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Note: All travel is subject to frequently-changing governmental restrictions—please check federal, state, and local advisories before scheduling trips. All information is current to the best of our ability as of date of publication.

In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn in NYC, drag queens, butch lesbians, male prostitutes, trans folk and others fought back against police raids. One year later, marches happened in NYC, LA and San Francisco, and today hundreds of Pride events happen in cities and small towns nationwide. True, things may again look different this year or happen virtually, but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth considering (or bookmarking for 2022). Here are the top LGBTQ events happening in June.

RELATED: Visit our LGBTQIA travel hub for welcoming hotels, the ultimate queer events calendar, inspiration, and more!

Boston Pride

Ha! We love that Boston Pride’s motto is Wicked Proud. That said, we don’t love that the pandemic has forced Beantown to postpone its 50th anniversary celebration this year. Meanwhile, festivities will continue virtually, including a Pride Flag Raising and Pride Lights ceremony, and Boston Pride is working with the City of Boston on rescheduling the Parade and Festival in autumn.

Wanna stay somewhere wicked awesome? Book your Boston hotel here.

Capital Pride

Celebrating Pride in our nation’s capital is a big deal, but first things first: Capital Pride activities this June will be largely virtual with hopes for an in-person celebration in October. Meanwhile, a large-scale Pride is planned for 2022 and organizers are already focused on 2025 when DC celebrates Pride 50. Its 2021 motto? Still We Have Pride. We’ll raise a rainbow flag to that!

DC Pride? Now there’s a capital idea! Book your DC hotel here.

Chicago Pride

Photo courtesy of Monica Pedraja

Chicago is Orbitz HQ so yeah, we’re biased toward Chicago Pride and its parade, which winds its way annually through the gayborhood. (Orbitz marches annually with the help of giant Orbitz beach balls!) Though the parade has officially been pushed to October,  as part of Pride Month events the city will still serve up PrideFest, a massive weekend festival in Millennium Park, which celebrates its 20th installment this summer and is scheduled for June 19-20.

If the Windy City is your kind of town, book your Chicago hotel here.

Denver Pride

The big news out of the Mile High City isn’t that it’s cancelling due to Covid (it’s not as of yet), but rather Denver Pride is moving to June 26-27 to avoid conflict with the city’s Juneteenth Music Festival (though both events are working together to attract new crowds). This year’s Pride will include the annual parade, exhibitors, food vendors, a political rally, family activities, a 5K race, live entertainment, and more.

The Rockies rock! Book your Denver hotel here.

Frameline45: San Francisco

Flickr CC: Mitch Altman

You can’t call yourself a cinephile until you’ve sat and watched a movie in the majestic Castro Theatre. Frameline, the San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival, happens every June alongside hundreds of other queer events, but this one is among the city’s very best. Imagine hundreds of fab films made by us and for us, and featuring plenty of red-carpet razzle dazzle. No exact June dates have been released yet, but this one will surely happen even if it does decide to go virtual.

Falling for fog? Book your San Francisco hotel here.

Gay Days Disney World

Warning: Queens in the kingdom! What started in 1991 as a loosely organized day at Disney (show up at the park and dress in red) has morphed into a multi-day affair including pool parties, an adult expo, a Miss Gay Days Pageant and visits to each of the four parks. Disney doesn’t officially endorse the event (though during our visit they were selling rainbow Mickey ears and snapping photos of same-sex couples). Gay Days is slated for June 1–6 and all four parks are open.

Ready for your date with Mickey? Book your Orlando hotel here.

Houston Pride

Dates for Houston Pride are TBD, but Space City is considering three themes for 2021, including Pride Unbound, Together We Rise and #GameOver (meant to signify that time’s up for LGBTQIA intolerance). Also, nominations for Grand Marshal have been narrowed down to about a dozen community activists. In the meantime, Pride Houston has partnered with the Montrose Center to help folks impacted by recent winter storms. Hurray Houston!

Don’t mess with Texas Pride! Book a Houston hotel here.

Jersey Pride

Asbury Park is the Garden State’s revitalized slice of queer paradise. This oceanfront town 55 miles south of NYC boasts a mile-long boardwalk, a bunch of LGBTQIA-owned businesses including the gay-popular Empress Hotel (once featured on the cover of a Bruce Springsteen single and purchased in 1998 by Madonna producer Shep Pettibone) and onsite nightclub Paradise. As for Pride, it’s happening June 6 and includes a parade, festival and rally.

Ready for a Shore thing? Book your Asbury Park hotel here.

