La Condesa, located at one of Acapulco’s Golden Zone beaches, has become Mexico’s first official LGBT neighborhood declared by the government.

The announcement was made at ceremony by the city on May 17, the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. The initiative was spearedheaded by the civil action group “Sin Etiquetas Guerrero” (“No Labels Guerrero”) which also made it possible for the neighborhood to debut a rainbow crosswalk signifying it’s new status on that day. This also inadvertently makes it the first official LGBT beach in Latin America.

Acapulco has always been a gay-friendly city with LGBT daytime adventures and exciting nightlife. Amongst a handful of popular long time gay-friendly destinations in Mexico like Zona Rosa and the Romantic District, La Condensa is the only officially recognized one but hopefully the others will follow suit. We need safe spaces all around the globe.