I’ve been to this event many times, and I’m confident in my answer: Yes, this annual event at Fair Park in Dallas is just about as gay friendly as an event can be without being put on by a gay organization.

It’s just a shame that Fort Worth doesn’t have a comparable event. In 2010, we did, but it didn’t get enough support from attendees or corporate sponsors, so it went away just as quickly as it came.

It wasn’t the first Irish festival in Tarrant County, and there’s still a Celtic event held in this county every year. But first, here’s a bit more about the North Texas Irish Festival.

Even Its History Is Gay

The very first NTIF was held in the gayest neighborhood in Dallas, Oak Lawn. Originally called the First Texas Ceili, it was held March 5, 1983.

It was too large for that venue even then, however, and the annual festival quickly moved to bigger digs. The festival has been held at Fair Park on the first weekend in March ever since.

In 1984, the event occupied one building at Fair Park. It has since grown to take up much of the park and is the second largest event held there — second only to the park’s main purpose for existing, The State Fair of Texas.

All you have to do is look around the North Texas Irish Festival to see how gay and lesbian friendly the event is. You’ll find your own kind everywhere you look. In fact, the Irish Festival at Fair Park is a friendly and welcome event that feels like attending a family reunion in more ways than one.

And many of the people there aren’t even Irish. You don’t have to be Irish or meet any other qualifications to attend.

A Tarrant County Version Failed

In October 2010, the organization that puts on the Dallas Irish festival held an event called the Cowtown Celtic Festival at Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth. Occupying the arena, the auditorium and some exhibit spaces as well as parts of the grounds, the event was fun for the modest crowd that attended. But the relatively sparse attendance foretold the event’s fate: It was a one-time-only event because it didn’t garner enough participation or sponsorship.

This effort to start a Fort Worth Irish festival was at least in part the result of the folding of the Celtic Heritage Festival held every year in Bedford. When this fall event folded, it left a void that the Southwest Celtic Music Association tried to fill with its new festival.

It’s a real shame it didn’t work out. The event wasn’t well publicized and many Dallas regulars didn’t attend as expected despite good weather and top-name performers.

Still, the Texas Scottish Festival and Highland Games are held every summer in Arlington, so Celtic heritage is celebrated in the county after all. This longstanding event attracts some of the same performers and many of the same attendees as the North Texas Irish Festival, and a recent change moves it to May instead of its previous date in the heat of mid-summer.

A Final Note

Whether you’re Irish or not, you’ll enjoy the North Texas Irish Festival if you like music, fun and food. The music offered ranges from traditional Irish and Scottish dance music to rock-infused world music that’s hard to further categorize. The food includes traditional Irish choices as well as modern street-vendor and state-fair-style food.

And the fun is as big as Texas.

The North Texas Irish Festival is fun for the whole family, no matter what your family looks like.

Since Fort Worth doesn’t really have a gay neighborhood — although some neighborhoods are gayer than others, of course — you may have to do a little searching to find the man you want. Whether you’re looking for the man of your dreams or just the man of the hour, there’s a perfect guy for you. We’re sure of it

Fort Worth’s glitzy West Seventh development may be too young and straight for some tastes. And downtown’s nightlife scene seems to be dying as everyone moves their business and pleasure to the new development. Still, those areas have never been the best places to meet gay men anyway.

Fortunately, if you take a few things into consideration, you’ll be able to find the right gay man — for whatever you have in mind — right here in Fort Worth, Texas. Here are the first three places you should look:

1. The gay bars in Fort Worth, of course.

No matter what you think of gay bars, they are a great place to meet gay men. You can be certain almost everyone there is gay, so you’re not likely to step on any toes. Even better, Fort Worth’s gay clubs aren’t as seedy or as divey as they are in some cities, so these places probably won’t make you feel uncomfortable.

If you’re not sure where to start, don’t worry. Gay Fort Worth has a guide to gay bars in Fort Worth that will get you started.

2. The gay and lesbian churches.

Whether you’re a Christian or not, gay churches in Fort Worth can be a great place to meet the right man. You can’t automatically assume anything about his morals or his desires just because he’s in a church, however.

He may be there because he’s a devout follower, but he could be there looking for friendship, looking for a date or looking for much more. You’ll never know until you ask.

