Overall the gay community, at least the visible gay community, is small here. I'm not at all an authority on what it's like to be gay in Milwaukee but I've never seen anything problematic, other than a few panhandlers who get mad and shout offensive things if you don't give them money or they don't like you. It attracts people from across the state and northern Illinois as well.Īs far as atmosphere is concerned, I think it's generally fine, but experiences may vary. If you're here in early June there's Pridefest which is a pretty large multi-day pride festival down by the lake. Aside from the bars there are a few sports leagues and there's an LGBT center downtown.
There's no real gay neighborhood like there is in some other cities, likely due to Milwaukee's size. Most of the bars are concentrated in Walker's Point, though there's also This Is It downtown which is more of an old school dive type bar (that isn't sketchy).
