bieng gay in chattanooga? (East Brainerd: foreclosure, jobs, house)

[TriDad]

my lover & I will be moving in around Labor Day Weekend...along with our 2 y/o daughter

[jkmewright]

OH great a buncha sweeties headed our way. I am PACKING now! lol

[DCedder]

Hi..Im Donna and I'm going to be very honest. If you want to live in the south and be gay, I would suggest Orlando, fl., or Atlanta, Ga. Not nooga! You didn't get very negative responses, so I hate to be one...but this IS the south and that kind of thing WILL not go over well with the long time residents. Maybe the people that are more tolerant are the ones from Fl. that moved here. Or the ones from the north.
I have heard horror stories of things that people have done to the few gays that are here.
Like the one post said also, if you don't go around flaunting it, people will never know in the first place. But, I really would NOT suggest it!

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by jkmewright

OH great a buncha sweeties headed our way. I am PACKING now! lol

I think the sweeties would appreciate that. You know, there's room left in Salt Lake City...

I find it hard to believe that the people in Chattanooga are all walking around with jackass attitudes like this. I'm not gay. I have gay friends. I have a gay coworker. I probably have gay relatives too if I were to snoop around and ask... as probably do MOST people. Granted, gay parades and marches aren't something I go out of the way to watch, but most gay people I know disapprove of stuff like that anyway. The idea that most gay men are "sweeties" is about the most ignorant thing someone could say - one of my "sweetie" friends fought in the original Gulf War on the front lines - I seriously doubt you can say the same, jkmewright.

I said this in another post - yeah, if you are gay and like to do the "in your face with a rainbow flag" bit, then most likely you'll get verbal knocks in most towns in the South. But again, that represents only a small percentage of gay people. None of the ones I know or work with fit a gay stereotype in any way at all. The last time I was up in Chattanooga with family showing them the Aquarium area, I saw quite a few male/male, and female/female "couples" there and while I'm sure not all of them were gay couples, I'm willing to bet a lot of them were... so what, gay money is fine for Chattanooga's economy.. you just don't want 'em living there? Yeah - that's real Christian-like, 'aint it? (and the reason less people go to church now than any other time in the U.S.)

We have our share of problems in Atlanta with traffic, smog, and crime - but we have much better things to worry about than who people are partnered with or sleeping with in their bedrooms. I would suggest that certain people in Chattanooga realize that there are better things to think about as well.

[beachbyrd]

Wow! I don't think she meant that at all. If you read her posts, she has been very supportive of gays in them. My husband, Tridad, is not gay; he was referring to moving there with his wife (me) and our daughter at the end of the month. I believe it was an attempt to lighten the mood from some of the other posts in these threads. There have been some pretty harsh comments.

You should read some of the other threads where jkmewright has posted before reacting to her attempt at levity here.

[jkmewright]

Thank you Beachbyrd. Atlantagreg, while I appreciate your strong defense of our gay population, you jumped the wrong "basher" here. I understand where you are coming from and totally agree with you.

For anyone offended by that post I apologize but, as Beach stated, I am supportive of our GLBT friend and neighbors. I welcome anyone with something to contribute to my city and my neighborhood. That is all.

[TriDad]

drama in the Chattanooga forum!
film at 11

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by jkmewright

Thank you Beachbyrd. Atlantagreg, while I appreciate your strong defense of our gay population, you jumped the wrong "basher" here. I understand where you are coming from and totally agree with you.

For anyone offended by that post I apologize but, as Beach stated, I am supportive of our GLBT friend and neighbors. I welcome anyone with something to contribute to my city and my neighborhood. That is all.

No problemo. It's not always possible when you're online during short breaks at work to read EVERY single post in a thread. As a standalone post, yours read like a few others I've seen on here by a few folks (nameless) regarding all kinds of different people that had a very hateful and smart-assy tone to them. Mistook your sense of humor for one of those when the "a bunch of sweeties" comment was made. Sorry for the confusion.

[TriDad]

does this mean I'm not a sweetie?

[u4icmusic]

First of all, there are more than a few gay men in Chattanooga. There are thousands of them in the metropolitan area. They may not be as flambouyant as gay men in LA or Lauderdale, but they are there. They are your friends, neighbors and co-workers. I'll be moving there over the summer, but while visiting the area looking for houses with my partner, we met many gay and straight people that were very friendly toward us. We walked many neighborhoods and people on their front porches stopped to talk to us and give us recommendations on where to live and where to avoid living. We also spent numerous hours walking around downtown as a couple and never had a negative comment or a strange look. Of course, we didn't hold hands or show diplays of affection, but we don't do that here in Fort Lauderdale either. I even saw some rainbow flags on houses in the Highland park area, so I think Chattanoogans are more accepting of gay men than you are giving them credit for. Also, people are moving into Chattanooga from all over the country, and especially from the northeast where gays are more visible. It's inevitable that Chattanooga is going to change demographically and become more gay friendly and more gay period.