In the absence of a gay and lesbian community center or neighborhood, these churches serve as gathering places for people who can’t find their own kind anywhere else.

Once again, Gay Fort Worth has you covered if you want to explore the city’s gay and lesbian churches.

3. The big city to the east.

We hate to admit it, but finding gay men in Dallas might be easier than it is in Fort Worth. Dallas is a fake and phony city, but not all of its citizens are that way. Plus, Dallas has its own gay neighborhood at the intersection of Oak Lawn and Cedar Springs, just north of downtown.

As you ask around at the gay clubs in Dallas, you may find that many of the men there are from Fort Worth anyway. It’s not very far from Fort Worth to Dallas after all. That means you could come home from your excursion with a big, local prize.

If Dallas really interests you that much, Gay Fort Worth has a quick realistic guide to Gay Dallas too.

Please, Try 1 and 2 First

It’s really hard to admit that finding gay men in Fort Worth may be a little harder than finding them in Big D. Still, we recommend that you try steps 1 and 2 before you resort to step 3.

There’s no reason to go over there unless you have to, especially when there are so many nice and willing guys looking for something special in Fort Worth.

With only a half-hour’s drive separating us from our neighbor to the east, we’re bound to blend with their good people from time to time.

It’s just that Fort Worth’s citizens take pride in being different from Dallasites.

We’re all Texans, of course, and that’s a very good thing. But Fort Worth has a much different attitude than Dallas. While Fort Worth is eclectic and laidback, Dallas is glossy, glitzy and sometimes a bit annoying. And yes, we’re a bit biased in favor of the city we’ve chosen to call home.

Still, we’re willing to admit Dallas has a few good things going for it. Here are four things that Gay Fort Worth is proud to have in nearby Dallas. Yes, I said proud.

1. A real gay neighborhood.

While it can sometimes be hard to locate gays and lesbians in Fort Worth, in Dallas all you have to do is go to the intersection of Oak Lawn and Cedar Springs, just north of downtown, and you’ll find a gay and lesbian community.

Along with some gay clubs, the businesses in this neighborhood are almost all gay-run or at least exceptionally gay-friendly.

2. The largest gay church in the world.

Cathedral of Hope, the largest gay and lesbian church in the world with thousands of members, has been the largest of its kind for decades. Founded as part of the mostly-gay Metropolitan Community Church denomination, the congregation is now part of the liberal-but-mainline United Church of Christ.

Despite the change of denominations and some stumbles through the years related to staffing and its ambitious building project, the congregation has remained strong.

3. Culture nearly as interesting as Fort Worth’s.

Gays and lesbian are particularly interested in surrounding themselves with beautiful things and interesting experiences, don’t you think? While Fort Worth has authentic cowboy culture and world-class museums, Dallas has some culture to crow about too.

If you don’t think there’s anything beautiful or impressive in Dallas, visit the Dallas Museum of Art and the nearby Nasher Culture Center. And that’s just to get started.

4. Plenty of people of all kinds.

While Fort Worth is a diverse city, the Dallas population is even more diverse. This is largely because Dallas is a much bigger city.

Gay Dallas benefits from the large population of the city. More people means more money, more resources and a more organized approach to many things. Plus, the Dallas gay and lesbian community is much larger than Fort Worth’s, meaning there are more people from which you can choose if you’re looking for a date for the night or the person of your dreams.

Nice Place To Visit, But…

It’s hard to accept that Dallas may have some advantages over Fort Worth, but Gay Fort Worth promotes honest talk and fair opinions, so we have to admit it — even if we don’t want to.

We recommend you spend as much time as possible in Fort Worth, but Gay Dallas is there for you if you need it.

If you’re lucky, though, you’ll find everything you need in Fort Worth.

If you’re looking for a church home or want to explore how a gay and lesbian church can impact your life, the first two places to visit are Celebration Community Church and Agape Metropolitan Community Church.

Here’s a little information about these two church communities.

Celebration Community Church

Located on the Near Southside and just across Henderson Street from Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital, Celebration Community Church is a vibrant and active community pastured by Rev. Carol West.

Claiming a membership of more than 300 people, Celebration tends to be conservative theologically, but the congregation is as diverse as Fort Worth itself. At least 40 different religious backgrounds are represented in the congregation, according to the church’s website.

