A Dutch court has upheld the decision to reject an American trans woman’s application for asylum after the 28-year-old challenged the decision earlier this year.
Veronica Clifford-Carlos, a visual artist from California, applied for asylum in the Netherlands in the wake of the president’s continued targeting of trans rights and villainization of the trans community.
With the support of Dutch advocacy group LGBT Asylum Support – which is working with about 20 other trans Americans on asylum claims as well – Clifford-Carlos said the anti-trans administration has made her feel unsafe remaining in the United States.
The court, however, disagreed that Clifford-Carlos personally faces a legitimate risk of persecution, Reuters reported. The judge also said she did not prove she systemically lacks protection or access to essential services.
The court sent her case back to immigration authorities to review again due to a procedural error the first time around.
A statement from LGBT Asylum Support in August explained that the Netherlands’ Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) “generally states that discrimination by authorities and fellow citizens can be considered an act of persecution if it is so severe that victims can no longer function socially and societally” but that it “maintains that there are no grounds for exceptional treatment of transgender and queer refugees from the U.S.”
Clifford-Carlos was the first trans American to legally challenge an asylum rejection in the Netherlands. In September, she toldReuters how bad it had become in the States for her since the new administration took office.
“I have people screaming f**got at me in the street… I have people threatening my life, threatening to assault me, threatening to follow me home and kill my family.”
She spoke to The World in September from a Dutch refugee camp, where she explained, “It feels like the U.S. doesn’t see me as human. I am not seen as a woman in the eyes of the government, and because of my transition, I am technically not a man either.”
She said the thought of returning to the U.S. gives her “more dread than I have ever experienced in my entire life.”
The Netherlands has long been considered a refuge for LGBTQ+ acceptance. In 1981, it was the first country in the world to grant refugee status to someone due to their sexual orientation, and in 2001, it became the first country to grant marriage equality.
But Marlou Schrover, an economic and social history professor in the country, told The World that reality has not lived up to the reputation. She said it is extremely rare for someone to be given refugee status based solely on LGBTQ+ identity, and that one must not only prove they have experienced physical violence, but that the police refused to help when it was reported.
Schrover explained that Dutch immigration authorities still view the United States as mostly safe for trans people because there are many other states they can move to if they don’t feel safe in their own.
The administration’s anti-trans policies may also not be enough, she said. “Exclusion from the military or exclusion from sports may be unpleasant and horrible, but it’s not seen as persecution in the eyes of Dutch immigration officials.”
She added that granting asylum to trans people from the U.S. is a risky decision because it makes a big statement about the U.S. and could affect relations between the two countries.
Are you thinking about leaving the United States for safety, stability, or a better quality of life? In this powerful conversation, we sit down with Dan Brotman, an American expat based in Montreal who specializes in investment migration—including Golden Visas, Digital Nomad Visas, and residency-by-investment options tailored to the LGBTQ+ community.
With an academic background in immigration policy, multiple citizenships, and years of frontline experience helping people relocate, Dan brings unmatched insight into how Americans can legally, safely, and strategically build a future outside the U.S. Follow Dan on Instagram: @danbrotman linktr.ee/danbrotman
🏡 IN THIS VIDEO, WE COVER:
🌍 Why Americans—Especially LGBTQ+ People—Are Exploring Life Abroad
We discuss political extremism, threats to civil rights, financial instability, and what it means to live somewhere your rights are not up for debate.
💶 Golden Visas & Migration Pathways
Dan explains the residency-by-investment programs opening doors across Europe, Latin America, and beyond—and why securing a visa before your “red line” is crossed is essential.
❤️🩹 Healthcare Without Fear
Real stories from Spain, Uruguay, and Canada:
€80/month private healthcare in Spain
A 5-day ICU stay for $19
An emergency room visit in Canada that cost $0
A U.S. insurance premium high enough to rent an apartment in Valencia
🧠 Financial Relief & Peace of Mind
We explore how predictable, low-cost healthcare abroad reduces anxiety for families who worry about a single medical emergency derailing their finances.
🎓 Education & Opportunity
Why families are sending their children to Europe—especially the Netherlands—for nearly free, world-class university education.
