Summer is here and the gays are on the move. Trust me, from a travel agent’s perspective, this is the Golden Time.
But you might begin to see that rainbow-hued destinations have a definite pecking order. Not according to gay-friendliness or accommodation, but cost. Let’s be honest: Provincetown and Palm Springs are damn expensive.
I recently told Wire readers about Asbury Park, an uber-gay friendly destination in northern New Jersey, and also Rehoboth Beach in Delaware, probably the largest gay resort town between Miami-Dade and Fire Island. You would be hard pressed in either to break the bank (although I am sure they would love it if you tried.) Well, now another city sees its chance: Atlantic City.
It doesn’t get nearly the press, thanks to gay meccas New York and Philadelphia being within throwing distance, but the Vegas of the East Coast is throwing itself into the gay market, having once been a mecca itself back in the 50’s. Things were on the DL then, but no longer: “AC” today has its own three-day gay bacchanal, Sand Blast, taking place on the glamorous grounds of the Borgata on July 17 – 19, and FIBO, one of the premier African-American LGBT events in the country takes up its new residence at The Claridge (after dropping pricey Fire Island in January — that’s the “FI” part) on August 7 – 9. Another resort, the Caesar’s Atlantic City, has a full 100% rating with the HRC, and to top it off, the mayor, Don Guardian, is gay.
This is on top of Atlantic City’s world-class casinos and the one thing Las Vegas will never have: water. AC fronts one of the best beaches on the eastern seaboard, and far and away the most famous boardwalk in the USA—a full four miles of it, and lined with all the weird and wacky goofballs that make the Jersey Shore such a hit. Another leg up on Sin City — it’s not has hot as the desert. Floridians, who know a thing or two about heat and looking to escape it would have to be out of their minds to see Nevada as an alternative.
And the city is quick to point out that it does not get its gay on a few choice times of the year before reverting to a drearily hetero hub. The Rainbow Room is open year-round for all sorts of shenanigans. It’s Jersey; you’ll find a few no matter where you go.
For more information, go to atlanticcitynj.com/gay-lesbian.