As with most predominately gay and lesbian churches, everyone is welcome at the church whether they’re gay or not.

While Fort Worth doesn’t really have a gay neighborhood, Celebration has the advantage of being located near the most popular gay clubs and in the part of town that has historically been most associated with the gay and lesbian community.

While the congregation predates Rev. West’s involvement, it has grown significantly under her leadership and perhaps become a bit less conservative in its beliefs than it once was.

Agape Metropolitan Community Church

Much older than Celebration, Agape is also a much smaller congregation. This congregation is part of the Metropolitan Community Church denomination and is the oldest gay and lesbian church in Fort Worth.

In fact, Agape MCC dates to 1970, a few years before the formation of the MCC denomination. In the years since it’s founding, it has been led by only a few pastors, each servicing significant periods with the church. Both gay men and lesbian women have led the church in those years, but the 2009 election of Rev. David Wynn as pastor marked the first transgender pastor of the group.

While the size of Agape has varied over the years, it is once again flourishing under Rev. Wynn.

The church’s biggest disadvantage is its inconvenient location. It is located in far South Fort Worth off Interstate 20 at the Anglin Drive exit.

Other Churches

Other gay and lesbian churches come and go, sometimes as a result of a split with one of these two churches and sometimes for other reasons.

Arlington also has an MCC congregation. Trinity Metropolitan Community Church is led by Curtis Smith and meets in an industrial warehouse area on Division Street in the western edge of Arlington.

No Harm in Trying

Even if you aren’t sure religion or spirituality are for you, there’s no harm in visiting one of these congregations. You might find an experience and a community you enjoy. You might even be surprised how many faces you recognize from your night out at one of Fort Worth’s gay clubs.

The diverse Gay Fort Worth community includes room for those who enjoy the benefits of religion and those who don’t.

Whether you’re looking to meet the perfect guy or an amazing gal, if you’re the same sex as your intended, there’s a gay club in Fort Worth where you can meet up and perhaps hookup.

Fort Worth doesn’t have a gay neighborhood, so the gay bars in Fort Worth are spread around a bit. The infamous Rainbow Lounge and some other popular clubs are located in the Near Southside while a couple of other well-liked hangouts are in East Fort Worth.

Getting To Know The Rainbow Lounge

Easily the hottest gay club in Tarrant County, the Rainbow Lounge has plenty to offer for both guys and gals. With world-class lighting, attractive staff and good drink specials, this is a see-and-be-seen kind of place where you can plan to spend the whole evening.

The décor is fun and modern, and so are most of its regulars.

Located in an unassuming brick-and-rock building that once housed the city’s longest-operating gay and lesbian bar, the 651 Club, the Rainbow Lounge drew national attention just after it opened in 2009 because the Fort Worth Police and state alcohol officials raided the bar looking for licensing violations — and injured patrons in the process. The raid resulted in apologies to the club and the gay community in general as well as much more business for the struggling new club.

The Rainbow Lounge’s owner has also become something of a gay mogul, buying up properties in the neighborhood of the Lounge’s 651 Hemphill location and developing new venues.

And The Rest

The Rainbow Lounge is just one of several gay bars in Fort Worth. We won’t bore you with a complete review of all of them, but here are some important details about the others:

Best Friends Club
2620 East Lancaster
Fort Worth Weekly’s 2010 critic’s choice award winner for best gay/lesbian bar. A fun place, we think.

Changes
2637 East Lancaster
Located near Best Friends, this club features male dancers most nights.

Crossroads Lounge
515 South Jennings
A small and casual place with billiards and a jukebox, Crossroads is located in the same neighborhood as the Rainbow Lounge.

Percussions Lounge
426 Jennings
This club claimed Fort Worth Weekly’s 2011 critic’s choice for best gay/lesbian bar. From the same guy who brought Fort Worth the Rainbow Lounge, it’s also just down the street from it.

1851 Club
1851 West Division, Arlington
Once a cousin to Fort Worth’s venerable 651 Club, this Arlington club offer karaoke some nights and has billiards too. It’s the only gay club in Arlington.

Don’t Blink

While the current list of gay clubs in Fort Worth has remained stable for some time now, things change quickly, especially in unstable economic times. Don’t be surprised if some of these clubs are out of business before you get through the door. There’s no reason to worry, however. The patrons at the remaining clubs will gladly direct you to any new ones.

