Gay Guide to Graz
Austria decriminalised sex between men in 1971 and opened marriage to same-sex couples in 2019, after a Constitutional Court ruling. Graz, the country's second city, has a queer life that feels local and community-driven rather than built around one nightlife strip.
The RosaLila PantherInnen on Annenstraße, Styria's LGBTIQ advocacy group and community centre, anchors much of it. Stars on Schönaugasse, open since 2014, is the gay café-bar, Café Silber on Klosterwiesgasse is a gay-welcoming café and restaurant with a garden terrace, and FAGtory at the Postgarage is the long-running queer club night.
The city's best-known event is the Tuntenball, a queer charity ball at the Congress Graz each February that draws more than 2,000 guests in drag and costume, with the proceeds going to the RosaLila PantherInnen. The 2026 ball was the 35th.
CSD Graz takes over the city in late June, gathering in the Stadtpark and parading through the centre to a park festival in the Volksgarten.