Gay Guide to Guadalajara
In 1991 the International Lesbian and Gay Association was due to hold its world conference in Guadalajara. The archbishop condemned it, local and state officials threatened arrests and hotel closures, the governor refused to guarantee anyone's safety, and the conference moved to Acapulco instead. It was not the city's first fight: Guadalajara's gay movement had first organized publicly in 1983, and its early demonstrations faced heavy official harassment through that decade. The turn came through the courts. Couples refused marriage licences filed legal challenges from December 2013, and in January 2016 Mexico's Supreme Court unanimously struck down Jalisco's ban.
The Centro Histórico holds the older, denser half of the scene. The blocks around Prisciliano Sánchez and Ocampo are its busiest corner, with Caudillos, Equilibrio, Xico and Isabella Show Club close together, Babel on Morelos, and a long list of cantinas, show bars, saunas and cruising clubs within walking distance. The Museo Memoria LGBTTTIQ on Calle 8 de Julio keeps the community's history.
West of the center, Colonia Americana and the Avenida Chapultepec strip carry the newer, more polished side: Envy on Avenida de la Paz, Hithit Vértigo on López Cotilla, La Casa de las Flores on Hidalgo, and drag nights at SinFin Cantina and Santas Patronas.
The Marcha del Orgullo sets off from the Glorieta La Minerva in June, after a week of cultural events, and is one of the country's main Pride marches.
Guadalajara is Mexico's second city and the home of tequila and mariachi. The two halves of the scene are a short taxi ride apart, and most visitors split their nights between them.