Press Kit Stories
Irresistible Key West: Uniquely ‘Free to Be’
Imagine a subtropical island in the continental United States with a free-spirited, live-and-let-live atmosphere that’s also warmly exotic, eccentric and enticing.
Key West’s Year-Round Appeal Means Fabulous Celebrations
Subtropical Key West has a sensual year-round climate as warm as the community’s welcome to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender visitors. The island city is historically frost-free, with an average annual temperature of 77.8 degrees Fahrenheit.
Getting to – and Around – the Island of Key West is Half the Fun
Traveling to the picturesque island of Key West is a bucket-list adventure in itself. Driving the historic, 127-mile Florida Keys Overseas Highway is considered by many travelers to be the trip of a lifetime.
Key West Accommodations Offer a Warm Welcome and Enticing Choices
Key West’s accommodation properties are as diverse as the guests who travel to the Florida Keys. Visitors can choose from tropically styled adult-only guesthouses, intimate bed-and-breakfasts, lovingly restored inns, luxury waterfront resorts and casual family-oriented hotels.
Key West Is the Ideal ‘I Do’ Florida Keys Venue for Weddings, Honeymoons
For LGBTQ couples seeking a destination wedding and honeymoon, Key West exudes an exotic ambience as the ultimate romantic getaway — offering a welcoming island atmosphere, exquisite scenery, intriguing history and easy accessibility for travel.
Sophisticated Shopping and Tropical Cuisine Are Key West Temptations
Since the mid-1800s the island of Key West has been renowned for its overall refined sense of taste. Wrecking captains salvaged fine cargo goods — silks and laces, wines, silver and gold, exotic trinkets and jewelry — from ships grounded on nearby Florida Keys reefs. Valuable goods from exotic ports were sold at auction to eager buyers.
Key West Business Guild is First-Stop Resource for LGBTQ Visitors
The tiny subtropical island of Key West, luring more than 250,000 LGBTQ visitors each year, has earned a well-deserved reputation as one of the world’s most welcoming destinations that celebrates all types of diversity.
Key West’s Renaissance Shaped by Its LGBTQ Community
Key West’s offbeat picturesque charm and open, genuinely welcoming atmosphere are among the reasons the island city is so popular among LGBTQ visitors.
Authors and Artists Make Key West a Creative Cultural Mecca
Authors and artists, playwrights and poets have long been lured to the romantic 2-by-4-mile island of Key West. Closer to Havana than to Miami, this seductive haven is richly endowed with creativity as one of America’s most fascinating literary and artistic playgrounds.
Key West’s ‘One Human Family’ Lives Its Official Philosophy
This tiny city at the tip of the Florida Keys archipelago is known around the world for its inclusive acceptance that all people are created equal, exemplified by local designer J.T. Thompson’s famed One Human Family slogan.
Day or Night, Key West Entertainment Abounds
Key West’s wide array of entertainment — throughout the night, into the wee hours and all day, every day — means it’s challenging to experience all there is to do. LGBTQ visitors can enjoy theater and music performances, book on-the-water excursions, meet new friends for dining or drinks, attend a drag show or simply “chillax” in the subtropical surroundings.
World’s Longest Rainbow Flag Brought Recognition of Key West’s Diversity
During Key West Pride in 2003, a 1.25-mile-long rainbow flag sewn by Gilbert Baker, the creator of the original rainbow flag, was unfurled to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the banner’s debut.
Press Kit Stories
Lower Keys Bahia Honda
Bahia Honda State Park in the Lower Florida Keys near Big Pine Key, Fla., offers outstanding amenities for vacationers as well as an excellent view of a historic railroad bridge fabricated by the men that built Henry Flagler's Overseas Railway. In an annual survey of American beaches, Bahia Honda was voted the top beach by Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman, a Florida International University professor known as "Dr. Beach." Photo by Bob Krist/Florida Keys News Bureau
Key West Tropic
A pedicab provides transportation past the Tropic Cinema Theater featuring a Seward Johnson metallic statue of Marilyn Monroe in a famous pose. Photo by Mike Freas/Florida Keys News Bureau
Key West Tennessee Williams
The Key West Gay Visitor Center features a permanent exhibition focusing on Tennessee Williams in Key West, and includes articles, photos, playbills, artwork, and various memorabilia regarding the decades this celebrated writer spent in the Southernmost City. Photo by Mike Freas/Florida Keys News Bureau
Lower Keys Aerial
A full-frame fisheye lens helps to provide a unique view of the Florida Keys' Overseas Highway as it bisects the Atlantic Ocean, left, and the Gulf of Mexico on the right in the Lower Keys near Big Pine Key, Fla. Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau
Key West Sunset
Busker Will Soto walks a tightrope at the sunset celebration in Key West, Fla. The sunset celebration at Mallory Square is a daily ritual for visitors to this subtropical island at the bottom of the Florida Keys island chain. Photo by Bob Krist/Florida Keys News Bureau
Key West Sunset
Visitors enjoy the performance of a fire torch juggler in Key West, Fla. The sunset celebration at Mallory Square is a daily ritual for visitors to this subtropical island at the bottom of the Florida Keys island chain. Photo by Mike Freas/Florida Keys News Bureau
Key West Memorial
