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I'm not looking to live in a neighborhood filled with rainbow flags and fro-yo places. Just a city that has a good art scene, opportunities for the entertainment industry of any kind, is pretty progressive, where people don't hate the gays, ....actually cities that are known for just having really friendly populations in general would be awesome, and good outdoor space would be a great bonus
Given your desire to work in the entertainment industry as well as for the rest of your criteria, NYC far and away makes the most sense. The city has many sub-demographics within the gay community that will provide just the right niche for you, unlike other large cities which tend to paint in a large brushstroke a one dimensional version of being gay.
I was a little surprised at Dallas. Maybe it's different in the south and I'm use to being up north, but I've never been anywhere else that had groups of religious people on street corners in the gay neighborhood screaming at everyone (including myself) that I'm not a worthy person and I'm going straight to hell.
But that is in no way the norm. Im not gay, but I go out in Oak Lawn all the time with a friend who is gay. Ive never seen that in at least 3 dozen visits to Oak Lawn.
I was a little surprised at Dallas. Maybe it's different in the south and I'm use to being up north, but I've never been anywhere else that had groups of religious people on street corners in the gay neighborhood screaming at everyone (including myself) that I'm not a worthy person and I'm going straight to hell.
I'm VERY familiar with Oak Lawn and I've lived on Cedar Springs and I've never once seen what you just described in 8 years.
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Originally Posted by keithplya9
Ok, everyone thanks for the responses!!! Also, to CAPHILLSEA77, RONNIEINDALLAS, and METRO MATT
So, i think a lot of the problem is confusion of what im looking for.
Ok, so RONNIE, I totally know the type of person you are talking about. The type who are like "oh im not into the scene, im str8 acting and im so ****ing cool" I totally get that, they are all over LA let me tell you.
I'm glad you got it, and it wasn't directed at you.
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Originally Posted by keithplya9
But i am not one of them, i just literally am not into the gay scene. Ive actually never been to a gay bar once, i dont have Grindr, and I have no desire of living in a "gayborhood". Honestly, in my life, my experience with gay people who are in the "community" have been really bad. Granted, Im from Toledo, Ohio... there is NO gay scene here. So my first experience with the scene was in Boystown in CHI and WeHo in LA. Both of these neighborhoods were obnoxious as ****. Everyone seems to be very shallow, everyone does some kind of drug, sex is the name of the game, and there is some weird competition going on where everyone judges everyone and is a catty ***** like thats supposed to be a turn on or something.
Sounds like culture shock, but I see what you mean.
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Originally Posted by keithplya9
Now like I said, im not saying this to be like "oh im so ****ing sweet", because i totally know 100% that a lot of the problems the mainstream gay community has is a result of the oppression over decades of negative media stereotypes, heteronormativity, and the high numbers of runaways who flock to places like weho. So no judgements. its just not my thing.
Hope you find what your looking for, but it will be hard to find. Those problems are everywhere.
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Originally Posted by keithplya9
What i am looknig for>>> So, right now in my hometown, its still very taboo to be gay. Like, there are gay people like me, but there are people who i work with that are convinced that being gay is a choice (and a large majority of the city feels that way), and my parents were pretty homophobic before I came out, and almost half the city voted for Romney, and almost everyone here, despite how liberal they are by Ohio standards, are against gay marriage, and growing up I got called *** all the time and was beat up, and teachers wouldnt do **** about it. This is the **** im talking about.
Yikes, that's sad. I've never really experienced anything like that. Thankfully
Quote:
Originally Posted by keithplya9
Im not looking to live in a neighborhood filled with rainbow flags and fro-yo places. Just a city that has a good art scene, opprotunities for the entertainment industry of any kind, is pretty progressive, where people dont hate the gays, ....actually cities that are known for just having really friendly populations in general would be awesome, and good outdoor space would be a great bonus
Some cities I have in mind are Austin TX, Nashville TN, Melbourne Vic, maybe Boston MA??? or NYC????
I dont know, need some advice, thanks again for all the posts you guys!
I love NYC, but doesn't sound like a fit. Nashville is pretty conservative, and my encounters with people from Boston have not been good.
So i have been heavily considering Portland and Seattle. I visted Seattle last summer and it was beautiful and amazing...however, the 4 days i was there it was totally sunny and warm and all the locals kept saying dont judge Seattle based on this, you are here the only 4 sunny days of the year.
