WHY IT RATES: Argentina, and Buenos Aires in particular, is one of the best destinations in the world for LGBTQ+ travelers – TravelPulse Staff
Every year, on the first Saturday of November, when the jacaranda trees start to bloom and spring can be enjoyed in all its splendor, a Pride March is held in Buenos Aires in defense of equality for the LGBTIQ+ community. On November 6, 2021, thousands joined at this year’s march to celebrate and promote LGBTIQ+ rights. Contrary to the U.S. where pride celebrations are held in June to commemorate the Stonewall uprising, Argentina celebrates Pride in November in memory of Nuestro Mundo, the first LGBTIQ+ organization that was founded in Argentina and in Latin America, in November 1967.
During the week leading up to the Pride March, Pride Week festivities celebrate the city’s diversity with a wide range of events from live shows, photo exhibits, poetry workshops, and theater to open air markets, sports competitions and numerous parties.
Argentina was the first country in the region to legalize same-sex marriage with full adoption rights in 2010. And a Gender Identity Law passed in 2012 established some of the most progressive rules in the world protecting transgender equality.
Buenos Aires was also the first city in the world to name a metro station after a human rights activist, Carlos Jáuregui, who was the first president of the Argentine Homosexual Community and led Buenos Aires’ first Pride March in 1992. The station on the subte’s (as the Buenos Aires subway is called) H line is located on the corner of Santa Fé and Pueyrredón avenues, traditionally a meeting point for friends before heading out to bars and clubs. The station has numerous displays of contemporary art related to LGBTIQ+ rights activism as well as an information center to raise awareness about sexual diversity.
For over ten years INPROTUR, Argentina’s National Tourism Promotion Institute, has been working jointly with the Argentine LGBTIQ+ Chamber of Commerce (CCGLAR) in positioning Argentina as a friendly, welcoming and inclusive destination and in training different provincial entities and tourism suppliers throughout the country on how to market their products and services to LGBTIQ+ travelers.
