Join queer authors Amy B. Scher and Mark Jason Williams for the launch of National Geographic’s first-ever LTBGTQIA+ inclusive travel book, OUT IN THE WORLD! Celebrate as they share their local faves and raves (featured in the book), discuss the ever-expanding opportunities for queer travel, and reveal their top picks from destinations in the guide—fun spots around the globe that you must add to your list.

About the book:

This first-of-its-kind travel guide explores inclusive destinations around the world where LGBTQIA+ travelers and allies can have an uncensored and memorable vacation experience. Full of fun and practical travel information, this comprehensive guidebook takes you from familiar destinations to surprising spots.

With an eye toward memorable and meaningful experiences, each destination highlights what to see, where to eat, and where to stay—without focusing solely on gay bars and pride parades. Each robust itinerary—a guide to Curaçao’s beaches, Christmas in the Cotswolds, or a kitschy trip to Dollywood—provides all the information needed for a well-rounded vacation that also supports local LGBTQIA+ communities. With personality-focused chapters such as “Romantic Rendezvous,” “Boozy Trips and Trails,” and “Fun Haunts and Spooky Spirits” there is a destination in these pages for every type of traveler. Veteran travel writers Amy B. Scher and Mark Jason Williams offer can’t-be-ignored advice, including how to plan, ways to be safe while traveling, and important customs to honor while touring abroad.

To reserve a copy of Out in the World:  An Lgbtqia+ (and Friends!) Travel Guide to More Than 100 Destinations Around the World (National Geographic Society, May 7, 2024, hardcover, $30), please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve copy of Out in the World for May 19” in the subject line.

Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:

youtube.com/@bgsqd

Suggested donation to benefit the Bureau: $10.

All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD

Amy B. Scher is the bestselling author of five books that help people become their happiest, healthiest, and most creative selves. As a longtime travel writer, she writes about how exploring our own neighborhoods and destinations around the world help us discover who we really are. Her books have been translated into over 20 languages and her work has appeared in the Washington Post, CBS, New York Daily News, Good Morning America, Oprah Daily, Thrillist, and more. Amy lives with her wife and their bad cat in New York City. Visit her at www.amybscher.com.

Mark Jason Williams is an award-winning playwright, essayist, and travel writer who has visited 50 countries across all seven continents. In addition to writing for National Geographic, his work is published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, HuffPost, Wired, Time Out, The Globe and Mail, Thrillist, Salon, Out Magazine, Good Housekeeping, and more. Out in the World is his first book. Mark is a lifelong New Yorker with a BFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He lives with his husband and their two senior rescue dogs. Visit him at markjasonwilliams.com.