While Fort Worth doesn’t have one gay neighborhood, the gay bars in Fort Worth seem to be settling into two distinct parts of the city. Fort Worth isn’t too large, however, for you get to both parts of town in one evening.

Just remember to take a cab if you’re in for some serious drinking.

It’s hard to tell if this alternative newsweekly could be doing a better job with its coverage or if there is simply very little for them to say about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues in Fort Worth these days.

Fort Worth had a gay and lesbian newspaper for years, but it folded many, many years ago. Since then, the community has had no place to turn for announcements, news and a gay take on relevant issues.

Why Not The Star-Telegram?

Fort Worth’s daily newspaper, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, does an adequate job covering gay and lesbian issues when they are important enough to catch their attention.

But with recent layoffs and downsizing by the paper, no community in Fort Worth is being adequately covered.

The Star-Telegram is a middle-of-the-road paper that doesn’t like to rock the boat. It often favors wealthier citizens, too.

For those reasons and others, it’s not a dependable source of gay news.

What A Healthy Community Needs

A healthy gay and lesbian community benefits most from having a newspaper of its own that publishes announcements, reasonably priced ads and stories about interesting and important members of the community.

With that no longer available in Fort Worth, the nearest gay paper is the Dallas Voice. While it tries to cover Fort Worth issues and even has limited distribution in Fort Worth, it’s a Dallas paper. Gays and lesbians in Fort Worth often have an anti-Dallas bias, and no Dallas paper can ever feel completely welcome in Cowtown.

The Role of Fort Worth Weekly

While Fort Worth Weekly’s general tone and content quality varies, it has generally declined somewhat in recent years. Still, it serves an important purpose. It picks up stories the local daily paper misses or skips and it keeps the daily and local government officials accountable.

Fort Worth Weekly does more than that, however.

It covers bars, restaurants and entertainment news in Fort Worth, Tarrant County and the surrounding areas. In fact, restaurants and bars are where most of its free issues are distributed. You can also find it at Central Market.

While you won’t find many mentions of gay events, you won’t find any bias against them either.

Perhaps its most important service to the community is including at least a partial listing of gay bars in every issue. That helps newcomers and visitors find a way into Gay Fort Worth.

Doing The Best It Can

Fort Worth Weekly tries to serve a wide range of purposes, but with limited pages and limited staff, it can never completely serve any of them.

While the Weekly is far from a completist work, it makes a difference on the issues it tackles and it serves as the local entertainment and nightlife community’s document of record.

Fort Worth Weekly isn’t a perfect paper, and it doesn’t cover gay and lesbian issues very often. Still, it’s fun and interesting, and that’s why lots of people pick up a copy every week.

Along with nightclubs and gay-focused churches, gay and lesbian organizations were the lifeblood of a community.

Now, people often connect online and may never feel the need to connect with a gay and lesbian organization.

Still, a few of these organizations exist in Fort Worth. Their roles change over time, but these groups are attempting to carry on the good work started in generations past.

While none of these organizations offers the one-stop resource that’s available in some other cities, each of these organizations plays a role in Gay Fort Worth.

Fort Worth Gay And Lesbian Organizations

Fairness Fort Worth

Existing primarily as a Facebook page and for monthly meetings, Fairness Fort Worth was formed after an incident at a Fort Worth gay bar resulted in people being injured by Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission officers and Fort Worth Police.

As a result of actions by Fairness Fort Worth and others, both police groups tried to make amends with Fort Worth’s gay community. In other words, Fairness Fort Worth got results in that case. They’ve done little else since, but there also hasn’t been a major incident that’s needed action either.

Q Cinema

Probably the most vibrant gay and lesbian organization in Fort Worth today, Q Cinema hold events each month. We at the Gay Fort Worth website think it’s so special it merits its own page.

If you want to meet the movers and shakers of Fort Worth’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities, turn up at a Q Cinema event. In fact, no matter who you want to meet, they’re probably planning to attend the next Q Cinema event.

Tarrant County Gay Pride Week Association

Founded in 1981, the TCGPWA produces Pride Week festivities in Fort Worth, now usually held in the fall instead of in the summer because of the intense Texas heat.

