PHOTO GALLERY: Queer on Holiday

Chandra / 41 / Broughton Archipelago and Kootenay Lake, BC, Canada

Valerie Anne / 30 / St. John, US Virgin Islands

“A group of nine coworkers-turned-friends going on vacation together could have been truly disastrous but it ended up being one of the most relaxing and enjoyable vacations I’ve ever had. The food was all delicious, the beaches were clean and bright and beautiful, the sea turtles were huge and majestic, and I spent about 80% of the time in one body of water or another because I wore swim trunks for the first time in my life and therefore felt comfortable in a bathing suit for the first time in my life.”

Imogine and Tat / 26, 28 / Westport District, Kansas City, MO

“Tat and I met online in a group chat and slowly moved into our own one-on-one chat. About 10 months later we met in person for the first time and started Officially Dating. We met in Kansas City! Our Anniversary has passed but we still wanted to have a mini vacation in Kansas City to reminisce and also to re-visit our favorite shops and restaurants and cruise the flea markets. This photo was taken at the incredible Air B&B we stayed at(thanks, Alison!). We both live in different cities in Missouri currently so it’s nice to not have to travel far but still go to an awesome location. You’d never think a city in Missouri could be so great but Kansas City really takes the cake. It’s young and hip and has a slew of unique stores to visit. Stores we recommend are: Oracle, a shop that sells taxidermy, bones, stones, and everything you need to complete your spell-casting shopping list, and Aquarius, the most beautiful, chillest(and cleanest) New Age type store we’ve ever seen. As far as restaurants go, Beignet in the City Market is truly incredible and has the best staff and atmosphere. Succotash is another gem, but prepare for a lengthy wait as it’s a local hit. Don’t forget to hit up the booths selling odds and ends in the City Market on a Sunday, you’re bound to find something incredible!”

Emma / 26 / La Crosse, WI

“Can you tell my brother and I are tourists? Nothing like riding a segway while wearing a bike helmet and stopping for staged photos at city landmarks to really drive home the point. (10/10 would recommend a segway tour though, just know you will get stares of confusion, envy, and annoyance).”

Hannah Leffingwell / 24 / Opoul, France

Christina and Lucia / 25, 24 / NYC Pride

“We met while I was in Peace Corps in Guatemala (Lucia is Guatemalan) and still live there. This was taken when went back to the States to see my family and to finally enjoy being OPENLY gay AF.”

Carmen SanDiego / 37 / Where In The World

Here I am in Sequoia National Park, CA; Devil’s Pool in Victoria Falls, Zambia (you can only visit the Devil’s Pool during summer, the dry season, so the water is surprisingly warm); Roatan, Honduras (it is incredibly loud in that “personal submarine”); Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; American River in Coloma, CA (when your raft the American river you go by Sutters Mill where they first discovered gold in California); Cape Town in South Africa (Surf lesson with the majestic Table Mountain in the background).

Lindsey Perkins/ 30/ Key Largo, FL

“While visiting my hometown I went out on the boat with four of my best friends. We’ve known each other for 29 years. It was perfect.”

Jay / 22 / Eugene, OR

“Spent the weekend catsitting Bart and Charlotte (not pictured – very fast) for my best friend of almost 20 years while she went on vacation. Read a lot while cuddling with the kitties; best introvert vacation!”

Katy / 31 / Coastal South Carolina

“While most of my summer has consisted of the usual reading/writing/meetings/crying cycle that is grad school, I was afforded one wonderful week off to travel with family where I kayaked with dolphins and took in the ocean breeze while exclusively reading things that cannot be found via a PubMed search.”

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52 Comments

  1. I am trying to figure out who in this photoset has the Gayest Outfit and I can’t choose between the pastel unicorn ensemble or the fanny pack patch jacket!

    Also I want to have a Big Gay Supper Club.

  2. I’m so disappointed with myself for procrastinating on my submission. Oh well…. next time! Just imagine me having the time of my life in England and Italy last month.

    Carmen SanDiego! While rafting down the American River you were only 9 miles away from where I live. I’m always surprised when people who don’t live in El Dorado County go to Coloma willingly :P

  5. Y’all are so cute and gay! And there’s another Tess – there’s seemingly so few of us you don’t often see us out in the wild!!

  9. Olivia’s cheeky dog!

    Pat or Emma (whoever’s on the right)’s hair! You need to write that “how to swoop your bangs” article.

    I had never heard of segways, and here are two photos of them. Is this the newest queer thing?

    @carmensandiego wins for most adventurous! I’ve wanted to go to that Victoria Falls spot since I read about it last year. And that personal submarine, seriously?!?!

    So many good bathing suits! (I wasn’t going to say this after I remembered that I’m wearing one in mine, but you know what, it’s the first time I’ve owned a bathing suit I really like, so I’m saying it and including mine!)

