The respect for lifestyle diversity that characterizes Key West is to be shared with people from less accepting communities Friday through Sunday, Aug. 11-13, during Pride in Exile.

The event is designed to provide a warm welcome and a weekend of activities for those whose com-munities don't permit or support gay pride celebrations.

Planned highlights are to include drag shows and entertainment, a trolley tour of sites relating to Key West's gay and lesbian history and community, parties, a tour of popular guesthouses, an all-welcome pride ball, pool parties for men and women, and a Pride in Exile tea dance.

Events are to be staged at leading island clubs, resorts and other venues.

For additional information about Pride in Exile's schedule, including discounts and event access passes, visit www.prideinexile.com.

Revelers are to climb aboard for a wild ride through the outrageous outpost of Key West during Fantasy Fest 2006, themed "Key Weird on the Dis-Oriented Express." Scheduled Friday, Oct. 20, through Sunday, Oct. 29, the festival is on track to recall Key West's history of pirates, rumrunners and even the famed Overseas Railroad.

One of the most eagerly anticipated events on the Key West calendar, Fantasy Fest offers 10 days of masquerade balls, quirky costume contests and other disorienting delights. The spectacle climaxes with the glitzy Oct. 28 Captain Morgan Fantasy Fest Parade.

Fantasy Fest was first conceived more than 25 years ago to liven up the fall season on the island locals nick-named Key Weird — and it succeeded so well that it's now inter-nationally recognized as the destination's premier annual festival. Its uninhibited flair and lighthearted spirit attract people eager to shed their real-world personalities and live out their fantasies on the island city's quaint downtown streets.

Fantasy Fest's express to excess is to embark with a Royal Coronation Ball to crown the king and queen of the masked madness. Scheduled for Friday, Oct. 20, the coronation is to cap a two-month fundraising effort by candidates to benefit the Key West-based AIDS Help Inc.

Among other events is a Headdress Ball, Fantasy Fest Pet Masquerade and the Pretenders in Paradise Costume Competition.

For more information about Fantasy Fest and a schedule of events, visit the festival's Web site at www.fantasyfest.net.

Steve Smith, the gay-market destination sales manager for the Monroe County Tourist Development Council (TDC), the tourism promotion agency for the Florida Keys & Key West, has been named president of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association board of directors for 2006-07.

Smith also has been appointed to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Task Force created by Visit Florida, a statewide tourism promotion organization. The task force will study strategies for communicating to gay and lesbian travelers, and make recommendations on how to better advertise to that market.

Involved in gay-destination marketing for more than 14 years, Smith joined the TDC in 1997 as the nation's first gay-market destination sales manager. He has earned numerous accolades for promotion of GLBT tourism.

enowned for its all-embracing diversity, Key West is to welcome as many as 5,000 women during the 20th consecutive Womenfest celebration.

Set for Tuesday through Sunday, Sept. 5-10, the acclaimed event for lesbians and their friends features activities ranging from pool parties and women-only watersports excursions to an art walk. The festival is being coordinated by the Key West Business Guild, the United States' oldest gay-oriented chamber of commerce-type business organization, and the Atlantic Shores Resort, 510 South St.

Activities are designed to allow singles, couples and groups of women to experience the atmosphere of openness and acceptance that has made Key West an internationally acclaimed lesbian and gay vacation destination.

Scheduled highlights are to include a free concert by the high-energy band Sister Funk. The five-woman band is best known for its commercial pop music with an upbeat dance attitude. Sister Funk's two self-produced CDs are critically acclaimed, with cuts receiving widespread play, and the band has appeared onstage with such musical luminaries as The Pointer Sisters and ZZ Top.

Scheduled for 6-8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 8, the concert is to take place in the 700 block of Key West's legendary Duval Street and is themed "Dancing on Duval."

A street fair is to precede and accompany the concert, with vendors' booths turning the 700 block of Duval into a lively open-air market-place from noon to 8 p.m.

Daily throughout Wom-enfest a hospitality suite is to be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Atlantic Shores Resort. At the suite, participants can get festival information, pick up programs and purchase tickets to events including watersports activities.

On-the-water excursions available to festival participants are to include women-only sunset sails and snorkeling and dolphin-watching trips.

Womenfest is to focus on the arts as well as the natural world. An art walk is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 6, giving participants a chance to explore the moods and mediums of artists who exhibit at the many galleries along Duval Street. A lesbian film festival is set for 6:30 p.m. the same evening at the island city's popular Tropic Cinema, 416 Eaton St.

Womenfest attendees are to take to the links at 10 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 7, for the annual Southernmost Women's Invitational Nonprofit Golf Tournament at the Key West Golf Course. Tournament attractions are to include prizes and a cocktail party and awards ceremony at Pearl's Rainbow, 525 United St. The tournament entry fee is $75 per person. For details, visit www.swingkeywest.com.

Attendees also are invited to discover the history, contributions and landmarks associated with Key West's flourishing gay and lesbian community during trolley tours beginning at 11 a.m. Friday and Saturday, Sept. 8-9.

For women who want to celebrate and formalize their partnerships during Womenfest, a group commitment ceremony and champagne brunch are scheduled at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 10, at Pearl's Rainbow. A cost of $60 per couple includes ceremony, a certificate of union and champagne brunch. Couples' invited guests can share the celebration for $25 per person. For more information, call (305) 292-1450.

Other events include an afternoon pool party co-sponsored by "She" magazine at the Southernmost Hotel, 1319 Duval St.; a "Gurrlesque Party" at Aqua Nightclub, 711 Duval St.; and a farewell tea dance at the Atlantic Shores Resort.

For festival information including event prices, ticketing and lodging, visit www.womenfest.com or call the Key West Business Guild at (800) 535-7797 or (305) 294-4603. Lodging information also can be found at the Keys Web site at www.fla-keys.com.