well as their need-to move between different personas and different lives, one straight, the other gay, to wear their hair up, as another common phrase put it, or let their hair down. In fact, Chauncey’s research found a distinct absence of the term “closet” in novels, diaries or letters from the early 20th century period. So what about that other side of the equation? It’s not clear exactly when the “closet” metaphor came to be associated with the phrase “coming out,” though it appears not to have been widely used before the 1960s.