🏳️🌈 Rights, Safety & Community
Dan discusses LGBTQ+ rights, abortion access, universal healthcare, and gun laws in Canada—issues considered settled and not weaponized politically.
🚨 Red Lines & Safety Planning
We explore how LGBTQ+ people can assess danger, decide their personal boundaries, and obtain the documentation needed to leave quickly if the situation in the U.S. deteriorates.
This is an essential conversation for anyone considering relocation for safety, rights, opportunity, or long-term stability.
🔔 Subscribe for more guides on LGBTQ+ migration, Golden Visa pathways, and global relocation options.
The Netherlands just made history with their most recent election.
The country voted on Wednesday, Oct. 29, to elect Rob Jetten, 38, as prime minister, making Jetten both the youngest and very first openly gay candidate to hold the role, according to German outlet Deutsche Welle (DW).
Jetten, a member of the centrist-liberal D66 party, beat Geert Wilders, a member of the far-right Party for Freedom. Wilders ran on an anti-immigration campaign and has previously called to ban the Quran, among other Islamophobic remarks.
“I am incredibly happy that … we have become the biggest party in this election,” Jetten told reporters after election results came in, per DW. “A historic result for the D66. At the same time, I feel a great responsibility.”
He added, “I think we’ve now shown to the rest of Europe and the world that it is possible to beat the populist movements if you campaign with a positive message for your country.”
While Jetten is the projected winner of the election, DW notes that he will be officially confirmed the winner when the final results come in on Monday, Nov. 3, the day mail-in ballots are counted from Dutch citizens living abroad.
Jetten got plenty of support on election night from his fiancé, two-time Olympian Nico Keenan, who posted a sweet TikTok video of the couple preparing for the evening. In the clip, which was set to RAYE‘s “Where the Hell Is My Husband?,” Keenan, 28, stood solo in the frame while dressed in a suit.
When he looked offscreen, Jetten soon appeared, also dressed in a suit. As he buttoned his jacket, Keenan reached over and held him by the waist, before the two smiled at the camera then shared a quick kiss.
“Election night, let’s go🔥🫶🏽,” Keenan captioned the post.
Jetten has been equally supportive of Keenan. When his fiancé competed for Argentina in field hockey at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Jetten cheered him on from the stands at the Stade Yves-du-Manoir.
The couple announced their engagement in November 2024, when Keenan posted a photo of his engagement ring on Instagram and captioned the post, “Soon to be Mr&Mr💍.”
Keenan, who is bisexual, began playing field hockey for the Netherlands’ Hockey Club Klein Zwitserland in 2017, according to Out Sports. While speaking with the Dutch outlet Trouw in April, Keenan said he’s received messages of support and gratitude for competing as an openly bisexual athlete.
“People told me how happy they were that there was finally an openly bisexual hockey player playing in the Premier League,” he said.
Keenan and Jetten are set to marry next year, according to the BBC.
Austin Willingham, 30, grew up in Decatur, Alabama, and knew from a very early age that he wanted to leave home as soon as he turned 18.
While studying abroad in Sweden during his junior year at Troy University, he visited the Netherlands for the first time. Now almost 10 years later, Willingham and his partner are living in Rotterdam with the hope that they can obtain permanent residency or EU citizenship.
It was a move that Willingham admits had been in the works since he returned from his semester abroad in Sweden.
“Once I came back from Sweden, I was just determined to move back to Europe and had reverse culture shock. I was asking my parents if I could transfer to a different university and complete my degree abroad,” he tells CNBC Make It.
“Me being the first-generation college student in my immediate family, my parents were really adamant about me just going ahead and finishing my degree.”
Prior to moving to Rotterdam, Willingham lived in Ireland, traveled through Southeast Asia and was in and out of Australia for five years.
“We thought that it would be a good break. It would be a good change and transition from life in Australia. We also thought it would not be as difficult a change because Rotterdam is still the second-largest city in the country. We’re definitely city people, so we thought that this would just be the best space for us,” he says. “As soon as we got here, the people were so warm and they immediately welcomed us in.”
