Ok, you asked for it.
A few months ago there was a program on the Belgian (Flemish) tv about the growing hostility towards gays in Brussels, due to the large number of immigrants (mostly muslims), and the police doing very little about it. The gay quarter in Brussels is next to an 'immigrant' area. Several people said they were leaving the city because of this.
This aside, it's not because a website of the Brussels tourism board(!) claims it's the "gay capital of europe" (what a joke), that it is. Apart from the annual "Gay parade", there aren't much gay events in Brussels.
Antwerp has the "Antwerp Pride" festival (which takes 5 full days, with activities and visibility all over the city), the Navigaytion festival on and by the river, Red&Blue (biggest gay club in benelux - Brussels doens't even have a big club especially for a gay public, only smaller bars), the Studio 54-parties in the Sportpaleis (16.000 people), etc....
Antwerp hosted the 2007 Eurogames, a sort of Gay Games (
http://2007.eurogames.info/).
In 2013 Antwerp is hosting the World Outgames (
http://www.woga2013.org/). These events attract thousands of visitors from all over the world.
The famous IGLTA (International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association) Annual Global Convention in 2010 was held in... Antwerp. It was the largest event the association has ever had outside of North America!
Just accept it, when it comes to gay events, Antwerp wins -hands down- from Brussels