The site is often in disrepair, but it sometimes contains enough information to figure out when and where Pride Week activities are held. The association doesn’t seem to expend much effort on its website, but the activities happen year after year, so this group must be doing something.

Tarrant County Lesbian Gay Alliance

Apparently now existing in name only, the Tarrant County Lesbian Gay Alliance has existed in one form or another since 1980. It once led Fort Worth’s GLBT community.

For years, the organizations published a newsletter or newspaper that kept local gays and lesbian informed of political happenings. The group even purchased an old doctor’s office and attempted open a community center, an undertaking that proved too costly and eventually failed.

A Short Story

Unfortunately, we don’t know of any other active gay and lesbian organizations in Fort Worth. If you do, please learn how you can contact us.

For gay and lesbian people in Fort Worth who aren’t interested in gay churches and don’t visit gay bars, there are very few real-world opportunities to connect with others.

These organizations offer friendship, political activism, entertainment and opportunities for community involvement.

We hope you find what you need from one of them — and we hope this list grows too.

Truthfully, though, Q Cinema is much more than the yearly Fort Worth gay and lesbian film festival. It’s where Fort Worth’s gay and lesbian leaders go to see and be seen. And it’s also a lot of fun — both for those who want to get to know people and those who enjoy quality gay and lesbian films they often can’t see with an audience anywhere else.

For the GLBT community in Fort Worth, the Q Cinema film festival is the biggest event of the year — and plenty of people show up for its related events throughout the year.

Q Cinema History

Founded in 1998 by Todd Camp and Shawn Moore, Q Cinema is now run by Camp and a board of directors.

The organization started by offering occasional film screenings and discussion groups at Texas Christian University. Then, Moore had an idea. Why not expand to a yearly festival and bring in some of the best gay and lesbian movies, documentaries and shorts from around the world?

The festival began in 1999 and has since been held at a variety of venues around Fort Worth, mostly at the former Caravan of Dreams Theater downtown — now called Four Day Weekend Theater — and at Rose Marine Theater on the city’s Northside.

Q Cinema Today

Additional events have been held throughout the year since Q Cinema’s inception, but QCinema now offers at least one event every month — often two or three.

In addition to frequent screenings of important and entertaining films, Q Cinema presents live events under the name QLive! These include theatre presentations, readings and frequent open-mic comedy nights.

Occasional fundraising events and other special presentations round out a full schedule of activities each year for the organization that started with only a few film screenings in a TCU classroom.

More Than A Film Festival

With a mission of “providing a voice” for GLBT people through film presentations, videos and live programs, Q Cinema has become one of the most vibrant and active organizations in Gay Fort Worth.

In fact, there’s no better way to get to know the movers and shakers in Gay Fort Worth than by attending some Q Cinema events.

The first person you’ll want to meet is organizer Todd Camp, a man who is somehow related to everything that happened in the city to, for or by gays and lesbians. As a reporter and former full-time employee of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, he’s one of the most well-connected people in the city.

Other board members of the festival are also influential in their circles, too, so don’t ignore them.

You won’t want to ignore the pretty men and handsome women who surround you at their events either. You might find one waiting for a connection of a different kind.

Those outside the gay community have also recognized how important the film festival and related events are to the community.

In 2008, Fort Worth Weekly staffer’s chose Q Cinema as the best place to meet someone of the same sex. While other events and clubs have taken the Weekly’s top spot in years since, there’s no denying the importance of Q Cinema to Gay Fort Worth’s present as well as its past.

Q Cinema is, as you can see, more than just a movie night.

Actually, Q Cinema is three things: It’s a world-class yearly festival. It’s a successful community organization with frequent events attended by the most powerful gays and lesbians in town. And it’s a bit of meat market for those looking for someone of the same sex to share a night or a lifetime.

Those are all good things.

So how does Fort Worth fit into a state with so many bigger cities to overshadow it? After all, gay culture flourishes in the biggest cities doesn’t it?

There’s no doubt Fort Worth’s gay community has been slightly hindered and stunted by being so close Dallas, a city with a very organized gay and lesbian community.

But most Fort Worth residents don’t mind leaving the high-profile stuff to those people to the East.