An estimated 5.5 million Americans live abroad, according to the Association of Americans Resident Overseas (AARO). That number continues to rise with an estimated 1,285 U.S. citizens expatriated in the first quarter of 2025 alone — a 102% increase compared to the same period a year ago, according to a report from CS Global Partners, which analyzed statistics from the U.S. Federal Register.
Life in the Netherlands
Willingham made the official move to Rotterdam in June of this year, on a DAFT (Dutch-American Friendship Treaty) visa. That visa stipulates that he be self-employed or work as a freelancer only.
To satisfy the visa requirements, Willingham works as an event planner and does commercial modeling, but his ultimate goal is to grow his relocation services business, Willing World.
Willingham and his partner live in a two-bedroom apartment with a roommate. The couple splits 430 euros or USD $498 a month for rent — paying 215 euros or USD $249 each — according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
Including rent, Willingham’s monthly expenses in Rotterdam total approximately $680, covering utilities, transportation, health insurance, groceries, and his mobile phone bill.
“I like the freedom. This is coming from a privileged place, but I truly feel like anywhere outside the United States, it’s about being able to breathe and have a work-life balance. That’s what I love most about living abroad, even though I’m working for myself, there is still this balance and there’s not this societal pressure of needing to prove myself all the time.”
Willingham started sharing his journey abroad on TikTok and says that since moving to Rotterdam, he’s enjoyed building a community both online and in real life. He’s excited to see what the future holds, he says, but moving back to the United States is just not in the cards for him right now.
“I would love to live. I would love to own. I would love to say yes at some point, but not in the current situation that we have. It would be way down the line when the United States finally gets some change,” he says.
“I want to be able to be there for my parents, so maybe I wouldn’t move back permanently, but I would spend an extended amount of time.”
Willingham says that leaving the U.S. has taught him that he is capable of anything.
“I’ve learned that I can do it even when I’m scared because it still has to get done,” he says. “When living abroad, especially on your own, you don’t have anybody to depend on, so you learn to depend on yourself and trust yourself with it.”
Conversions from euros to USD were done using the OANDA conversion rate of 1 euro to $1.16 USD on October 14, 2025. All amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar.
A 28-year-old transgender woman from the U.S. began a legal challenge on Wednesday to the rejection of her asylum application in the Netherlands where she had sought political asylum saying she no longer felt safe in the United States.
Veronica Clifford-Carlos, a visual artist from California, came to the Netherlands — the first country to legalize same-sex marriage and known for its strong protections of LGBTQ rights — because the Trump administration’s policies towards transgender people made her feel unsafe, her lawyer’s office said.
The case, the first of its kind in the Netherlands, will be heard in a court in Amsterdam starting Wednesday, with a ruling expected in four to six weeks.
Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has issued executive orders limiting transgender rights, banned transgender people from serving in the armed forces, and rescinded anti-discrimination policies for LGBTQ people.
Dutch advocacy group LGBT Asylum Support, which backs the lawsuit, is currently assisting around 20 U.S. trans individuals with pending asylum claims.
According to data from the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND), 29 Americans applied for asylum in the Netherlands during the first half of this year. In previous years there were between nine and 18 applicants per year, an IND spokesperson said.
“The IND generally states that discrimination by authorities and fellow citizens can be considered an act of persecution if it is so severe that victims can no longer function socially and societally,” LGBT Asylum Support said in a statement.
“But the IND maintains that there are no grounds for exceptional treatment of transgender and queer refugees from the U.S.”
It had been months since Alex and Lucy, a trans couple from Arizona, felt safe enough to hold hands in public. They rediscovered that pleasure after moving to Amsterdam this year.
The couple, who did not want to give their last names because of the sensitivity of the subject, decided to leave the United States soon after Donald Trump was re-elected last year.
They arrived in the Netherlands on Jan. 19, the day before Trump was inaugurated and swiftly issued an executive order saying the government would only recognize two sexes — male and female.
“We’re both visibly trans and faced growing discrimination. It ramped up right after the election,” said Lucy, sitting alongside Alex in their De Pijp apartment in Amsterdam’s south.
