On the surface, there’s nothing especially gay about Austin’s massive South by Southwest music festival. But according to The Dallas Voice, a little digging yields myriad LGBT festival features including artists, films, events, venues…and plenty of eye-candy to go around.
In light of this discovery, the Voice published a list of the top ten LGBT perks of SXSW. While some of these are simply a celebration of Austin’s famed weirdness and off-kilter culture, others prove that there’s tons of LGBT-oriented fun to be had between and even during the sets, screenings and endless partying.
The Austin Chronicle’s Gay Place is a blog and weekly tabloid full of the tips on the week’s best LGBT events. Festival goers can find out which queer artists are taking the stage during SXSW with this handy guide before hitting the screenings sponsored by the AGLIFF (Austin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival) and Homoscope. A tour of the city’s gay bars is easy when many of the SXSW acts – including LGBT performers – take the stage. And anything that isn’t on the basic festival lineup will get press thanks to the folks at SXSWhomo. Designed as a tech-savvy web guide to all things LGBT at SXSW, the site features a downloadable events calendar and includes access to meet-up groups, Twitter updates and everything else the LGBT traveler needs to get the most out of SXSW.
Last but not least, the Austin festival ends with GayBiGayGay, an unofficial LGBT mini-fest hosted by a local lesbian couple and dedicated to queer music, performance, film, and plenty of good food and drink.