Key West Pride

The Florida Keys are open and Pride in the Conch Republic happens June 2-6. Anything goes in Key West (kinda why we love it) so we’re not surprised that events include a men-only naked pool party at Island House resort and Fetish Ball at Saloon 1. But there’s also the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun party at AquaPlex, plus inclusive events like the Pride Pool Party at Bourbon Street, Pride Drag Brunch at Mangoes and the Pride Street Fair on Duval Street in Old Town.

The key to a great Pride celebration is a great hotel—find one here.

LA Pride

The LA Pride parade marches annually down Santa Monica Boulevard and ends with an oft star-studded PrideFest featuring live performances and lots of boozing. Last year’s party was paused (though a masked march happened in solidarity with BLM protests) and Pride organizers Christopher Street West decided to pull out of West Hollywood citing construction, changing demographics, and a commitment to allyship with other social change movements. LA Pride will happen June 11-13 with safety protocols in place.

Ready to go gay in LA? Book your Los Angeles hotel here.

NYC Pride

Flickr CC: Steven Pisano

When New York celebrated the 50th anniversary of Stonewall in 2019, more than five million people showed up. The theme of this year’s Pride is “The Fight Continues,” a nod to the pandemic, police brutality, and other issues facing the LGBTQIA community and world. Be on the lookout for a hybrid NYC Pride, including the NYC Pride March happening both virtually and with in-person elements on June 27, and a virtual rally on June 25. PrideFest and Pride Island will also happen on June 27 with details yet to be announced.

In a New York state of mind? Book your NYC hotel here.

Pittsburgh Pride

Revolution is the theme of this year’s Pittsburgh Pride, happening June 4-6 and for the first time in collaboration with LGBTQIA groups both in Steel City and across Western PA to ensure collaboration and inclusiveness for all. More details are TBD, but we can tell you that in 2019, organizers announced they would move Pride to Point State Park which sits at the confluence of the Ohio, Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, the coolest spot in downtown Pittsburgh.

Wanna make a Pride Pitts stop? Book your Pittsburgh hotel here.

Queer Women of Color Film Festival: SF

Presented by QWOCMAP (Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project), this San Francisco film festival puts the lives of queer and trans women—including Pacific Islander, South Asian, Muslim, Arab, Southwest Asian, Arab and North African descent—front and center and plays annually to sold-out houses. Now in its 17th celebration, this year’s June 11-13 fest will happen virtually.

If you’re going to San Francisco… be sure to book an SF hotel here.

St. Pete Pride

Looks can be deceiving. Though the spotlight is often on Miami and Orlando, Pride St. Pete (June 25-28) boasts the largest parade in the Sunshine State (more than 250,000 attendees) and it happens at night! Plus, there’s the annual TransPride March, Taste of Pride, sun-filled beach days, and the Street Festival which happens in the Grand Central District, the coolest neighborhood on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Beat the heat with nighttime Pride. Book your St. Pete hotel here.

Seattle Dyke March

Feminists + queers + community empowerment is the goal of this long-running march, which honors queer women and dyke-identified folks across the gender spectrum, and if you’ve never participated in one, they’re pretty awesome. Last year’s Dyke March happened virtually, while this year’s march is scheduled for June 26 with more information to come.

Packing for the Pac Northwest? Book your Seattle hotel here.

Stonewall Columbus Pride

We love Columbus, Ohio. It’s the greatest city in the Midwest that not enough people take the time to explore. Then again, Stonewall Columbus Pride attracts 750,000 annually so perhaps the secret is out! Details are TBD for 2021, but it’s going to be a hybrid weekend, including a virtual parade on June 19, plus a Pride kick-off, the PRIDE bike ride, a Pride Brunch, craft show, Pride concert, and more with a renewed focus on representation of black and brown LGBTQIA folks.

Hi, Ohio! Book your Columbus hotel here.

Toronto Pride

We’re always down to hang in Toronto’s amazing Gay Village and love Toronto Pride, one of the world’s biggest and most multi-cultural. This year’s celebration happens June 18-27 and will be “phygital,” meaning a hybrid of limited in-person events (like art exhibitions and community pop-ups) and virtual happenings like the parade itself. If you want to watch the parade meander down Yonge Street (supposedly the longest in the world), save the date for 2022.

Are you as excited “aboot” Pride as us? Book your Toronto hotel here.

Tagged: California, Canada, Chicago, Chicago, Colorado, Denver, Florida, Key West, LGBTQIA, Los Angeles, Midwest, New York, Orlando, San Francisco, Toronto, Washington DC

Note: Orbitz compensates authors for their writings appearing on this site.

Jason Heidemann

Jason Heidemann

Jason is a Lead Content Specialist for Expedia Group, and manages content initiatives across numerous Expedia-owned brands. His work has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, Time Out, the Huffington Post, Chicago Magazine, Passport and many others.

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