The 21 most sexually liberal cities in the world for LGBTQ+ people

A new ranking of cities throughout the world by how sexually liberated they are has just been published.

The adult entertainment portal Erobella released its Sexually Liberal City Index for the fifth time, and the results are fascinating. The study scored 41 cities on “the freedom to live, love and express sexuality.” Cities all over the world were ranked across 10 categories, including contraception use, the number of sex shops, how the city fares on gender recognition, anti-discrimination, and abortion access, as well as queer-centric metrics like how many gay bars and LGBTQ+ events there are.

The United States and other countries the world over may be overwhelmed by conservative ideology and attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, but there are still ways cities across the globe are fighting back and making sure that they are still as sexually free and welcoming to the queer community as possible.

When it comes to the overall ranking for the Most Sexually Liberal City in the World, Amsterdam comes in first, followed by Vancouver and Manchester, but the list has some significant changes when you sort the list by which city is the most LGBTQ+ friendly.

Keep scrolling to see the top 21 LGBTQ+ “sexually liberal” cities in the world.

21. Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne, Australia

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Melbourne ranked 21st on the list, with perfect scores on gender recognition, anti-discrimination, and abortion rights. It landed lower than other cities because of the low number of gay bars and LGBTQ+ events.

20. Hamburg, Germany

Hamburg, Germany

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Hamburg boasts a perfect score on sex work laws, anti-discrimination, and abortion rights, but doesn’t have as many gay bars or events as other cities on this list.

19. Buenos Aires, Argentina

Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Gay bars and LGBTQ+ events might not be plentiful in Buenos Aires, but the capital city landed in the 19th spot because of its perfect gender recognition, anti-discrimination, and abortion rights scores.

18. Prague, Czech Republic

Prague, Czech Republic

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Prague has more gay bars and events than cities lower on the list and did well on gender recognition and anti-discrimination.

17. Birmingham, England

Birmingham, England

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Not only is contraception use high in the city across the pond, but it does well on gender discrimination and anti-discrimination, and despite having a low number of LGBTQ+ events, there are a decent number of gay bars.

16. New York City, New York

New York City, New York

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The City That Never Sleeps has fewer gay bars than you would expect for a liberal haven, but it landed at No. 16 with perfect scores in gender recognition and anti-discrimination.

15. Chicago, Illinois

Chicago, Illinois

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Chicago may technically be part of the Midwest, but it ended up with an overall score of 34.6/100 and the 15th queerest city because of how it handles gender and discrimination.

14. Vienna, Austria

Vienna, Austria

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Vienna boasts perfect scores in four categories, including gender recognition and anti-discrimination, and also scored 5.79 out of 10 on contraception use.

13. Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

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Home to gay Mecca West Hollywood, the City of Angels landed at No. 13 with higher numbers of gay bars, gay events, and sex shops than cities lower on the list.

12. Madrid, Spain

Madrid, Spain

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Madrid somehow manages to beat out Los Angeles in the number of gay bars in the city and also scored a perfect 10 out of 10 on gender recognition and anti-discrimination.

11. San Diego, California

San Diego, California

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One of three California cities to make it to the top 21 most sexually liberal LGBTQ+ cities in the U.S., San Diego has a higher number of gay bars, gay events, and sex shops than other cities on this list.

10. Vancouver, British Columbia

Vancouver, British Columbia

Vancouver, British Columbia

The only Canadian city to reach the top 21, Vancouver managed to earn perfect scores in four areas — gender recognition, anti-discrimination, sex-work organizations, and contraception use — and also has a fairly high number of gay bars, LGBTQ+ events, and sex shops.

9. Paris, France

Paris, France

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The City of Love isn’t just for heterosexual couples. Paris ranked higher than most on gay bars, gay events, and sex shops and got perfect scores on gender recognition and anti-discrimination, scoring 49/100 overall on the list of the World’s Most Sexually Liberal Cities.

8. Berlin, Germany

Berlin, Germany

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Known for being liberal, Berlin scores a perfect 10 out of 10 in four categories, including gender recognition and anti-discrimination, and boasts far more gay bars and LGBTQ+ events than many other cities on the list.

7. Glasgow, Scotland

Glasgow, Scotland

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Glasgow has most cities on this list beat in the number of sex shops, sex worker rights, gay bars, and gay events, so it’s no wonder it made it to No. 7.

6. Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta, Georgia

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People may think all Southern cities are conservative, but Atlanta got nearly a perfect score on the number of sex shops in the city, and scored higher than any city on this list so far in the number of LGBTQ+ events, gay events, and gay bars.

5. Miami, Florida

Miami, Florida

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Home to the infamous gayborhood of South Beach, Miami is the only city on this entire list that scored perfect 10s in the number of sex shops, gay bars, gay events, and LGBTQ+ events.

4. Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam, Netherlands

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Amsterdam was the overall champion of the ranking for the most liberal city in the world, with perfect marks for sex work freedom, abortion rights, and gender recognition, but it landed in fourth place when it comes to which of the cities on the list is the queerest.

3. Cologne, Germany

Cologne, Germany

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Cologne is another city that takes sex workers’ rights seriously and manages to not only have a decent number of gay bars and LGBTQ+ events, but also scored perfect 10s in four categories, including gender recognition and anti-discrimination.

2. Manchester, England

Manchester, England

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Boasting a 7.47 out of 10 for the number of gay bars in the city, Manchester also does well in gay events, contraception use, gender recognition, and anti-discrimination.

1. San Francisco, California

San Francisco, California

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San Francisco took home the crown for the most LGBTQ+ city on the sexually liberated list. Home to the famous Castro District and the heartbeat of much of the gay rights movement, the Bay Area city scores high on LGBTQ+ events, gay events, gay bars, sex shops, gender recognition, and sex worker organizations.