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Get the latest in queer travel trends straight to your inbox, twice a month

Let’s face it, travel is different when you’re LGBTQ.

My newsletter tracks news stories and travel trends that intersect with LGBTQ travel.

Each issue highlights 2-3 news stories through a queer lens, unpacking what the trends tell us about our comfort and safety while traveling.

From whether we can be ourselves in a destination, or feel like we have to hide, to navigating fast-changing laws that impact our safety to experiencing the joys and freedoms travel promises, queer travel experiences differ from the mainstream โ€“ and travel media often does not provide us the tools to make sense of our experiences, much less the world as we experience it.

You’ll also get links to the latest posts and a personal update from me on where in the world I’ve been.

Emails come the second and fourth Thursday of the month.

Here’s what a typical issue looks like:

Screenshot of newsletter, text reads: For our last Pride month news wrap-up we're looking at the state of LGBTQIA inequality in these 50 states. 3 States Bucking the TrendAgainst the general rightward lurch of legislation controlling LGBTQ, trans and women's bodies, states are passing legislation that protects us. In the last 12 months, the states that have seen the biggest positive shift on equality are Michigan, Oregon, and (wait for it) Georgia. Minnesota had its most pro-LGBTQ legislative year since 2013, when they passed marriage equality. Last year, Minnesota banned conversion therapy and passed a landmark trans refuge bill. That bill guarantees Minnesotans and health care providers cannot be legally punished for traveling across state lines for gender affirming care. Oregon passed a bill protecting gender-affirming care and abortion in August 2023, after a 6-week Republican walkout ultimately failed to prevent it from passing. โ€œNeighboring states are banning and criminalizing essential health care, threatening patients and providers, cutting off access to care in rural communities, and targeting access to lifesaving health care for transgender and non-binary individuals. Here in Oregon, weโ€™re taking a stand" said Oregon's governor, Tina Kotek, upon signing the legislation. Movement Advancement Project, which ranks states on LGBTQ-friendly policies, gibes Georgia a rating of 1/44.5 points. I'm not exactly sure why Georgia made the roundup of states with the biggest equality gains. My guess is they rose to the top not by actively making the state more LGBTQ-friendly, but by not passing queerphobic laws (not for lack of trying, fwiw!). According to Movement Advancement Project's profile of the state, Georgia does not have any of the bullshit negative laws conservative legislators have been jamming down our throats, like the "you can't pass a nondiscrimination law" or "there are only two biological sexes" or "you must use the bathroom that aligns with the gender assigned at birth." I guess this is the state of LGBTQ rights in the US these days: JUST BY NOT BEING AN OUTRIGHT BIGOT WITH THE IMAGINATION OF A FOURTH GRADE FOUR SQUARE CAPTAIN-SLASH-SCHOOLYARD-BULLY, YOU ARE STANDING UP FOR EQUALITY. h/t USA Today, Statesman Journal
Screenshot of newsletter, text reads: Republicans Running Out of Red States to Legislate Yahtzee, the Republican zeal for queerphobic legislation is finally waning...not because they now believe we have a fundamental right to exist, but because they've run out of conservative communities only too eager to rubber stamp their nonsense. Don't take my word for it: โ€œWeโ€™re running out of states to pass things in,โ€ Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, a national conservative advocacy group, was quoted in the New York Times.The pivot away from oppressing marginalized groups is, in part, an attempt to appeal to the so-called rank and file Republicans who care more about paychecks and gas prices than whether Millicent uses she/they pronouns. Republicans currently control the legislature in 28 states. Of those states: โ€ข 24 have restrictions on hormone therapies for gender transition to minorsโ€ข 24 have transphobic "protect girls sports" billsโ€ข 12 play gender binary policing hall monitor with school bathrooms We're supposed to take it as a win that Georgia's legislature couldn't drum up[ the votes for their "protect girls sports" bill or "no hormone blockers for under-18" bill. Or that Kansas, with its Republican governor and supermajority in both housers, couldn't ban gender transition for minors.Some moderate Republicans are declining to vote on this issues, claiming government overreach into private lives. My guess is, this is a strategic retreat from now through election time. Depending on the way things shake out, we'll either be able to chip away at some of these bad laws or brace for worse. h/t NYTConversation starterTravel industry folks have been asking me which domestic destinations are popular with LGBTQ travelers. I've been seeing a lot of hype for LA and Vegas, plus an interest in travel to smaller cities and rural areas. Write back and tell me where in the US you're excited to travel and why. I'd like to know!

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Map of Iceland with red pins showing curated list of things to see and do
LGBTQ events worth traveling for infographic listing 10 events to visit across the world, done in rainbow colors.