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One of the best known is the lesbian-owned Malaprop’s bookstore, one of the top independent bookstores in the South.īlue Ridge Pride ( ) is an umbrella organization promoting gay pride. GayAshevilleNC ( ) maintains a listing of LGBTQ-owned and gay-friendly accommodations, businesses, groups and resources in the area. Many businesses in Asheville are LGBT-owned. (See Lodging section for more information.)Īsheville has become a major destination for LGBTQ weddings, and the first local LGBTQ Wedding Expo was held in 2016. Of course, the major hotels are welcoming to LGBTQ folks. Nearly all the many B&Bs and small inns in the Asheville area are welcoming to gays, and more than a dozen local B&Bs are gay-owned. (See Clubs and Nightlife section for more information.) Sadly, the long-running Smokey's After Dark on Broadway in Downtown has closed due to redevelopment in the area. The Odditorium, a music venue in West Asheville, attracts a mixed audience, not just gays, but has occasional drag shows. Scandals, which dates to 1982 and is believed to be the largest LGBTQ club in the state, has three music/dance/bar spaces: Scandals Nightclub, Club Eleven on Grove and Boiler Room Asheville. Henry’s (one of the oldest gay bars in the state, perhaps the oldest), which also operates The Underground, billed as an alternative industrial bar. You are likely to see a number of openly lesbian and gay couples around town, especially Downtown and in West Asheville.ĭowntown Asheville has several LGBT bars, including O. LGBT visitors increasingly are discovering Asheville, with its great natural beauty, innovative dining and drinking gigs, heavy-duty gallery, arts and crafts scene, interesting shops and numerous gay-owned or gay-welcoming B&Bs and inns and businesses. In 2010, the gay-oriented publication, The Advocate, ranked Asheville as the “12th gayest city in America.” Atlanta was ranked #1. Another study, in 2011, also based on the latest official census results, found that Buncombe County (with 15.5 same sex couples per 1,000) and Asheville (19.7 per 1,000) are the most gay-friendly county and city in the state of North Carolina, on a per-capita basis well ahead of places like Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Period.Īccording to the latest United States census, the Asheville area has 83% more lesbian, gay bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) identified people than the typical American city or town.