“It felt like people had taken off their masks — waiting for an excuse to finally say what they wanted. We went from being tolerated to openly despised,” she added.
Alex, who is disabled, feared staying put might also mean losing access to their federal health insurance.
“In the end, it became a matter of life and death,” Alex said.
In his first six months in office, Trump has enacted multiple policies affecting the lives of LGBTQ Americans in areas from healthcare to legal recognition and education.
In the face of this rollback of rights, some LGBTQ people have voted with their feet.
While there is little official data, LGBTQ people and activists told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that many people head to Portugal and Spain, while Costa Rica and Mexico are also popular destinations, alongside France and Thailand.
The Netherlands stands out, though, for its strong legal protections, its record on LGBTQ+ inclusivity, and due to a Dutch–American Friendship Treaty (DAFT) and its affiliated visa.
DAFT — established as a 1956 act of Cold War cooperation — enables U.S. citizens to live and work in the Netherlands if they start a small business investing at least 4,500 euro ($5,200), can secure Dutch housing, and are able to prove they have enough money to live on.
The permit is valid for two years and can be renewed.
“Europe was always on the cards, but the Netherlands had a really high percentage of queer folks, and we knew people here (who) were trans and happy,” said Lucy, who got a DAFT visa.
‘Numbers increasing’
While the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) does not keep statistics on the sexual orientation or gender identity of DAFT applicants, overall applications have increased since 2016, with January 2025 registering the highest number of any single month on record — 80.
“The numbers are increasing. We don’t know why,” said Gerard Spierenburg, IND spokesperson.
Immigration lawyers also report an increase.
“From the day after the election, my inbox began filling up with requests of U.S. citizens wanting to move to the Netherlands,” said lawyer Jonathan Bierback, adding that about a fifth came from the LGBTQ+ community.
Three other lawyers in Amsterdam confirmed the trend in interviews with the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Jack Mercury, a trans adult performer from California, moved to Amsterdam almost a year and a half ago — “literally the moment I knew Trump was going to be re-elected”.
He said the DAFT visa was “one of the few financially accessible visas” for him.
He now lives in west Amsterdam with a partner and two cats.
“The words to describe the U.S. in the last 100 days are uncertainty and fear. For trans people, it’s fear that they’ll lose access to healthcare, rights like housing or the ability to work. And for gay people and lesbians, it’s that they will become the next targets,” Mercury said.
This year, more than 950 anti-trans bills were introduced in U.S. state legislatures, according to the Trans Legislation Tracker, of which 120 have passed, 647 failed, and 186 are still under consideration.
“I feel very lucky. I know many people who cannot afford to move, because they’re not high earners, they are sick, have family or children,” said Mercury.
His friend Topher Gross, a trans hair stylist from New York who has been in Amsterdam for four years, offered housing tips and recommended a lawyer.
“Everyone’s exploring any possible way to get out,” said Gross. “But not everyone can — many trans people of colour can’t afford to leave. It’s terrifying.”
He noted that the climate of fear was exacerbated by deportations under Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
“Basic rights are being stripped away.”
Jess Drucker, an LGBTQ relocation expert with U.S.-based Rainbow Relocation, said many U.S. clients choose to go Dutch.
“People see how quickly rights can erode, with the global rise of right-wing extremism, and want to move somewhere where those rights are more likely to hold,” Drucker said.
“We’ve seen a major increase in requests for consultations. We are absolutely full.”
Because not everyone can afford a DAFT visa, the Dutch NGO LGBT Asylum Support is urging the government to consider asylum options for LGBTQ Americans.
Spokesperson Sandro Kortekaas said about 50 trans Americans had contacted the group since Trump’s inauguration.
In June, the group asked the government to reassess the status of the United States as a safe country for queer asylum seekers. However, Bierback does not expect success as such a shift would be seen “as a provocation towards the U.S.”
Spierenburg from the IND said there had been more asylum applications from the United States this year than last, although the numbers were still low — 33 against 9 in 2024.
Lucy and Alex are grateful for their new life.
“When I came here, I felt more at home than I ever did. I have so much hope,” said Lucy.
