Call For Submissions: More Queer Girl City Guides!

click here for other queer girl city guides

According to my crystal ball and my to-do list, Autostraddle needs more Queer Girl City Guides! We’re working on putting the Queer Girl City Guides into various portable formats and we need you to help us make sure that our Guide includes ALL OF THE CITIES!

The Queer Girl City Guides are a tool for queermos moving to and/or just visiting various locations to employ when seeking community, food, entertainment, dance parties, sports and basically everything your city has to offer. If you wanna write one, you should be in love with your city. For example, this girl made us all want to move to Columbus.

What Cities Have Already Been Done?

Brighton (UK), Montreal (CANADA), Portland (OR), Washington DC, Seattle (WA), Cleveland (OH), Spokane (WA), Dublin (IRELAND), Vancouver (CANADA), The Bronx (NY), Columbus (OH), Santa Fe (NM), Albuquerque (NM), Manhattan (NY), Boston (MA), Tulsa (OK), Amherst & Northampon (MA), Milwaukee (WI), Miami (FL), Mexico City (MEXICO), Granada (SPAIN), Taipei (TAIWAN), Chapel Hill (NC), St.Louis (MO), Chicago (IL), New Orleans (LA), Denver (CO), Richmond (VA), Saratoga Springs (NY), Columbia (MO), Gainesville (FL), Sydney (AUSTRALIA), Melbourne (AUSTRALIA), Philadelphia (PA), Atlanta (GA), Birmingham (UK), Pittsburgh (PA), Baltimore (MD), San Diego (CA).

What Cities Do We Need Most Desperately?

San Francisco, CA

Phoenix, AZ

Austin, TX

Charlotte, NC

East Bay (Oakland/Berkeley), CA

Ann Arbor / Ypsilanti / Detroit / Detroit Suburbs, MI

Madison, WI

Brooklyn, NY

Nashville, TN

Salt Lake City, UT

Houston, TX

Dallas, TX

Minneapolis, MN

Glasgow (UK)

Manchester (UK)

Toronto (CANADA)

London (UK)

Paris (FRANCE)

Feel free to pitch cities that aren’t on this list.

You’ll pitch your guide to Laneia [at] autostraddle [dot] com — briefly explain why you’re qualified to write about your city and confirm your ability to take photographs and write sentences, ideally lively sentences with lots of fun details and insider-tips.

She’ll give you the go-ahead and guidelines, but basically you’ll be responsible for crafting a comprehensive guide listing the best places to eat, dance, get haircuts, etc., and addressing things like the degree to which the LGBT scene is G vs. L, the environment for queer families, the college scene, local events/festivals, activist groups, nightlife, trans-friendliness, etc. These guides can absolutely be collaborative if you’ve got friends/family who wanna work on it with you.

Thank you!

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Riese

Riese is the 43-year-old Co-Founder of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, video-maker, LGBTQ+ Marketing consultant and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in nine books, magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. She's Jewish. Follow her on twitter and instagram.

Riese has written 3315 articles for us.

95 Comments

  1. i haven’t been here long enough to be able to do it myself but ohhhh man someone has to do edinburgh/glasgow and save my (social) life. please, fellow scotland straddlers! help a lady out!

  2. As a Motown native I would love to see someone do a Detroit city guide, and would be willing to collaborate if anyone is interested (but I think I’ve been away too long to do it alone).

    And while we’re on the topic: GO TIGERS

  3. I don’t have enough experience (yet), but I’m discovering a lot to do in Tucson, AZ. It is a pretty friendly and tight community despite the political climate (or maybe BECAUSE of the political climate).

  5. I feel like Omaha/Lincoln (Nebraska) would be a very surprising but quirky place to feature. After living there for seven years, I’ve only recently begun to appreciate the close-knit queer community, and range of queer venues and nightlife available. I’ve very recently moved, but I’d be willing to find a collaborator and do it right.

  6. I might be able to give some tips on Manchester, but it’s been a few years since I lived there, and I was only there for 6 months anyway. But if somebody living there needs a collaborator, I can be your girl!

    Personally I’m in desperate need of an Amsterdam guide (or the rest of the Randstad while you’re at it, it’s not that big anyways), because I feel like I’m missing out on the nice spots. Or maybe the lesbian scene really isn’t that big and I’ll just have to deal with it…

    • I’ve only been here for about a month so I can’t really speak on everything here but have you tried these?

