What better way to celebrate Gay and Lesbian Pride Month than to pay tribute to places where monumental strides in gay rights have taken place. Online travel advisers CheapFlights (www.cheapflights.com) offer its top gay-friendly destinations.
Athens
Some of the first-recorded mentions of same-sex relationships, unions and marriages trace back to ancient Greece. Though relationships between two men were eventually banned thousands of years later, Greece is back on track. In 2011, more than 10,000 activists marched at the annual Athens Gay Pride parade.
Los Angeles
One of the first national gay rights organizations, the Mattachine Society, was founded in Los Angeles by Harry Hay in 1950 to help improve the civil rights of homosexuals. Today the city still brims with art and culture nurtured by its active gay community.
New York City
The Stonewall Riots in New York's Greenwich Village incited the first gay rights movement in the U.S. in 1969.
When police raided a local gay bar that summer, activists fought back. To honour the one-year anniversary of the riot activists walked from downtown to Central Park in the country's first gay pride march.
San Francisco
For decades, members of the gay community have flocked to San Francisco . It was Harvey Milk in the 1970s who encouraged a generation of men and women to mobilize and fight for civil rights and changes in legislation. The first openly gay man elected to office in California, Milk was a beacon for a younger generation and a martyr for homosexuals nationwide after his assassination in 1978 .
Toronto
Canada is by far the gay-friendliest country in all of the Americas . But equality didn't come easily. The 1981 bathhouse raid in Toronto enraged so many people that thousands took to the streets to protest the injustice.
The city has come a long way since; it was recently picked to host WorldPride, an international celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights, in 2014.
Hawaii
The Supreme Court of the 50th state to join the union made a big case for same-sex marriage in Baehr v. Lewin when it ruled that limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples is unconstitutional. The islands are home to a diverse gay community, and hosts thousands of gay travellers each year.
Tel Aviv
A known leader in LGBT rights in the Middle East, Israel is way ahead of the curve when it comes to adoption, marriage and military equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-identified people.
It's no wonder Out Magazine designated Tel Aviv the gay capital of the Middle East.
Netherlands
The first country to legalize gay marriage in 2001, the Netherlands was voted the largest supporter of same-sex marriage in 2006 by the European Union and is a premier destination for LGBT travellers.
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