But she does worry that a future Dutch administration — a right-wing coalition collapsed in June — could kill off DAFT.
“I’m really concerned that the treaty is going to be damaged by current political agendas. And so I’m doing everything I can to make sure that I stay within the rules. I don’t want to be extradited for any reason.”
At least dozens, but likely many more Americans from the LGBTQIA+ community have fled to the Netherlands in recent months out of fear of Donald Trump’s policies, AD reports after surveying organizations involved in helping them. The number of American asylum applications is already higher than in the whole of 2024, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) told the newspaper.
Since Trump took office for his second term as United States president, the American government implemented policy to only recognize two genders, ban rainbow flags from government buildings, scrap the funding of transgender care for young people, and officially ban terms like “gender identity,” “non-binary,” and “transsexual.” Some conservative states are going even further. Arkansas, for example, is trying to ban hairstyles that “do not match” the gender children were assigned at birth.
Organizations like Transgender Network, LGBT Asylum Support, and Trans Rescue told AD that Trump is causing great unrest in the American LGBTQIA+ community. They all report an enormous increase in requests from Americans to find housing in the Netherlands. LGBT Asylum Support alone has received over 50 requests for aid since Trump took office.
“Our people are really afraid of persecution,” Wesley de Robles of Immigration Netherlands Services, an organization that helps American entrepreneurs obtain residency in the Netherlands via the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty (DAFT), told the newspaper. The treaty, intended to promote business relations, states that Americans who register as an entrepreneur with the Chamber of Commerce and present a business plan may be eligible for a residency permit.
According to De Robles, many transgender people, in particular, are using this route to flee the United States. “Since Trump, we have received around 30 applications every month, more than half of which come from the LGBTI community.” Before Trump, there were only a handful of applications per month.
The IND is also seeing an increase in asylum requests from Americans. In the first three months of 2025, there were 20 applications, while in previous years, between 9 and 19 Americans sought asylum in the Netherlands over a whole year. About half of the applicants are transgender, Transgender Network told AD, based on data from asylum doctors.
Fewer people use the official asylum route because the IND applies strict conditions. Only those who are at serious risk of persecution or inhumane treatment have a chance. LGBT Asylum Support has, therefore, asked Asylum Minister Marjolein Faber to “recognize the deteriorating situation for transgender people as a reason for asylum.”
But Faber refused. The PVV Minister responded that Trump’s policy “gives no reason to assume that transgender people should fear persecution.” So the conditions for asylum will remain unchanged, she said.
Americans living in the Netherlands will hold a protest in front of the American consulate on Saturday, one of the organizers told NL Times. The protest is not specifically due to Trump’s treatment of the LGBTQIA+ community, but against the American government’s “violation of due process rights” in general. This follows several immigrants being taken from American streets and detained in “a brutal prison in El Salvador.”
The demonstration will happen at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday in front of the American consulate on the Museumplein in Amsterdam, which is currently closed for renovations. “On April 19, we gather to say loudly and clearly: Hands Off Our Due Process Rights!” the organizer said.
An irrefutable reality of being a member of the LGBTQ community, at any age, is that you must give more thought than non-LGBTQ people about where to live. What are the local laws that apply to LGBTQ people regarding workplace and housing discrimination, marriage equality and conversion therapy? What does available public polling reveal about acceptance of the LGBTQ community? Even if you’re not married and don’t plan to be, or even if you no longer work, such laws — or the absence of them — suggest to LGBTQ folks how safe and welcoming the locale will be for them.
The above is true whether you’re LGBTQ and 30 — or a gay retiree. You can’t just spin the globe. If you’re LGBTQ and are considering retiring abroad, it is incumbent on you to do more due diligence than your straight friends and family members would have to do in the same situation.
Best places for LGBTQ people to retire abroad
If you enlist the services of a lawyer who specializes in retirement abroad, you have to ask more questions; you have to spend more late nights googling; and you have to read more articles like this one, in which we examine the knotty issues related to gay retirement outside the U.S., include advice from both experts and expats, and make some (hopefully helpful) recommendations.
