Twenty-four municipalities comprise the St. Petersburg/Clearwater area, but outside of St. Pete proper, Dunedin tops the list of gay-friendly enclaves. (Gulfport earns the highest marks from lesbians.) This charming town of about 37,000, with a

(+) More

Twenty-four municipalities comprise the St. Petersburg/Clearwater area, but outside of St. Pete proper, Dunedin tops the list of gay-friendly enclaves. (Gulfport earns the highest marks from lesbians.) This charming town of about 37,000, with a distinctive Scottish heritage, Spanish moss-draped trees, and a quaint Main Street that dead ends at Clearwater Harbor, sits a mile east of the unspoiled white sands of Caladesi Island State Park—voted the top beach in America in 2008 by Florida International University's esteemed coastal research lab. Gay outdoorsy types get a workout via the 40-plus-mile Pinellas Trail, a favorite of bikers and skaters that traverses the downtown. The center of queer social life is Kelly's For Just About…Anything, a kitschy-cool, partly gay-owned complex on Main Street which includes a great restaurant with outdoor back patio, a martini bar, and the nightclub Blur, which has a friendly mixed crowd even on its gay night.

(-) Close