Western, Canada 

Vancouver, the largest city on Canada's pacific coast, has a dramatic skyline of shiny glass towers, set against a pure backdrop of rugged coastal mountains. This modern city’s metro area is home to over 2.5 million ethnically diverse people, and is ranked on many global lists as one of the world’s most beautiful places, with one of the highest qualities of living. It's also where the largest LGBTQ2+ community in Western Canada lives.

Nine major beaches curve around the city, many with long stretches of gorgeous sandy beaches, which are easily reached via the stunning 28 kilometer Seawall, by car, bicycle, or on foot. Some also have Canada's longest stretches of subtropical looking palm trees, which are an unexpected surprise for many. A great way to end a busy day is to sit under the palm trees to watch the sunset at English Bay or Sunset Beach, before going up the hill a few blocks to Vancouver's famous Davie Village.

Davie Village, in Vancouver's amazing West End is seen by many as the heart of Vancouver's LGBTQ2+ community, and is where most of Vancouver's gay entertainment venues and businesses are located. This 24/7 neighbourhood has a wide assortment of reasonably priced restaurants with cuisine from around the world, cozy pubs with patios, dance clubs, coffee shops, hotels, saunas, and more.

The City of Vancouver and the West End Business Improvement Association (WEBIA) have worked closely with the community over the years to make the neighbourhood more welcoming, including the iconic rainbow crosswalks at Davie and Bute streets, rainbow banners along the street posts, and computerized strings of multi-coloured LED lights above the sidewalk stretch of Davie Village.

At the centre of the village is Jim Deva Plaza, right next to the rainbow crosswalks, which honours one of Vancouver's gay pioneers and community heroes. A stylish aquamarine speaker's corner is also a very fitting tribute to Jim, as many who knew him would agree. Just steps away from his legendary Little Sister's Book & Art Emporium, where many start their visit to LGBTQ2+ welcoming Vancouver.

Events galore highlight Vancouver's LGBTQAI2S+ annual calendar, and 2024 will be no exception. One of the first major events of the summer season is the Queer Arts Festival, with 11 days of visual art, performance, theatre, music, dance and literary events, making it one of the top queer arts festivals in the world.

The Vancouver Pride Society produces the annual Vancouver Pride Parade and Vancouver Pride Festival. Pride festivities stretch out over more than a month long schedule, starting with East Side Pride in June, and ending with the Pride Parade and Pride Festival on the Sunday of the BC Day long weekend, which falls on August 4, 2024. The annual Vancouver Pride Parade is the biggest parade in the city, and with official city status, draws estimated crowds of hundreds of thousands of spectators each year. A new parade route now launches from the intersection of Denman and Davie streets, near English Bay, and proceeds about four kilometres down Beach Avenue and Pacific Street to Concord Community Park near Science World, which is also the new Vancouver Pride Festival location.

The Vancouver Pride Society also announced the organization's bid to host Canada Pride in 2024. Although details were not available at time of writing, feel free to check their website for future updates.

The Vancouver Queer Film Festival, the largest queer arts event in Western Canada will celebrate its 36th festival 2024. With a strong focus on Canadian filmmakers and telling stories of queer, trans, and two-spirit communities, as well as featuring a documentary shorts program, these films screen amongst films which premiered at Sundance, Cannes, Berlinale and other internationally recognized festivals.

As you can see, Vancouver's LGBTQ2+ community is an active, visible and integrated part of Vancouver's cultural mosaic. Proudly represented in the political spectrum, tourism industry, Civic calendar of events, film and TV industries, and all walks of business. LGBTQ2+ Vancouverites enjoy this fabulous destination just the same as everyone else.

WEST END BIA