Gay tourism in Portugal

Since the 1990s, there have been enormous strides in gay liberation in Portugal, although the larger cities of Lisbon, Porto, and the more cosmopolitan Algarve region are more tolerant than the countryside largely for being conservative.

The first organization of the LGBT collective campaign in Portugal was founded in 1992 and in 1997 the first Gay Pride Festival and the first Gay Film Festival and the opening of the first gay and lesbian community center were organized.

From Lisbon (in June), Porto and Leiria hold Gay Pride marches, but apart from these events the gay community in Portugal can keep a low profile.

Although homosexual relations were decriminalized in 1945, gay life in another deeply conservative Catholic Portugal, not for most of the twentieth century, easy. In a radical change from this situation, in 2004, Portugal became the first country in Europe (and the fourth in the world) to have the Constitution prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.

Gay and lesbian couples who have lived together for two years have had the same legal and tax rights as common law heterosexual couples since 2001. The universal age of consent is 16.

For example, in Lisbon the gay scene in the city is no exception - in fact, it leads the way. Like anywhere, consumption bars tend to start and end earlier, around 9-2, than dance clubs, which tend to get going around 2-3 am and end in the morning.

A recommended place to start your Lisbon experience is the Lisbon Gay and Lesbian Community Center on Rua de San Lázaro 88 from the street that runs along the east side of the massive São José Hospital. This is the IGLA Portugal headquarters and organizes gay events in Lisbon. There is also the Opus Gay Association at Rua da Ilha Terceira, 36 R / C, and the Abraço Association at Rua da Rosa, 243 1F.