TORONTO, September 26, 2006  –  Sidetrack in Chicago, I-Candy in Los Angeles and Boom in Minneapolis are among the top 10 gay and gay-friendly bars in the United States, according to the GayBar.com website.

And internationally, London’s Heaven, Fly in Toronto and Melbourne’s Diva head the list of establishments outside the USA.

“Our site features literally thousands of gay bars worldwide and we wanted to select a list of those bars that consistently receive rave rating from our readers,” said GayBar.com editor Kevin Marsh.

“Our editors took the lead from our readers and sent out our correspondents to look at their recommendations and we created our list of winners.  There are a lot of great establishments out there.”

Criteria for making the two top ten lists included the standard of music, the reputation with the local gay and lesbian community, décor, accessibility and the overall vibe. Winners came from all over the US as well as from Canada, Australia, France, Brazil and Germany.

“The number of gay bars worldwide has grown significantly over the last 15 years and they have become much more visible and part of the entertainment mainstream.” said Mr. Marsh.

“The result is a huge variety of venues with some of the most up-to-date sound systems, innovative programming and creative marketing, in some cases to the broader straight community.”

The website plans to run the competition annually.  Next year, GayBar.com plans to open the competition to voting by site visitors.

LINK

GayBar website