    Iceland!!!

    Hyder, Alaska!!!

    I’m excited, can you tell. I love these galleries <3

  11. So good!! These galleries are so awesome! ❤

    I was sure I sent my photo in before the deadline but…it’s not there so apparently not ?

  12. I love all of the awesome vacation fashion (and your fabulous hair!) <333 Thanks everyone for sharing!

  13. Vacation? What’s that?
    Y’all are too cute and way gay! I love it.

    Me? My mIdlife career change and transition crushed any hope I had of doing anything remotely as cool as even a staycation.

  15. Rhiannon – Donegal Ireland – whoa cute photo! Like straight out of a magazine or a book!

    Madison and Hope Rorschach – Fort Worth, TX – OMG congrats! You both look amazing and the photos are gold!

    Dijana, Octavia, Ella – Hamilton Island, Australia – lovely photo! Love Octavai’s shirt!!

    YES to more photos from ‘Straya!! And hopefully more from the Philippines and Asia!!

    General observation – there are a lot of us who have visible tattoos! LOL I mean mine weren’t that obvious in the photos I sent…but I love all of your tattoos!!!

    LOVE ALL OF THE PICS!! :) :)

  16. So, my occupation was not included because I guess a lot of y’all didn’t fill that out? Mine was good though: “Wedding Planner / QueerGirl’s Mirror twin”

    I just needed you all to appreciate that

  17. I cried at like every single one of these photos. Ya’ll are so beautiful and stunning and brilliant and badass and these photo galleries are so important and necessary. It gives me LIIIFE to see ya’ll living your vibrant, queer lives. <3 x 1000000!

  20. I sent in my picture from the Central Market in Valencia at like 2:00am after getting back from Spain and I totally forgot that I had some other amazing pictures to share! I really want to add this one because it was my first solo holiday ever, and every time I look at it, I appreciate life more:

    and this one because I lived in Florida for 8 years and never appreciated it until I learnt that it’s great for kayaking:

  21. Aww… reading Neil Gaiman, white water rafting, climbing, hiking, having a beer, wistfully staring out into beautiful landscapes – all things I like to do. And now I want to be friends with all you beautiful people.

  23. ‘Lesbian Lake’ and ‘Rainbow Falls’. This is SO GAY (and SO CUTE).

    Also, ‘…driving to meet up with pals in some of the wildest areas in Montana and playing around in them (the places not the pals)’ had me laughing so hard it made my dog jump (he is basically a cat so he’s very offended).

  25. Swooning over the Lexa cabin pic (miss y’all!!!) and loving the dune buggy /mad max comment XD

  26. Oh no, I definitely thought I submitted a cropped version of my photo without the markers of being Snapchat screenshot! ?

  27. I’m feeling the love for my wonderfully gay hometown. Maybe we should do a meet up in San Francisco next year around Pride…

  28. WHAT A BUNCH OF CUTIES. OMG. Like several people have said already, I have crushes on all of you now.

    Yoooo I’m moving to Portland so Lesbian Lake is going on my list of places to go. I’m so jealous of everyone who can travel and stuff, cause I’m not only broke but also don’t drive, so that makes things harder. I am going to take a couple of day trips to my grandparents’ tiny hometown while I work on a family archive project, so maybe I’ll take some pictures of me being obnoxiously queer there. It’s rural Georgia, so that should be fun.

    I second the vote for a tattoo gallery!! Geneva, I’m obsessed with your sleeve. It’s incredible.

    Also, Emma from CT and Megan from FL, you are both 100% style goals. Emma, is that your truck? HEART EYES. Also I want your entire outfit and to be your best friend.

    Megan, you are a majestic tacky queer, which is a term I am coining right now and it is the highest compliment. I aspire to your level of unabashed tackiness. I have a matching fanny pack and visor, which are both hot pink and were purchased several years apart but which I definitely intend to wear together. I also want your BEES hat.

  29. Carmen Sandiego sure does live up to her name.

    Also good job Aussies for finding somewhere actually WARM

  30. You’re all so adventurous and fabulous.
    I can’t believe there are only 49 comments though. This would have to be my favourite series yet. Have great lives people.

  31. It took me a few days to open this gallery bc I was worried I would have too much FOMO, I was supposed to be heading to Vancouver tomorrow night with my family but my mom isn’t feel well enough to make the trip so we’ve cancelled it and are heading next week to the Berkshires (3 hour drive vs 6 hour flight) as a small consolation.

    Anyhoo, overshare aside Im glad I got over hesitation and clicked through–so much love to all of the queers in all of the amazing spots. I also loved seeing my hometown (NYC) featured in so many posts. People hate on summer in NY but there are so many free events and a new expanded ferry system that have really improved the whole summer in the city thing.

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