Morning View - Truman Adult Video

A rolling billboard for one of the local dirty bookstores.

Afternoon View - Conch Republic Passports

Afternoon View - Cranky Manx

This raspy-voiced fellow has been pacing on the railing outside my hotel room every morning.

Morning View - Southernmost Point

I went whizzing all over the island on my little scooter this morning.

Afternoon View - Conch Republic Cigars

RECAP: Key West Pride, Day One

Yesterday Father Tony and I arrived in the mid-afternoon and were whisked to our Cypress House accommodations with instructions to quickly prepare for the Key West Pride kickoff party at Island House. After a few hours of poolside menz and frozen drinkies, we were hustled off to dinner at The Flaming Buoy (heh) where the co-owner related how a recent positive mention from the New York Times nearly sank the joint with business it wasn't yet ready to handle. Fantastic char-grilled scallops, by the way. After dinner, the irrepressible Father Tony continued onward to some of the bars on Duval Street, but I was zonked on the bed by 10:30pm. I am the party animal.

DISCLOSURE: As I mentioned when I first posted about this trip, our entire Key West shebang is being funded by the Key West Business Guild - airfare, hotel, meals, nightclubbing, hookers...everything. (OK, maybe not hookers.) As always for these things, press junketeers are not "required" to review or even mention any of the places we visit. If we do, hey, that's nice of us. If we don't, oh well. I usually only mention the joints that I liked. Just so you know.

Morning View - Cypress House

Father Tony and I are staying at the fabulous Cypress House, where we have adjoining apartments. I'll post a slideshow recap of yesterday's goings-on shortly.

Evening View - Key West International

I love everything about Key West's airport, like the one luggage carousel. (Where's my bag? Oh. Carousel one.) But especially the super creepy multi-culti statue family on the roof.

Afternoon View - MIA To EYW

Father Tony and I are about to board our little prop plane for the hop from Miami to Key West, where we'll be celebrating Gay Pride Week. Nonstop.

David Letterman On NYC Being Named World's Top Gay Tourist Destination

Remember when Letterman was funny?

(Source)

Win A Trip To Montreal Pride

Tourisme Montreal and Montreal Pride are teaming up for a "Queer Of The Year" contest in which five semi-finalists will win trips to this year's gay pride week.

Whether you’re a do-gooder, a diva, the average guy next door, a girl just out of the closet or anywhere in between, from now through May 30, Montreal wants you to visit our Facebook contest and show the world that you have what it takes! Participants are required to submit applications explaining why they should be the rightful owner of the crown. People will be judged on the following five criteria: personality, community involvement, sex appeal, healthy lifestyle and yes, even talent! Finalists will be chosen by Tourism Montreal representatives to be interviewed and answer open-ended-questions.

More details: "At the end of Pride Week (August 15), the finalist with the most public votes, combined with most points from the judges, will win the ultimate title of “Queer of the Year,” a chance to take part in the Pride parade, $5,000 and a Montréal getaway! The four other finalists will also receive $1,000."

FULL DISCLOSURE: As some of you may recall, last year Tourisme Montreal hosted me for a whirlwind week of homo tourism. And it was amazing.

SAINT MAARTEN: Pastors Demand Special "Code Of Conduct" For Gay Tourists

A group of pastors on the tiny Caribbean island of Saint Maarten say that the corrupting influence of homosexual tourists must be curtailed. Therefore they want their local Parliament to impose a new "code of conduct" to prevent gay cruise ship visitors from committing public displays of affection. The pastors met yesterday with Parliament's Committee For Tourism to present their demands.

Pastor Wycliffe Smith, who headed the delegation, said the group was guided by the word of God and had not been politically motivated or manipulated by anyone to champion these issues. He said the churches were following the rule of God by loving the sinner, but hating the sin. "We are not saying it is right to do it hidden or in the closet," he said. Smith said homosexuals were coming to the island every day via the airport and the harbour and there also were many who live here. His contention is that these people should not impose their way of life and should curb public displays of affection. "As a Christian nation, we love you [homosexuals], but we don't love your lifestyle," he said. [snip] Pastor Leyland Sam said the concern was that the gay cruise would be an "avalanche" of gay people on the island. If St. Maarten doesn't stop this inflow, he added, probably 15 years down the line the island will have to expand its prisons and hospitals because of the gay people.

One member of Parliament noted the pastors' concerns, but said that any changes to local law would have to be in line with human rights treaties the island presently has with the Netherlands.

Mexico City Invites Gay Honeymooners

Mexico City has launched a new tourism office to lure gay honeymooners from around the world.

"We hope that many same-sex couples who get married around the world spend their honeymoons here," says Alejandro Rojas, the city's tourism secretary. In July, the city opened an office aimed at catering to gay tourists that officials describe as the first of its kind in Latin America. "We are a very tolerant, liberal, avant-garde city," Rojas says. Officials inaugurated the new office by cutting a rainbow-colored ribbon. Rojas said the office's goal is to make Mexico City the No. 1 gay-friendly destination in Latin America. "Mexico has a tradition of being a rather macho culture... This is a sign of a very important social change," says Argentinean architect Jose Luis David Navarro, who will be spending part of his honeymoon in Mexico City this week.