Fort Worth’s gay and lesbian community may not be as visible as those in Gay Houston world or Gay Dallas, but that doesn’t mean this cowboys-and-culture city doesn’t offer a rich and vibrant experience for gays and lesbians. In fact, gays and lesbians are visible at every level of Fort Worth society.

Today’s Gay Fort Worth is very much like Gay Austin.

In fact, Fort Worth’s culture and community mirrors Austin’s in many ways. While Austin once had a firm hold on the title of weirdest and wildest city in Texas, things have changed in recent years.

Thanks to new development and increasingly liberal political and social views, Gay Fort Worth today is what Gay Austin was only a few years ago: amazingly diverse, integrated and fun.

Dallas has a well-deserved reputation for snobbery and style over substance, but what you see is what you get in Fort Worth.

Gay Houston is very similar to Gay Dallas, except with even more traffic problems, longer commutes and more urban sprawl.

While there’s no doubt gay clubs, restaurants and organizations in Dallas and Houston have a higher profile than those in Fort Worth, Cowtown still sports a handful of gay clubs and several organizations, including the well-respect Q Cinema film festival that offers event every month.

San Antonio is an economically challenged city that celebrates diversity in many ways, too, but having Austin so close and Houston also nearby seems to have severely stunted the growth of San Antonio’s gay and lesbian community.

The Gay Texas story looks even bleaker when you consider the state’s other cities. Places like Abilene, Amarillo and El Paso deserve better than they’re getting.

But this article is about Fort Worth’s place in the Gay Texas world. It’s a place of honor, really.

While Dallas has glitz and Houston has mass, Fort Worth has integration, depth and fun.

Gay Fort Worth is a great place to experience. Whether you live here now, plan to move here or are just considering a visit to the city where the West begins, Gay Fort Worth offers the coolest vibe in Gay Texas.

Eclectic architecture, plentiful entertainment opportunities, highly rated schools and Texas-style uniqueness also make the area desirable.

For these reasons and many others, Fort Worth real estate options include some highly desirable properties both new and old. And when you also consider the entertainment venues in nearby Arlington and elsewhere in Tarrant County, you quickly see why so many people are moving to this area.

Gay Fort Worth Real Estate

Fort Worth doesn’t have a gay and lesbian neighborhood, but if it did, the Near Southside would be it.

Once called the Hospital District because it’s home to major hospitals as well as nursing homes and doctor’s offices, the re-branded Near Southside is attracting a wide mix of hip, accepting people who want a funky vibe rather than a refined atmosphere.

Beautiful, classic homes stand near new condo development and other properties that haven’t yet found their new use, making this the most rapidly developing and exciting neighborhood in the central part of the city.

Fort Worth apartment choices are available throughout the city, too, including in this neighborhood.

Large new housing community — some within Fort Worth and others in suburbs or formerly rural parts of the county — handle the bulk of the area’s influx of new residents.

Arlington Real Estate

For decades, very few positive things happened related to Arlington real estate. Overshadowed the bigger cities in the Dallas Fort Worth real estate market, downtown Arlington died away and the city’s shopping moved south. Residents chose other places to call home.

Today, thanks to a concerted effort to revitalize the city, Arlington real estate is booming. Downtown looks like a city center again while southern portions of the city continue to develop. Arlington apartments are plentiful, thanks in part to development around the constantly improving University of Texas at Arlington.

Arlington real estate is hot now not just because of the sports and entertainment venues — like Cowboys Stadium, Six Flags Over Texas and Rangers Ballpark — but because of the town’s proximity to both the culture and fun of Fort Worth and the high-powered industry and big-city glitz of Dallas.

The nearby big cities that once limited Arlington’s growth now send their citizens to this destination city for fun activities — and many from the bigger cities also call Arlington home.

Tarrant County is a Great Place to Live

A discussion of Fort Worth TX real estate includes much more than just Fort Worth. Few large cities have other large cities in such close proximity, changing the dynamics for this city where Western heritage meets modern, upscale amenities.

Tarrant County’s real estate options include not just great places to live in Fort Worth and Arlington, but nice hometowns like Bedford, Hurst, North Richland Hills and Lake Worth.

Whether you’re new to the Metroplex or just looking to relocate to a part of town that feels more like home, the Gay Fort Worth vibe can be felt all over town — and all over the area really.

Fort Worth is a great place to call home, no matter who you are or why you’re here.