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Hello,
We are currently living in Los Angeles and looking to relocate soon. We are a mid-30s lesbian couple with infant twin boys and two small dogs. We are both special education teachers but not currently under contract so we can move soon. Living in Los Angeles is not ideal for us any longer as we want to find an area where we can eventually afford to buy a house and live in an area where it is liberal, green (lots of trees/parks), where we can find jobs, is safe for our children to go outside to play with other kids, and has good schools... Are we asking too much? I am from Los Angeles and my family lives here and in San Diego. My wife's family is in the Boston area. The areas we are strongly considering include San Diego (although housing is expensive and the schools are not great), Sonoma County- especially the Russian River Valley, Portland OR (Beaverton, Hood River, or Williamette Valley included), or New England (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, or southern Maine). Can anyone help us narrow down our options? We love all these areas.
Since we have babies, finding jobs is absolutely essential and we would not move without securing at least one job... Any teachers out there who have dealt with credentialing from CA to OR, MA, NH, or ME please help.
While I can't necessarily speak for lesbians in Portland or New England, the coastal areas of Northern California (Sonoma County included) tend to have a higher concentration of lesbian couples than Los Angeles. I find this infographic quite interesting. http://www.laweekly.com/informer/201...y-men-in-socal
Northern California would satisfy all of your criteria, with the exception of affordability. According to citydata, (http://www.city-data.com/county/Sonoma_County-CA.html) the value of detached houses in Sonoma County hovers ~600k, but most Bay Area homes these days are selling for more than they are valued.
Ithaca is a great town with a particularly strong and active Lesbian community, good schools, good amenities, etc. The two downsides would be:
1) finding two jobs in SPED (though arguably in Ithaca you could at least get by on one full-time teacher's income)
2) travel back to the west coast to see family
Ithaca isn't a major airport (super cute, but definitely not major) - in my experience flights to/from the west coast will require a stop in Philly or NYC for connections. If you drive to Syracuse to fly you can get flights that connect through other places in the midwest (off-hand I think Houston/Chicago), but that's not especially convenient either once you add up the time for driving/flights/connections. Long days, esp. with kids in tow.
I said it in your NH thread, but I think you should at least give the Twin Cities area a solid look.
Ithaca is a great town with a particularly strong and active Lesbian community, good schools, good amenities, etc. The two downsides would be:
1) finding two jobs in SPED (though arguably in Ithaca you could at least get by on one full-time teacher's income)
2) travel back to the west coast to see family
Ithaca isn't a major airport (super cute, but definitely not major) - in my experience flights to/from the west coast will require a stop in Philly or NYC for connections. If you drive to Syracuse to fly you can get flights that connect through other places in the midwest (off-hand I think Houston/Chicago), but that's not especially convenient either once you add up the time for driving/flights/connections. Long days, esp. with kids in tow.
I said it in your NH thread, but I think you should at least give the Twin Cities area a solid look.
It doesn't necessarily have to be Ithaca in terms of Upstate NY. For instance, Rochester and Syracuse actually have the 2 census tracts with the highest percentages of same sex households according to one of the NY Times maps a few years back. So, there are other options.
I think that proximity to the spouse's family in Boston is a factor as well.
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