Gay Guide
Listing and event details can change quickly. Please verify with the venue directly before visiting. Lavender Atlas is not responsible for third-party accuracy.
About LGBTQ+ Honolulu
Hawaii decriminalised sex between men in 1972, and in 1993 its Supreme Court's ruling in Baehr v. Lewin opened the American fight for marriage equality, two decades before the state legalised same-sex marriage in December 2013.
The scene is concentrated in Waikiki. Hula's Bar & Lei Stand, which opened in 1974 under a banyan tree on Kūhiō Avenue, has been on the second floor of the Waikiki Grand Hotel since 1998, an open-air bar looking across Kapiʻolani Park to Diamond Head. Bacchus, a second-floor bar on Lewers Street since 2013, has a lounge feel, and Wang Chung's is a small karaoke bar in the Stay Hotel on Koa Avenue.
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Tapa's on Seaside Avenue has a lanai and a pool table, and In Between on Lau'ula Street is one of the friendliest local bars in town. Over in Chinatown, Scarlet is the big club for drag and dancing.
Honolulu Pride fills mid-October, with a parade from Magic Island along Ala Moana Boulevard and Kalākaua Avenue to Kapiʻolani Park, then a free festival at the Waikīkī Shell. The Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival adds queer cinema from Hawaii and beyond.
Upcoming Events
Second-floor gay bar on Lewers Street in Waikiki, open since 2013, with a lounge feel, an outdoor patio, and drag and go-go nights.
Small gay karaoke bar inside the Stay Hotel on Koa Avenue in Waikiki, open nightly with karaoke as the main event.
One of Honolulu's best-known LGBTQ+ nightlife venues in Chinatown, Scarlet hosts drag performances, dance nights, and themed events.
Waikiki's landmark gay bar, opened in 1974 under a banyan tree on Kūhiō Avenue and since 1998 an open-air, second-floor bar at the Waikiki Grand Hotel on Kapahulu Avenue, with views across Kapiʻolani Park to Diamond Head.
Waikiki gay bar with a lanai, a pool table, friendly bartenders and regular dance events.
Hawaii's annual LGBTQ+ Pride celebration, held in Honolulu each October. Honolulu Pride features a parade along Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki and a festival celebrating the state's aloha spirit and queer community.
A gay bar on Lau'ula Street in Waikiki, In Between is one of Honolulu's most welcoming LGBTQ+ venues and a long-running fixture of the island's queer nightlife.
An annual LGBTQ+ film festival in Honolulu showcasing queer cinema from Hawaii, the Pacific region, and around the world.