      Amsterdam: Cafe ’t Mandje, House of Rising, CutCopy, Girlesque and Flirtation.

      And in Utrecht there is Cafe Kalff, the ACU, BodyTalk, De Kringen and COC Midden-Nederland.

      They aren’t all specifically lesbian if that’s what you really want but they may be worth checking out. Also, I don’t know if you’re already planning on coming to brunch in Utrecht but you definitely should! You might be able to get some better ideas and suggestions from others. We’re also going to talk about maybe meeting in Amsterdam for Museum Night so message me if you’d like me to keep you up to date on that.

    • Also for Amsterdam:
      Saarein is a realy nice cafe. Has a free pooltable and a happy hour on friday.

      Vive la vie, for dancing in the weekend. Not my personal favorite but its always there and its very full on friday and saturday night.

      De trut, mixed underground disco on sunday evening. Has a nice atmosphere and very cheap drinks

      Prik, mixed but also a nice atmosphere, friendly people, cheap cocktails.

      Ghetto, mixed but frequented by gay women. Has fantastic cocktails with names like clit tease.

      De Lellebel, dragqueens/trans cafe is very tiny but can be very nice. Is very close to the vive la vie so you can go here if you’re bored in the vie.

      For students, UvA pride. drinks with students from University of Amsterdam on the first friday of the month.

      Student group, ASV Gay. Last time I went is two years ago but it is very welcoming.

      Ok maybe I should write a guide for Amsterdam. I could ask my wife to correct my english since I’m not completely fluent.

    • Hey Team, would it be okay if there is one guide for the Bay Area or do you absolutely want one city guide for San Francisco & one for East Bay? Inquiring Bay-straddlers want to know. :)

      • yeah we want them to be different because we feel like there are so many things going on in each place and it’s really different w/r/t housing, schools, etc? laneia has all the guidelines for the city guides !

    • Bless you! I live in San Jose and I’m not a party animal, so I don’t know where to find people. :(

  8. I would really like to see one on Grand Rapids, MI. It’s one of the bigger cities on the west side of Michigan. I’ve just moved here, and I’d love to find out more about it’s queer side.

    • I was going to write one for GR but I couldn’t think of enough good things to say. I guess liking your city is a requirement.
      I can tell you: stay in Easttown, avoid the Baxter neighborhood, eat at Bartertown Diner and drink at Pub 43.

      • Aww, Pub 43! That place is charming in its rundown, oddly-lit way.

        This is almost certainly not a place to meet ladies, but for a generally homofriendly atmosphere and lots of genteel older gay gentlemen, may I recommend The Apartment? Claims to be “the oldest GLBT establishment under the same continuous ownership in the state of Michigan,” and I’d absolutely believe it from a look inside. http://apartmentlounge.net/ Lovely place to plunk yourself down in a booth for drinks and conversation.

        I haven’t actually lived in GR for a decade — I’d totally write a city guide if I had more recently! — but I get back every so often. When I was growing up there I felt like the only queer girl in the city (aside from a couple of unsuccessful crushes). From what I hear, the Pyramid Scheme is pretty good at attracting gay ladies to certain events.

    • I love GR! Just moved from there to Toronto. But there is a friendly.artsy.queer positive vibe. My partner still lives there. Maybe her and I can read a guide?

    • As someone from Detroit I totally did not know that GR was so welcoming for queers! I’d always been told that side of the state was super-duper conservative and when I last went there for a performance of one of my pieces, everything was named after Dick DeVos which seemed to solidify that preconception. I’m glad to hear I was wrong though!

    • Yes! I was just going to say something about that. Been here 2.5 yrs and the scene is so good for where it is :)

  13. I’d love to do an East Bay or SF guide. I’m honestly surprised their hasn’t been one before.

    • Get in touch with Dena and/or look for the Straddlers by the Bay group – we’re working on a collaborative doc :)

  15. Adelaide, Australia. I know we are small, but we are awesome. And I could possibly team up with someone to do this. OH HEY I KNOW WE COULD DISCUSS IT AT OUR MEET UP!!!

  18. Asheville, please! I haven’t lived here long enough, but I’m sure someone has. Tons of tourists come here and it’s supposed to be real gay. I’m having trouble finding the gay!

