Chicago - Gay and Lesbian Travel Travel and Chicago - Gay and Lesbian Travel Vacation Orbitz

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Introduction to Chicago - Gay and Lesbian Travel

Grant Park, Chicago

Photo credit: Brand X Pictures

Chicago is proud to be home to one of the world's most active lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. The community is strongly supported by Chicago's City government, which has sponsored the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame since 1991. The very successful Gay Games in 2006 enhanced the city's reputation as a premier destination for LGBT travelers. In 2007, the Center on Halsted, the world's finest community center for LGBT people, opened at 3656 N. Halsted St. Many LGBT-oriented shops, clubs and cultural activities are located in Boystown and in Andersonville, two miles north. Wicker Park is also emerging as an artsy queer-friendly area as well. And since Chicago is perched on the sandy southwest shores of Lake Michigan, there's a burgeoning summer gay beach scene at Lake Shore Drive and Hollywood Avenue. Of course, you'll be welcome anywhere you go in Chicago, a city that respects people of every age, income, background and sexual orientation.

Chicago is big into leather and bears, with the huge and infamous International Mister Leather happening here every May. Among other top events for LGBT travel, Pride is in June, and there's a fun Windy City Rodeo in August. Northalsted Market Days in August is the largest two-day outdoor street festival in the Midwest, with hundreds of vendors and musical acts for which the local gays come out in force.

Chicago is justifiably famous for its architecture, and the skyline is one of the most impressive in the world, home to the massive icons of the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Building, not to mention more recent additions by Rem Koolhaas and Frank Gehry. (Be sure to take one of the city's architectural boat tours that glide up and down the Chicago River.) The Magnificent Mile along Michigan Avenue in the heart of the city is not only lined with historic buildings, but with some of the city's best shopping as well. For great outdoor views of the city, take a ride on the huge Ferris wheel at historic Navy Pier. Downtown's new Millennium Park boasts a Frank Gehry-designed amphitheater, two 50-foot video block towers with fountains, and the silvery "Cloud Gate" (called "The Bean" by locals), an Anish Kapoor-designed sculpture that reflects the city skyline.

Chicago is a museum capital as well: The Art Institute of Chicago is brimming with impressionist masterpiece, and the Field Museum of Natural History showcases the biggest T-rex fossil ever discovered. Chicago also has one of the nation's best theater scenes, home to Steppenwolf and Second City, with an annual Broadway in Chicago series.

1. Head to the Hancock. The lines are longer at the Sears Tower, and even though the John Hancock Building is not as tall, its Signature Room on the 95th floor is a great place to hang out in a lounge and sip a drink while gazing over the city and lake.

2. Take a LGBT tour.
The city's tourism office offers free volunteer-led neighborhood tours, including gay tours of Boystown and Andersonville. Go to www.chicagogreeter.com for more info.

3. Fly into Midway.
O'Hare is one of the busiest and most hectic airports in the world, while the smaller and less busy Midway Airport is closer to the Loop and serves more discount airlines.

Chicago Gay Travel Essentials