The first gay couple to wed in Argentina is honeymooning in Mexico City this week on an all-expenses paid trip courtesy of the new tourism office.

Morning View - Montreal Detritus

Club flyers, bar rags, Divers/Cite guides, etc etc. Embiggen for a closer look. In the upper left is my VIQ pass, which Divers/Cite co-founder Suzanne Girard told me stood for Very Important Queer, Queen, or Quebecois, my choice.

RECAP: Montreal Day 4

Saturday began with a trip to the "24-hour hipster joint and poutine mecca," La Banquise, where my able homo-guide ordered us the traditional version of Montreal's specialty seen several posts below this one. From there we went to Parc Lafontaine in the Le Plateau-Mont Royal borough, where we lounged on the grass and scarfed our fries and curds. Lafontaine seems like a mini-Central Park, with an open-air theater, playing fields, bike paths, fountains, and waterfalls. Lovely.

Next we headed down to the waterfront, as Daniel had promised a jet boat ride around the Island of Montreal. What I hadn't realized is that we were actually going to ride the white waters of the Lachine Rapids on the St. Lawrence, which it turned out are second only in ferocity to the Colorado River. When I saw the safety gear, rubber boots, and giant padded head-protectors on the boat...I very nearly backed out. Especially when the pilot shouted to me, "New York City? FRONT ROW!" I am so not a thrill-ride person, particularly when the pre-ride spiel includes barfing instructions. (Into the hood of your poncho, please.) The ride was actually exhilarating (and terrifying) and I'm glad I did it, even if my shoulders ache today from holding on. BTW, those ankle-length rubber ponchos, haute couture though they may be, are useless when the water is up to your chest in the boat.

After dropping our sopping clothes with hotel housekeeping, Daniel and I joined the Farmboyz for the solo show debut of Blowoff artist Linas Garsys, where local and USA bear-types ogled the artwork and dished about that coming evening's entertainment options. From there we headed to rotisserie specialist St. Hubert for some of that there organic, free range, only-spoken-softly-to chicken.

And then we were off to Mascara, Les Nuit Des Drags, Montreal's Divers/Cite version of Wigstock, where long-reigning queen of the city Mado held court before 25,000 wildly enthusiastic fans in between numerous highly choreographed group drag numbers. Mado is apparently quite hilarious, judging by audience response, but of course I couldn't understand a thing. After a couple of hours, we moved to the other end of Divers/Cite's sprawling blocks-long area to hear legendary DJ Frankie Knuckles work his Whistle Song magic at the Sunset Party (above photo.) As longtime readers know, I consider dancing with thousands of homos in the dwindling light to glorious swirling house music to be one of life's greatest pleasure. Happy happy JMG.

Then it was back to the hotel, where Frankie's final notes rattled our windows from a block away as we changed for our assault on St. Catherine's zillion bars and clubs. First stop was the L'Aigle Noir, where some kind of electric-fetish demonstration was taking place, after which we headed once again to my new favorite bar, Le Stud, where they thoughtfully do not pump the dance floor's audio into the adjacent rooms. I should have hit a lot more of the clubs and bars purely for investigative purposes, but the long lines of youthful clubbers outside places like Complexe Sky and Club Unity dissuaded me from even a casual poke-in. Anyway, more to come on my first visit to Montreal, including some video from Mascara and the Sunset Dance. Big hugs to all the JMG readers who stopped to say hello yesterday! Full-screen versions of the below slideshow are here.

RECAP: Montreal Day 3

Yesterday my able homo-guide started our excursion at the famous St. Viateur Bagels in Montreal's hipster-heavy Mile End, home to many of the city's artists, musicians, and writers. Think Billyburg, but with slightly fewer sleeve tattoos. The bagels aren't very New York-y, more like unsalted warm pretzels, therefore I liked them. After bagels, Daniel rented me an orange electric scooter and we were off to Marché Jean-Talon, a sprawling green market in Petite Italy, where I plotzed over the pastries and wondered WFT some of the veggies were supposed to be. Purple carrots! Lots of photos in the below slideshow for you foodies.

And then we were off to Mont Royal, the mountain in the dead center of town for which Montreal is named. My poor little scooter could barely get up the mountain, but eventually we got to the top where a local Portuguese band was shooting a music video. Daniel then toured me around the Parc du Mont-Royal, which was designed by Frederick Olmstead, who also created Central Park. The view of downtown and the Olympic Stadium are breathtaking from some points in the park.

After turning in the scooter, we scooted back down to the gay village for a posh dinner at O'Thym, where I had the best filet mignon I've had in many years. (Lots of great photos of our dishes below.) Joining us for dinner was a fun group of Montreal movers-and-shakers, including well-known Three Dollar Bill columnist Richard Burnett, "the Michael Musto of Montreal." Love him. And then we were off to the Gotha Lounge for the JMG meetup, where about 20 very handsome and intelligent men turned up to hang out with us. Usually these things sort of put me on speed-dating mode in an attempt to properly meet everybody, but we ended up clubbing with lots of them and I got to chat extensively with almost everybody. More on the meetup and the rest of last night later, right now I'm late for poutine! Full-screen versions of the below slideshow are here.