With constant cloud cover (I think i saw on website that those cities only have like 30 days of sun a year) I might go completely insane. I need sun. I get really depressed when its cloudy all the time. Even here in Ohio well get times when its cloudy for a week and half straight and it just lags on me really bad...so i dont know how 11 months would make me feel. Have you guys ever been to those cities? is it horrible?
and yeah thats why i was thinking Austin. I hear its like Portland but with a lot of sun
I live in Cleveland and it's one of the cloudier cities in the country. Not as cloudy as Seattle but quite cloudy. I also lived in Columbus, OH and it's equally cloudy. I don't like that about this region -- at all! I come from Minneapolis and even though it's part of the Midwest just like Ohio is it's not as cloudy. There are some seriously cloudy months -- usually November and April -- but there are two major differences I can tell between MN and OH: 1.) winters are quite sunny much of the time, making SAD (seasonal affectiveness disorder) much easier to deal with.....I don't care how cold it is as long as it's sunny. And 2.) almost the only time it is cloudy during summer is if it is raining or about to rain, but it is almost never just cloudy for the sake of being cloudy. Similarly, rain/storm events last 30 to 60 minutes and then the sun pops out. In OH, storms and rain events can last DAYS.
I originally moved back to Minneapolis after college for several reasons, but one of them was the weather in Columbus was a.) too cloudy and b.) too mild in the winter (no snow/ice). It was beginning to seriously affect my mood. Again, Minneapolis is no Tucson but I personally found the difference between the two cities profound enough to be contempt again with the sunshine levels.
If sunshine is very important to your well-being then I would take that very seriously when weighing your options. Similarly, I'd take crime, education, family/friends, employment, etc. very seriously when weighing my moving options......similar level.
On one hand, it's the capital of the first state to legalize gay marriage, so I din't think you would have to deal with a ton of discrimination. Also, there aren't really any crazy sex and drugs and materialistic and whatnot gay scenes to my knowledge. The two biggest gay areas, I believe, are Privincetown, the South End, and maybe Jamaica Plain and none of those areas sound anything like the negative descriptions you gave of the Chicago and LA neighborhoods. We have four seasons, so constant cloud cover wouldn't be a worry. We have a lot of outdoor options two with mountains and lakes up north and beaches to the south. There are a lot of art museums and theaters and the like, but that's all I really know about our art scene.
On the other hand, I don't think there are too many entertainment industry options over here, and the COL is pretty high, and are people may or may not be the friendliest, depending on who you ask.
What i am looknig for>>> So, right now in my hometown, its still very taboo to be gay. Like, there are gay people like me, but there are people who i work with that are convinced that being gay is a choice (and a large majority of the city feels that way), and my parents were pretty homophobic before I came out, and almost half the city voted for Romney, and almost everyone here, despite how liberal they are by Ohio standards, are against gay marriage, and growing up I got called *** all the time and was beat up, and teachers wouldnt do **** about it. This is the **** im talking about
LOL...when first read this I thought this guy was from the Dayton area...instead he's from up the road in Toledo.
Interestingly enough Toledo was one of the first of the smaller cities in Ohio to get a gay rights law, and a fairly comprehensive one at that. So figure they really needed some sort of protection up there, from what he posts.
...generally, tho, a pretty good post from him. I can relate.
Just a city that has a good art scene, opportunities for the entertainment industry of any kind, is pretty progressive, where people don't hate the gays,
..."entertainment industry" really limits the choices, no?
LA, NYC, Las Vegas, maybe Nashville and ..um...Branson, MO?
I'm VERY familiar with Oak Lawn and I've lived on Cedar Springs and I've never once seen what you just described in 8 years.
Must have just been crazy luck. I liked Dallas fine, and wasn't trying to start a stink, we were just really surprised when we saw that. One of those head turns between each other and a "really?......really? This is what these people are doing on a Friday night?".
They were all about 300 pounds too, so we inquired to them if they were as upset about their gluttony as they apparently were to the fact that my boyfriend and I were having a drink and eating some dinner quietly on a Friday evening in May.....
..."entertainment industry" really limits the choices, no?
LA, NYC, Las Vegas, maybe Nashville and ..um...Branson, MO?
Unless you broaden your definition of "entertainment industry." For example, the Bay Area is a hotbed of CGI animation -- e.g. Pixar and Industrian Light & Magic. And plenty of cities besides those mentioned have lively music scenes - Austin, for example.
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