San Francisco named LGBTQ+ winner of best city

In Best of GayCities 2019, over 130.000 votes were cast in 17 categories for the best LGBTQ-friendly icons and cities. San Francisco made an appearance in 1/3 of the categories including one winner, and three second places:

• BEST CITY: SAN FRANCISCO (Gold)
• MONUMENT TO OUR HISTORY: HARVEY MILK STATUE (Runner Up)
• DIVE BAR TO DIE FOR: MOBY DICK (Silver)
• DRAG BAR EXTRAORDINAIRE: OASIS (Silver)
• BELOVED LOCAL DRAG QUEEN: JUANITA MORE (Runner Up)
• ROMANTIC CITY: SAN FRANCISCO (Silver)

The BEST CITY winner position was followed by Fort Lauderdale and London. A great deal of remarkable cities such as Sydney, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles were in the runner up in this category. Besides being voted BEST CITY, San Francisco comes in second as the most ROMANTIC CITY, following Paris, the city of love.

The enduring neighborhood bar of the Castro District, Moby Dick is rewarded second place in the DIVE BAR TO DIE FOR category only surpassed by The Eagle in New York City. Another second place was rewarded to a San Francisco gem, namely the nightclub, Oasis in the category DRAG BAR EXTRAORDINAIRE right after Aqua in Key West.

San Francisco is known for its appeal to the alternative, the adventurous, the creative and the aspirational. Moreover “The city by the Bay” is perceived as the gay capital of the US, where locals welcome nearly 17 million visitors every year.

Always proud, the gay history of San Francisco includes among others, the first US Lesbian Organization, The Daughters of the Bilitis, established in 1955, the first Gay Pride Parade in June 1970, not to mention Harvey Milk who was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977 as the first openly gay elected official in Californian history. Additionally, the first rainbow flag was designed by Gilbert Baker, a San Francisco artist, in response to calls by activists for a symbol for the community.