Gay marriage got some free publicity when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling made Nevada officially a same-sex-nuptial destination. There were Kim Davis-like holdouts: A [sic] Elvis Chapel, which closed its doors to gay couples. "We want to follow the law," an employee told The Huffington Post. "We don't, however, for Biblical reasons believe in that. It has nothing to do with our feelings toward any people. We don’t want to discriminate against any people at all. But our ministers are unable to do that at this time and we do not believe in that." "My faith won't allow me," Vegas Wed owner Dolly de Leon said more succinctly.
Nevada ACLU Executive Director Tod Story fired back, "Any Las Vegas wedding chapel that operates as a business is covered under Nevada’s public accommodations law and is not allowed to discriminate against same-sex couples seeking a wedding ceremony, or any other couple for that matter. Currently, the way the law is written, it's a misdemeanor crime."
Gay tourists who aren’t looking to get married but just to chill out suffered a setback last year when LGBT-targeted nightclub Liaison – the first venue of its kind inside a Strip resort -- closed in Bally’s Las Vegas after less than a year in operation. This followed on the heels of the on-again, off-again itinerant nightspot KRAVE, which had operated for some time as a successful independent nightspot on the Strip (even enjoying a surprise visit from Lady Gaga while she was in town performing at MGM Grand), but failed to realize its "MASSIVE" dreams downtown, evidently thanks to some gross mismanagement, as opposed to lack of clientele -- a situation which unfortunately resulted in the simultaneous demise of popular drag-queen bowling venue and sister property "Drink & Drag." Las Vegas still has regular Pride Family Bingo events, however, now hosted by off-Strip Alexis Park, following a stint at the Gay & Lesbian Community Center downtown, prior to which drag-queen bingo enjoyed a run on the Strip at Circus Circus, of all places.
Even with the very recent loss of the long-running Sunday LGBT event inside Mirage’s Revolution Lounge, which went by several monikers over the years, including Closet Sundays ("for boys who like boys and their girlfriends") gay visitors in search of nightlife are no longer confined to the "Fruit Loop" near the airport and can still find entertainment options on the Strip. Cirque's sensual Zumanity show at New York-New York has always marketed to the LGBT demographic, while "Temptation Sundays", the LGBT-oriented pool party at Luxor's Oasis, is into its seventh season and in its formative years even operated a shuttle-bus service to the event from San Diego. Just a few blocks west of the Strip (behind Cosmopolitan at 4636 Wynn Rd.) there's also a plush two-story gay nightclub and strip club, Share, which took over a former gentlemen's-club venue and has been going strong for a few years now.
The Tropicana was very progressive during the years that Alex Yemenidjian ran it and we foresee no change now that Penn National Gaming is in charge and continuing to bill the resort as "Your Favorite Gay-Friendly Las Vegas Hotel". Trop officials have traveled to gay-pride events around the country, talking up the resort’s "TropLV Glam brand", which has included a sporting event, the Sin City Shootout, now going into its fourth year. RuPaul’s Drag Race has paid a visit, too, while the Las Vegas Gay Visitors Bureau chose the Trop to host its first-ever Evolve New Year’s Eve party.
Caesars Entertainment has a marketing partnership with Dinah Shore Weekend, a lesbian magnet, which it cross-promotes with Planet Hollywood and the Flamingo Las Vegas. Like Luxor, Caesars has a microsite (caesars.com/lgbt), with entire sections devoted to gay marriage.
This September during Gay PRIDE, SLS Las Vegas played host to Shedonism, "a sinful women's weekend and hotel takeover" that actually went on for four days and included parties poolside and in all of the resort's nightlife venues.
Wynn Resorts, by contrast, has resorted (pun unintended) to a gender-neutral approach, expunging its literature of mentions of "his and her sinks," phasing out its wynnpride.com microsite, and replacing its "pride concierge" with cross-training so that all concierge staff can handle LGBT-related queries. The company’s rationale is that if you’re lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, you still want pretty much the same resort experience as everyone else -- a non-pigeonholing approach in which we definitely can see some merit.
Rumor, "The Las Vegas Boutique Resort," evidently didn’t get the memo about Nevada being down with gay marriage. While in recent memory it was actively branding itself as a gay-friendly destination, today that no longer seems to be a priority and its website still advertises "commitment ceremonies," which is oh so 2007.
