Brussels

Belgium is considered one of the most gay-friendly countries in the world, with a strong community and plenty of clubs, bars and events. Brussels is the engine, with a compact scene you can walk end to end, centred on the Quartier Saint-Jacques and the Rue du Marché au Charbon, 200 metres from the Grand-Place.

There the classic bars mix, from Le Belgica to Chez Maman and the Plattesteen, along with roaming parties and La Démence, the monthly gay party at the Fuse club, in the Marolles, one of the longest-running in Europe and with an international crowd. The scene extends towards Saint-Géry, with its mixed nightlife, and towards Ixelles, more alternative and with a large foreign community.

Belgian Pride, also called Brussels Pride, is held every year around 17 May, coinciding with the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. It is a deliberate political anchor, unlike the summer slot most European Prides take.

Attendance has grown a great deal: from the 4,500 participants of 1996 it went to 100,000 in 2015, and in 2018 there were more than 140,000 visitors across Pride week and around 100,000 spectators at the parade, with some 120,000 participants in 2022. The main stage is at the Mont des Arts, its permanent home since the 2016 attacks. Around it sit La Démence, monthly at the Fuse club, and the events organised by RainbowHouse Brussels.

Brussels' gay neighbourhood lives in the Quartier Saint-Jacques, barely 200 metres from the Grand-Place. The axis is the Rue du Marché au Charbon, the Kolenmarkt in Dutch, a short but dense pedestrian street with the classic bars one after another: Le Belgica, the veteran, Chez Maman, with its drag cabaret, and Le Plattesteen.

Unlike Chueca or the Castro, it is not a broad district but a compact, pedestrian core, the natural extension of the old town. Saint-Géry, five minutes to the north, works as a complement of mixed nightlife. And for something more alternative there are Ixelles and Saint-Gilles, fifteen to twenty minutes away by metro.

Elio Di Rupo, Belgian prime minister between 2011 and 2014, was one of the few openly gay heads of government in the world. RainbowHouse Brussels, the Maison Arc-en-Ciel, is the city's LGBT community centre and brings together dozens of associations. Tels Quels, the francophone gay association, and çavaria, the Flemish federation, each cover their own linguistic community. The Belgian public health system covers PrEP, and the S-Clinic at CHU Saint-Pierre and Ex Aequo run rapid HIV and STI testing and provide sexual health care.