If everything falls into place, you can breathe a sigh of relief once you’re in the midst of your retirement abroad. Chris Young and Jon Kinnally, who both worked in the television industry — Young was a writer for Comedy Central, and Kinnally was a writer and producer for the sitcoms Will & Grace and Ugly Betty — lived most recently in Los Angeles before the couple moved to Spain. They chose Sitges, a vibrant, walkable beach town about 45 minutes from Barcelona. “It’s so open. You see gay and lesbian couples holding hands. And you can be old and gay here, which you can’t be in L.A.,” Young says, not entirely joking.
Below, we recommend some beautiful and culturally rich countries where LGBTQ folks can retire happily and safely. But just as the U.S. isn’t uniform in terms of acceptance, neither are most countries. The LGBTQ community scarcely needs to be told that the more populous and diverse the area — in the U.S., that means urban or coastal, or both — the more accepting the area tends to be.
But it’s worth repeating. As the founder and managing director of Mitos Relocation Solutions, Federica Grazi helps expats retire in Greece and other European countries, and she is quick to note that not all of Greece is like the gay magnets of Athens and Mykonos. “I would not recommend that gay couples move to the countryside, where there are traditional communities and not many expats — it would be harder to integrate there,” she counsels, but the same might be said of France, Spain, Italy — or the U.S.
With that in mind, here’s our hot list of retirement places.
Spain
Spain is well-known as one of the most LGBTQ-friendly countries in the world. Spain legalized same-sex marriage in 2005, a full decade before the U.S. Naturally, this factored into Young’s and Kinnally’s decision to move to Sitges, a global destination for gay tourism.
The two appreciate the fact that the resort town, while heavily gay — with a spate of gay bars, nightclubs, and hotels — is demographically diverse. “It’s not a gay ghetto,” Young says. “Sitges is a great mix,” Kinnally adds. “It’s different than a place like Provincetown. There are kids running through the streets, old Spanish ladies, and gay couples — all mixing together. It’s kind of a utopia if you want to retire.”
With health care costing the couple only 250 euros a month and three-course lunches priced from 15 to 17 euros, they can breathe easy about expenses and work on their respective book projects. (Kinnally’s I’m Prancing as Fast as I Can comes out in August.) Of the major cities, Barcelona is a gay mecca, and Madrid boasts Chueca, a festive gay neighborhood.
Greece
While same-sex marriage was only recently legalized in 2024, same-sex sexual activity was decriminalized in Greece in 1951, which compares favorably to the U.S., which granted this right far later — in 2003. Likewise, employment discrimination against gays and lesbians has been illegal in Greece since 2005 (with gender-identity protections following later), while the U.S. did not grant this protection at the federal level until 2020.
Athens boasts a large and thriving LGBTQ community, especially in the Gazi neighborhood, and the Cycladic island of Mykonos is arguably the world’s most popular summer destination for the LGBTQ community, with famous gay beaches like Elia and Super Paradise.
Former New Yorker Daniel Rentillo says that even the small, low-key island of Symi, where he retired, is a comfortable place to be LGBTQ, and he’s noticed more gay couples visiting and even making moves to relocate to the island. The fact that Greece enjoys excellent health care and a relatively low cost of living makes this country of cultural antiquities, plentiful beaches, mild weather, and fresh seafood a fine choice for retirees — LGBTQ or not.
Malta
Not only was employment discrimination against the LGBTQ community banned here, and same-sex sexual activity decriminalized years before the U.S. made these civil rights moves, but the island nation of Malta was also the first European country to ban conversion therapy. Supermajorities of Maltese support civil rights and marriage equality.
With a tiny population of half a million people living on three sunny, inhabited islands (Malta, Gozo, and Camino), the country is located south of Sicily, enjoying a similar Mediterranean climate and stunningly clear waters to swim in, especially at the natural coves at St. Peter’s Pool.
Valetta is the pedestrian-friendly capital and is the best place for gays to hole up, along with nearby Sliema. “Everyone accepts the LGBTQ community today,” says Matthew Cassar, a citizenship advocate and lawyer based in Sliema. “No one would conceive of discrimination,” noting that “there is no opposition party” set on scaling back the community’s rights. One of Cassar’s clients, worried for his transgender daughter’s rights and safety in the U.S. under the Trump administration, is in the middle of the citizenship process.