  22. Toronto please! I don’t feel I’ve lived here long enough to write a guide – but there are so many wonderful, queer, lady loving ladies activities. And also so much trans pride and rights. love this place.

  23. Yes! I’ve been wanting to do an Austin guide for ages. Anyone who takes the entry, don’t forget to include Bernadette’s.

    • Yes an Austin guide would be awesome! I only know of Bernadette’s as a totally queer friendly place. I’ve been here for two years and I think missing out!

  24. I would write one up for Phoenix, but unfortunately I am still trying to find queer/gay/lesbian fun things to do here and I am very bad at it haha.

  26. Tampa Florida. We’ve got it going on. And, for once, a Florida report would be on a city DIFFERENT than Miami. (seriously we don’t hear enough about other Floridian cities!)

  27. I’m totally giving Phoenix a shot! Don’t worry guys, it’s not as Mormon as you’ve heard. I don’t think anything really could be.

    STILL. Rad town.

  29. i’d love a brooklyn guide. i feel like i don’t go out/socialize enough to be able to write a comprehensive guide.
    i also feel like maybe there is too much and no one could write a comprehensive guide… so i guess what i’m saying is i wouldn’t mind collaborating.

  32. Tempted to write one for Brisbane (Australia)… I live in Sydney but I spent the past 2 years living/studying in Brisbane and go back there once a month since most of my friends are there.

      • Haha I could easily write it, 95% of my friends live there and I go back so frequently. I know the place like the back of my hand. It’s more a matter of whether I have the time to write it!

  33. I don’t know enough about it cos I’ve only been here a couple of weeks, but can someone please do Cambridge, UK? Thank you!!

  35. It makes me very happy that Glasgow is top of your list in terms of UK/Europe :) Have lived here for most of my life but only just starting to discover the cool queer stuff going on here… Most of it seems to revolve around the Flying Duck as far as I can tell…

  36. If anyone wants to collaborate on an Ottawa guide, check out the Ottastraddlers facebook group! I want to write one but I could use some help!

  37. Theoretically I couuuuld do San Francisco, but I’ve spent a lot of the past 5 years inside. I will look at the forecast of me going out in the near futures

  38. Bristol or Bath UK?! I don’t live there technically I’m moving all over the place and only ever lived in a village outside of Bath, but it’s so awesome being queer in the south west!!
    Now, I can’t write it because I don’t live there and I’m kind of a sucky writer when it comes to articly travely stuff, but someone totally should you guys it’s so fab there!! Especially Bristol I’m soooo bloody desperate to live in Bristol, even in OMG is one of the worst clubs in the world :P

  39. I noticed you don’t have Tel Aviv, Israel on your list. I went out to a couple of bars there recently and it really is so lgbt friendly.

  41. No Chicago yet? Where is everyone.. I live in the far west suburbs but I might be able to write one.

  42. If anyone wants to team up with me for Houston, let me know. I’m not too involved with the queer scene here so I’d need some help with that!

  43. I am going to UVM for college this spring and I would love to know the Burlington, VT lesbian scene. Thanks!

  46. I pitched a Paris guide to Laneia, girls! If there’s anybody out there lurking who wasn’t at our meetup last Friday, you should definitely search for and join our (closed, but findable, apparently) Facebook group. We’re definitely seeking to include everybody’s good ideas.

  47. Hey, can people please read the list of “What Cities Have Already Been Done?” before asking if they can do one? This might be just me, but it feels a bit insulting to those of us who have already worked hard on city guides for those places. So far there are three cities that people have suggested here that are on that list.

  48. Anyone want to collaborate on Nashville? I work at a hotel downtown and have numerous concierge credits and resources but I’m not totally in to the lesbian scene.

  49. I’m going to Paris with a friend in February. I’ve been before, but it’d be awesome to have some gay things to do this time. Could someone living there make that a priority?

  51. I’d like to do one on my hometown. It’s called Las Cruces, and I think it would be a neat perspective on a small-town queer community. Let me know if that’s cool.

  52. I don’t understand how there isn’t an Austin yet? I’d like to do one of those. This city is the SHIT for queer ladies.

    • i have become unreasonably obsessed with the idea of moving to austin so i’m excited for the day the austin city guide gets born

  53. Barcelona, Spain! I’m moving in two months from a small town where I feel like I’m the only queer girl, seriously, I need gay friends.

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