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New York Times: Vietnam is the ideal destination for L.G.B.T

31/7/16
A Vietnamese woman holds a rainbow flag during a 2015 gay pride parade in Hanoi, a city cited as having L.G.B.T.-friendly businesses

NYT has recently issued 6 ideal destinations for LGBT community and Vietnam is a prominent name in the Southeast Asia region.
Firstly, An ideal destination for LGBT is the place that they can freely show their sexual orientation and gender identity without the objection from local residents. Secondly, there must have a lot of entertainment places that is created exclusively for LGBT. Therefore, the appearance of Vietnam in the list has shown the openness in the Vietnam society and the State’s insurance and care of LGBT rights.
Here is the list, recommended by NYT
Philippines
To some, the Philippines will present a conundrum: It’s a religious place with a strong Roman Catholic presence, and there have been some high-profile stories of violence there, including the 2015 murder of a transgender woman by a United States marine. But the country is also considered by many to be one of the most friendly places in Asia for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and voters there even elected a transgender woman to their congress recently.
In 2014, Mr. Arestis and Sebastien Chaneac, two globe-trotting bloggers, quit jobs in London and have been traveling the world ever since, writing about their adventures on their website.
“Places like Boracay in the Philippines are particularly gay-friendly, with both party venues and some beautiful beaches,” Mr. Arestis wrote. In Boracay you can even dress like and learn to swim like a mermaid at the Philippine Mermaid Swimming Academy.
Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico
Two cities in the state of New Mexico is currently emerging destinations for the LGBT community. Merryn John, reporter of Curve magazine informed that Sante Fe and Taos owns many businesses and local organizations that really support activities of lesbians.
The current mayor of Santa Fe, Javier Gonzales, is the city’s first openly gay mayor and one of his first acts upon taking office in 2015 was to propose an ordinance requiring single-occupancy public restrooms to be gender-neutral. The ordinance passed the city council last June.
Among Ms. Johns’s specific suggestions when visiting Taos are the lesbian-owned-and-operated Sugar Nymphs Bistro and a visit to Mabel Dodge Luhan’s historic inn and former residence.
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender travelers may be tempted to write off the entire American South as a stretch of homophobic red states that simply must be tolerated (or flown over) en route to the gay-friendly environs of Fort Lauderdale, South Beach and Key West, Fla. But there are a number of cities that are very L.G.B.T.-friendly in that swath of red, said Jim Werner, co-owner of a website that focuses on United States travel from a gay perspective. Nashville; Asheville, N.C.; and even Birmingham, Ala., he said, deserve consideration.
And of course any tourist is sure to be taken with the Nashville music scene. “In addition to the gay night life there’s something about crooning cowboys in Nashville that makes us swoon,” he wrote.
Manchester, England
Kelsy Chauvin, freelance travel writer travel writer Kelsy Chauvin wasn’t surprised that Manchester has a strong L.G.B.T. community — the British version of “Queer as Folk” was set there, after all — but she said she was nonetheless “blown away” when she visited for the first time last year. “It was like West Hollywood, England style,” she said. “But more gritty.”
Manchester has even a "gay village" with many bars, restaurants, nightclubs and shops own by the LGBT businesses. Sparkle Festival: The National Transgender Celebration takes place from July 8 to July 10 is an event dedicated to transgender which attracts thousands of visitors each year. Headquarters of 2 prestigious organizations LGBT Foundation and Manchester Pride are also located in this city.
Puna, Hawaii
Davey Wavey, who has almost a million subscribers to his YouTube channel, where he posts funny and frank videos about gay sexuality and acceptance as well as reports from Pride events and street interviews from around the world, spends at least seven months a year traveling, he said in a phone conversation. He had recently returned from Puna, Hawaii, where he had stayed at Kalani, a retreat center founded by Richard Koob, a gay man.
Puna, he said, is “a very queer community. And it’s not just gay men; there are a lot of transgender individuals, people who are gender queer and lesbians. It’s really a more diverse spectrum of L.G.B.T.Q. than you see in most of those other places like Provincetown or Palm Springs.”
Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia
Ben Lambert is a traveler and blogger at High Society Hobo. Last year, he spent six months traveling around Southeast Asia, he wrote in a recent email, and while he was not shocked to find Thailand, especially Bangkok, to be lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-friendly he said he was indeed surprised by the positive reception in some of the other countries he visited.
“While there are a great many people in these countries who cannot accept homosexuality, there are large communities of people who do — especially among the younger generations,” Mr. Lambert wrote. “This leads to the creation of flourishing, yet discreet, L.G.B.T. communities throughout the region.”
There are many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-owned or L.G.B.T.-friendly businesses — bars, clubs, saunas and hotels in cities including Saigon, Vietnam; Yangon in Myanmar and Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, Mr. Lambert wrote. And “while these places may not be brazenly waving the Pride flag, they are not hidden. They do not exist behind unmarked doors with secret passwords and handshakes required for entry. They exist in regular neighborhoods and are open to the entire public. The locals, including police, know exactly what they are and tend to leave well enough alone.”
Chia sẻ bài viết ^^
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