The country has two official languages: Maltese and English.
Australia
For more than a decade, public polling has shown support for gay rights and marriage quality surpassing the 70% mark. And some advances have been swift and recent: Since 2021, the country has outlawed the so-called gay panic defense, legalized marriage equality, and banned conversion therapy (in regions representing 85% of the population). In 2013, Australia implemented federal protections based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and intersex status.
Though marriage equality did not arrive in Australia until 2018, the capital of Sydney has embraced gay culture for decades: The annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, one of the world’s biggest LGBTQ celebrations, has been going strong since the 1970s. While Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane have gay neighborhoods, the LGBTQ presence in Melbourne is more spread out.
Most retirees will find a pathway to relocate through the expensive ($500,000 to $750,000) Investor Retirement Visa. Still, it is cheaper to live in Sydney than in New York or San Francisco.
For those seeking a mild climate, beautiful cities, a friendly populace, excellent health care, and zero language barrier, “Oz” (the affectionate slang for Australia) may be the ticket.
Costa Rica
Costa Rica’s former president, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, was a notable reformer and advocate in the area of LGBTQ rights, garnering global attention when he publicly apologized for the country’s past persecution and discrimination of gays, calling it “shameful.” Same-sex marriage became legal in 2020, which was also the year that hate crimes and blackmail based on sexual orientation were criminalized. (Transgender rights already had been significantly expanded in 2018.)
A center of eco-tourism and sustainable well-being with no standing army, tropical Costa Rica has long been regarded as a kind of peaceable utopia for expats. With the Caribbean Sea on one side and the Pacific on the other, Costa Rica is known for its lush landscape and hot springs.
Gay life is centered in the capital city of San Jose and the carefree beach resort town of Manuel Antonio. Retirees will find the country very affordable, even with household help.
The Netherlands
The first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage (in 2001) also banned discrimination based on gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics in 2019. Not only do most Dutch people support LGBTQ rights; many Dutch, especially those under 40, can’t even comprehend the discrimination faced by the community in other countries.
It would be an understatement to say that you can be comfortably gay in Amsterdam, with Reguliersdwarsstraat the most prominent LGBTQ area. This world-class city is postcard-perfect, teeming with cyclists, and is pedestrian-friendly (just mind the bike lanes). The visa system is straightforward and leads to residency. English is widely spoken, and the cultural opportunities seem endless.
On the downside, the country’s cost of living can feel a little pricey for those living outside major U.S. cities, and the weather in the Netherlands is rainier and chillier than in southern Europe.
Thailand
In 2024, Thailand made headlines when it became the first UN member state to approve a marriage equality law, and the country, with its myriad cultural and recreation opportunities, has long been popular with LGBTQ tourists. Therefore, LGBTQ couples and individuals may want to consider Thailand, but only if they’re of a certain stripe: adventurous and very well-traveled; tolerant of tropical heat; and veterans of previous vacations or work stints in the country.
In an exotic culture so far from friends and loved ones, it’s best to have an expat community already in place if you’re thinking of moving there. In addition, though Thailand offers the LGBTQ community a range of protections and anti-discrimination laws, local attitudes are still evolving, and social interactions should be carefully navigated (cue the established expat scene).
That said, this is a very inexpensive country with kind people. And if you love Thai food, having pad see ew where it was invented will be a revelation. The capital, Bangkok, is a uniquely stimulating place, where a ride on long-tailed boat along the Chao Phraya River may get you to your destination faster than an open tuk-tuk (taxi), given the city’s notoriously heavy traffic.
If you prefer a slower pace and a coastal setting, you can always base yourself in the resort areas of Phuket or Ko Samui, the latter the island where season 3 of The White Lotus was filmed.
Prior to this week’s stunning presidential election results, a number of LGBTQ advocates and celebrities threatened to leave the U.S. should Donald Trump be elected. Now that the real estate mogul and reality TV star is America’s president-elect, NBC OUT has compiled a handy list of LGBTQ-friendly countries for U.S. expatriates.
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