We're Matt and Nathan Kirouac-York, husbands and co-creators of The Gay Lane, an illustrious travel brand celebrating queer culture in unexpected places, through original and evocative stories, authentic and immersive travel guides, newsletters, and social media (along with a forthcoming YouTube channel and more). 

Founded in Oklahoma City, where the LGBTQ+ community inspired us to create a travel brand celebrating queer culture in unexpected places, we envisioned The Gay Lane as a resource for inclusive and representative queer travel content that defies stereotypes — beyond gayborhoods and nightlife — to create a safe, affirming, and inspiring space for all, unbound by Pride Month and rainbow capitalism. While created in Oklahoma, The Gay Lane shares stories from across the globe, from West Virginia to Disney World, and Milan to Moab, showcasing the global scope of queer travel, be it a bar or a hiking trail, a bakery or a car museum.

Beyond Gayborhoods  

Matt's award-winning history writing about queer travel — for brands like InsideHook, Thrillist, and Travel + Leisure — makes him an impassioned expert in the field. Combined with Nathan's own love for travel, and his degrees in history and public relations, The Gay Lane features queer travel content that is authentic, diverse, inclusive, and inspiring for everyone in the LGBTQ+ community, along with allies. The heart of The Gay Lane, our travel stories are earnest and diverse, derived from real travel experiences that inspire us, designed to showcase the limitless breadth of queer travel, not confined to gayborhoods or Pride festivals.

Most stories are free to read, with special perks for paid subscribers that include access to all articles and travel guides, the full archive, and queer community networking. To ensure The Gay Lane remains a safe space, online commenting and chat features are restricted to paid subscribers. Subscriptions, which go directly to supporting independent queer creators, are $8 per month, or $80 annually. 

Readers won't find generic content or tropes, nor ChatGPT or A.I., on The Gay Lane. But rather, stories rooted in genuine experience, be it a roundup of queer-owned boutiques we love, or soul-searching journeys from life in an RV. We both write articles from our own unique perspectives, as well as share bylines on collaborative content. 

Examples include: 

• “The Ultimate Queer-owned Dining Guide to Rainbow Foods Across the Country” (by Matt)
• “Florida!!! A Love Letter?” (by Nathan)
• “Traveling Alone Doesn't Feel the Same Anymore” (by Matt)
• “Sinners and Saints in Milan” (by Matt)
• “Our Favorite Hidden Gem Restaurants From Our Cross-Country Road Trip” (both) 

Additionally, travel guides — like “The Gay Lane Travel Guide: Oklahoma City” — offer deep dives into destinations we can speak to sincerely, while recurring franchises — like “One City, Two Tales” — provide a fresh take on queer travel, from dual perspectives. 

Monthly newsletters, meanwhile, consist of topical queer travel news from across the globe, Pride Planner updates, and insights into our favorite recent restaurants, queer-owned businesses, and “Heard at the Gay Bar.”  

Kirouac Creative: Queer and Inclusive Travel Consulting

While The Gay Lane is where we share our stories, Kirouac Creative helps you to share your own. In addition to The Gay Lane, we're thrilled to introduce Kirouac Creative, our accompanying queer travel consulting company. Pulling from 15+ years of travel experience in media, we want to empower others to forge their own path in the queer travel space. 

With Kirouac Creative, we offer consulting services for anyone from a solo traveler or a hotel, to festivals and tourism organizations on any level, be it locally, regionally, or nationally. Now more than ever, it's vital for destinations and brands to authentically distinguish themselves as inclusive and queer-friendly, and with our years of experience traveling as a loud-and-proud gay couple, the time is now to leverage our expertise to help others show their own Pride. 

Our services can accommodate anything that fits your needs and budget, from a 30-minute Zoom meeting to map out a one-off trip to a queer-friendly destination, to co-hosted press trips, event planning, marketing, inclusive Pride programming, larger itinerary ideation, and more. Additionally, with our writing expertise, Kirouac Creative is a resource for copywriting, guest blogs, social media collaborations, and beyond. We are also passionate about speaking engagements, seminars, panels, press conferences, and Pride events. 

Examples of consulting services and opportunities include: 

• Are you part of an organization looking for LGBTQ+ speakers? Let's talk!
• Do you want to organize a queer-centric press trip? Let's plan! 
• Would you like a refresh on web copy, or help launching an inclusive travel blog? Let's write!
• Do you want authentic input in opening/running a gay bar, or implementing evergreen Pride programming? We'd love to help! 
  
  

Welcome to The Gay Lane

Especially now, with DEI initiatives being erased and trans people under attack, it's more important than ever to celebrate queer culture loudly and proudly. Queer people have long been told to stay in their lanes, but the world is our lane. Welcome to The Gay Lane. 

For more information on The Gay Lane, visit www.thegaylane.com and follow at @thegaylane. 

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About The Gay Lane

Founded in 2025 by Matt and Nathan Kirouac-York, The Gay Lane is a queer and inclusive travel brand celebrating queer culture in unexpected places. Through original stories and travel guides, The Gay Lane highlights destinations across the globe — from big cities to small towns — that are queer-friendly and ready to welcome travelers. 

About Kirouac Creative

While The Gay Lane is where we share our stories, Kirouac Creative is where we help others to share their own. Also founded in 2025 by Matt and Nathan Kirouac-York, Kirouac Creative is a boutique travel consulting firm focused on queer and inclusive travel, and helping brands to share their own Pride. For more information, visit www.kirouaccreative.com and follow at @kirouaccreative. 

About Matt and Nathan Kirouac-York

A transplant to Oklahoma City after two and a half years of RV living, Matt is an award-winning travel, culture, and food writer with a passion for sharing queer stories in unexpected places. After growing up in New England, Matt moved to Chicago to attend culinary school and establish his writing career, authoring two books and contributing to brands like Plate Magazine, Zagat, and Daily Candy. While traveling in an RV, he began writing for outlets such as Travel & Leisure, Thrillist, Condé Nast Traveler, and InsideHook, and he hosted a travel podcast with iHeartRadio, Parklandia, which became the most downloaded travel podcast in the country shortly after its debut. Upon settling in OKC, he was the first openly gay writer to have a story on the front page of The Oklahoman, and in 2023, he was given a Hometown Hero Award from Visit OKC for his cultural contributions in the community and travel space. Matt lives with his husband, Nathan, and their dachshund, Finn, and enjoys frequent trips to Disney World, national parks, and any pool where he can dangle his feet in from the side.

A lifelong resident of Oklahoma, Nathan gained degrees in history and public relations, before evolving his passion for classic cars into a thriving sales and auction business headquartered in OKC. Already an avid traveler, keen to explore the world and learn about other cultures, he began joining Matt on travels near and far, and honing his skills with storytelling and video editing along the way. The consummate Instagram Husband, this led to a collaboration aimed at taking Matt's work as a travel writer, emphasizing queer culture, to the next level, while also sharing stories of his own via original articles and videos. He and Matt live in OKC, but spend time in places close to their hearts, like New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Northern California. Nathan enjoys driving his classic sports cars on tours or just sunny days along Route 66, and he still has trouble not buying every interesting old car he sees.