The AIDS Memorial on the southern side of Key West offers a quiet time to reflect on all lives that were touched by AIDS. Photo by Mike Freas/Florida Keys News Bureau
Key West Key Lime
A slice of Key lime pie is ready to be consumed at an eatery in Key West, Fla. The signature dessert of the Florida Keys' culinary experience is Key Lime pie. The pie filling's yellow color always proves its authenticity and its taste is an unique blend of sweetness and tartness. Photo by Bob Krist/Florida Keys News Bureau
Key West Southernmost House
The beautiful Southernmost House Historic Inn in the Ocean is among a plethora of accommodations' offerings in Key West. Photo by Mike Freas/Florida Keys News Bureau
Key West Southernmost
Key West's Southernmost Point marker is one of the most popular photographic icons in the Florida Keys. Just 90 miles from Havana, Key West is the Southernmost City in the Continental United States. Photo by Mike Freas/Florida Keys News Bureau
Key West Rainbow Flag
Flag carriers reach the Atlantic Ocean Sunday, June 15, 2003, as they finish carrying a 1 1/4-mile-long rainbow flag down Duval Street in Key West, Fla. The mammoth banner was created by Gilbert Baker and commemorated the 25th anniversary of the gay and lesbian icon that Baker, a San Francisco resident, conceived in 1978. The flag required 17,600 linear yards of fabric, weighs more than 5,000 pounds and was a highlight event of the PrideFest Key West celebration. Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau
Key West Gallery
Visitors examine paintings in an art gallery in Key West. Photo by Mike Freas/Florida Keys News Bureau
Key West Guesthouse
The New Orleans House on Duval Street is among a plethora of accommodations' offerings in Key West. Photo by Mike Freas/Florida Keys News Bureau
Key West Gay Marriage
Aaron Huntsman, center left, and William Lee Jones, center right, complete their wedding vows on the steps of the Monroe County Courthouse early Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015, in Key West, Fla. The couple obtained the first same-sex marriage license issued in the Florida Keys. Huntsman and Jones helped to pave the way for marriage equality in Florida with a lawsuit protesting the state's 2008 ban on same-sex marriage. Photo by Rob O'Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau
Key West Dance
Afternoon dance parties are a tradition in Key West. Photo by Mike Freas/Florida Keys News Bureau
Key West Butterfly
Guests at the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory photograph two pink flamingos. The conservatory features an impressive collection of flowering plants, colorful birds, cascading waterfalls and trees that set the stage for some 50 to 60 species of butterflies, commonly known as "flowers of the sky." There are also some 20 exotic bird species, all under a climate- controlled, glass enclosed habitat. Photo by Mike Freas/Florida Keys News Bureau
Key West Dining
Popular Florida Keys seafood fare includes Florida lobster, Key West Pink Shrimp, stone crab claws and yellowtail snapper. Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau
Key West Dining
Cocktails before dinner is a Key West ritual, especially at the classic El Meson de Pepe Cuban restaurant. Photo by Mike Freas/Florida Keys News Bureau
Key West Bicycles
Bicycles are a great way to see Key West, Fla., at your own leisure. Photo by Mike Freas/Florida Keys News Bureau
Key West Aerial
An aerial photo of Key West, Fla., the Southernmost City in the Continental United States and last of the islands in the Florida Keys island chain connected to the South Florida mainland by the Keys Overseas Highway. More than 250,000 LGBTQ visitors experience Key West on an annual basis. Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau
Key West Dining
Al fresco dining, by the Atlantic Ocean, in Key West. Photo by Mike Freas/Florida Keys News Bureau
Key West Smathers Beach
Aerial view of Smathers Beach in Key West, Fla. Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau
Islamorada Sunrise
A small boat speeds over flat calm waters on way to a day of light-tackle sportfishing off the Florida Keys near Islamorada. Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau
Keys Seven Mile Bridges
An aerial view of Pigeon Key, a tiny island just west of Marathon, Fla., used as a base camp more than 100 years ago for workers building Henry Flagler's Florida Keys Over-Sea Railroad. The railroad's original Seven Mile Bridge, at left, was transformed into a road for cars in 1938 following the railroad's demise in 1935. A wider bridge, right, for the Florida Keys Overseas Highway was opened in 1982. Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau
Key Largo Diving
A diver explores the coral reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary off Key Largo, Fla. The reef system in the Keys is the only contiguous coral barrier reef in North America. Photo by Bob Care/Florida Keys News Bureau
Fort Jefferson
Fort Jefferson, a six-sided fort situated in the Dry Tortugas National Park, Fla., is 68 miles west of Key West. Nicknamed "Gibraltor of the Gulf of Mexico," the 150-year-old fort was never fully completed and never fired upon. During the Civil War, Fort Jefferson served as a Union military prison whose most famous prisoner was Dr. Samuel Mudd, convicted of complicity in Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau
Islamorada Keys Highway
Vehicular traffic rolls on the Florida Keys Overseas Highway in Islamorada, Fla. The Keys road, with 42 bridges over water is among a selection of U.S. roads that are designated as All-American by the National Scenic Byways program directed by the Federal Highway Administration. Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau)