Gay Guide
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About LGBTQ+ Tampa
In 2019 Tampa elected Jane Castor, its former police chief, as the city's first openly gay mayor. Its gay life is concentrated in Ybor City, the historic cigar-making district just east of downtown, where the blocks around East 7th Avenue and 15th Street are known as GaYbor.
Bradley's on 7th is the constant there, a two-room bar with drag most nights and go-go dancers at weekends that has outlasted every wave of closures on the street. In July 2025 Southern Nights left 7th Avenue after a decade and reopened around the corner on North 15th Street as Disco Pony, the big dance club, with Drag Race alumni on the bill and midweek drag competitions. Tampa Men's Club, the long-running bathhouse, is out on West Crest Avenue.
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Across the bay, St. Petersburg has a scene of its own along Central Avenue in the Grand Central District. Cocktail St Pete is the big drag and dance bar, Lucky Star Lounge is a small neighbourhood bar tucked behind a liquor store, and The Garage on Central does karaoke and pool. Enigma, further east in the Edge District, is the late-night dance club.
St. Pete Pride at the end of June is Florida's biggest, drawing around 300,000 people for a weekend of street festivals and a Saturday evening parade along the downtown waterfront. Tampa Pride, which paraded down 7th Avenue each spring, took 2026 off after losing funding, and a new group, Pride of Tampa, filled the gap with a March festival at the Cuban Club in Ybor.
Tampa's long-running men's health club and bathhouse, featuring a 24/7 gym, steam room, and outdoor sundeck.
A gay video bar on East 7th Avenue in Ybor City, the heart of Tampa's LGBTQ+ nightlife.
The stretch of Ybor City, Tampa's historic cigar-making district, where the city's LGBTQ+ bars and businesses cluster around East 7th Avenue and 15th Street, with Bradley's on 7th and Disco Pony a block apart.
Tampa's Pride organisation, which ran an annual diversity parade and street festival on 7th Avenue in Ybor City. It took 2026 off after losing sponsorship and grant funding, and a new group, Pride of Tampa, held a festival at the Cuban Club in Ybor that March instead.
Low-lit, unpretentious St. Petersburg gay bar on Central Avenue with dark wood, karaoke, a pool table, and an adult crowd.
Big, stylish gay cocktail and dance bar in St. Petersburg's Grand Central District, with drag shows, themed dance nights and its own Winter Pride festival.
Tampa Bay's LGBTQ+-rooted nonprofit health network, founded in 1992 and known until its rebrand as Metro Inclusive Health, with health centres around the bay offering HIV testing and care, primary care and community programmes. Its Tampa office is on East 7th Avenue in Ybor City.
Ybor City dance club that opened in July 2025 when Southern Nights moved around the corner and rebranded, with DJs, drag, and a party crowd.
Bass-heavy dance club in St. Petersburg's Edge District, drawing a diverse crowd for weekend DJ sets and drag.
Small neighborhood gay bar in St. Petersburg's Grand Central District, tucked behind Mr. Sun Liquors at Central Avenue and 28th Street.