Being a tropical coastal city, with a vibrant LGBTQ community, Miami and the beaches is one of the top LGBTQ destinations in the world. Travel is a great adventure, and while it is fun to explore a city on your own, sometimes you want a resident of your destination city to advise you on where to go and what to see. The Miami-Dade Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (MDGLCC) LGBT Visitor Center, located in the historic Old City Hall building in Miami Beach, is a great community resource available for LGBTQ tourists travelling to the Florida hub.

The LGBT Visitor Center provides a place for you to feel welcomed, and is a great resource if you need information about the South Beach, Miami and Miami are. They can also assist with any last minute needs, such as hotel and excursion reservations, and make recommendations about dining and attraction options available to you.

For locals, it’s also a place of community, information and resources. The LGBT Visitor Center offers weekly support groups, including: Narcotics Anonymous and Smart Recovery; yoga and dance classes; educational workshops; and an array of social events. Furthermore, when our group of writers toured the center and spoke with MDGLCC President Steve Adkins and Executive Director Lori Lynch, I had a chance to discuss the political evolution of LGBTQ rights in the U.S.A., as compared to Canada.

Consequently, I was referred to Tony Lima, executive director of SAVE. SAVE is recognized as South Florida’s leading organization dedicated to protecting people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender against discrimination. As a group of international tourists, we were curious to see how local LGBTQ Miami residents respond to some of the over-the-top reactions the Republicans and right wingers in the U.S. have to even a hint of equal rights for LGBTQ citizens.

It is disheartening to see the ‘religious liberty’ bills enacted in state after state, but Tony and his team have advocated for equal rights for persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities since 1993. They work to change opinions by building community consensus, educating the people of South Florida about LGBT issues, and supporting political leaders committed to ending LGBT discrimination.

Getting that conversation rolling and changing peoples’ minds is important, not just for everyday life, but to make LGBT guests welcome in the city for special events. Case in point: in little under a year, there may be a lot of tourists using the LGBT Visitor Center and running into SAVE members, as the 2017 World OutGames comes to Miami Friday, May 26th, and continues through Sunday, June 4th, 2017. Stopping into the Miami Beach Convention Center, I had a chance to discuss the ongoing expansion and, more importantly, the 2017 World OutGames coming to Miami, with several members of the Miami OutGames organization.

Sadly, all renovations won’t be complete until 2018, but the east side of the convention center will be fully renovated and ready by the time of the games, which is good, given the size of the event. They are expecting 15,000 participants to compete in 38 sports (size-wise, it’s comparable to the Olympics; in some areas numbers even exceed them).

While the Games will primarily be a sporting event, they will additionally host a choral competition, band competitions, a film festival, art exhibits, concerts and theatrical performances, as well as an integral human rights conference May 26th to 28th.

Labelled ‘The World OutGames Miami Global Conference on Human Rights’, this conference is planning to arrange for the most powerful global gathering of internationally respected human rights activists, researchers, legal scholars and organizations to descend on Miami and share experiences, victories and plans for the road ahead.

The oceanfront location of Lummus Park (where the 2016 Miami Beach Pride placed their main stage and vendor’s area) will become Festival Village during the OutGames. The village will host an abundance of vendors and endless entertainment. Of the community organizers I spoke to, the feeling is this might help reinvigorate the gay community in the South Beach... many of whom have left for Fort Lauderdale in the past few years.

The website is still a little empty in spots of information, but expect more details to be revealed as the dates grow closer. I definitely would suggest you book your hotels now if you’re planning on going. If there are any athletes in the Calgary area attending, please let us know as we may consider doing a profile.

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Contributor Evan Kayne |

Locale Miami |

Topic Travel | OutGames |

Photo Gallery Miami | Travel |