Gay-friendly neighborhood in Cedar Rapids? (Iowa City, Coralville: fit in, crime, homes)

[miramera]

My family may be moving to Cedar Rapids soon, and we are attempting to research which neighborhoods would be gay-friendly. We are young, educated professionals with a baby. One of us will be working near SE Cedar Rapids, and one of us will be attending UI. We'd prefer to be within walking distance of shops / restaurants / coffee shops, but we realize that may not be possible in Cedar Rapids. We'd like to be in a diverse, safe neighborhood with great schools (especially elementary school). We don't care for cookie-cutter homes with no character, but realize we may need to compromise there. I'd like to live in Iowa City, but don't think that will be possible because of the nature of my spouse's job.

Any suggestions for neighborhoods?

[hugepossum]

No.

[iowegian]

Originally Posted by hugepossum

No.

Ignore that.

While Cedar Rapids is more conservative than Iowa City (and most places are), it still went Democrat 60/40 last election. While election results aren't necessarily the best way of denoting the conservative-ness of a place, I wouldn't be too worried about Cedar Rapids being intolerant. While some people may disagree with gay marriage, I believe that most Iowans (especially in a larger city like CR) are civil enough to treat you with respect.

Unfortunately, I don't know much about CR neighborhoods because I've never lived there. The only thing I do know is that you should avoid Wellington Heights, they have been having some crime issues lately and so I can't recommend it.

And if you're not aware, you should know that much of central Cedar Rapids flooded last summer and so the Time Check (NW Area), Oakhill-Jackson, Downtown, and Taylor neighborhoods are struggling to rebuild at this time. They aren't bad neighborhoods that I know of but there probably won't be anything there for you to buy that isn't just a shell of a house.

If you find out that you can move to Iowa City, I would recommend it over Cedar Rapids as a more gay-friendly (and more walkable) place to live. But I am convinced you can make Cedar Rapids work for you just as well. Hopefully someone else can back me up on this with some neighborhood suggestions?

[Chicago60614]

I don't think there are really any gay FRIENDLY neighborhoods in CR, but at the same time I couldn't think of a gay UN-FRIENDLY area either. CR is pretty indifferent to gays for the most part. It's definitely not like you're going to have bricks through a window or people screaming at you.

Eastern Iowa especially is actually quite tolerant of others. They might not run out and throw you a huge party, but it's live and let live.

I would second Iowa City for multiple reasons. More cultural things going on, the city is actually quite gay friendly as opposed to indifferent, and its walkable, active, etc.

CR is nice, but it's just kinda "there". Not bad, not good, decent economy, not booming, not busting, ever slowly growing population.

Except for the floods (obviously!), its kinda like someone put CR on auto-pilot and then forgot and walked away. It just chugs along over in the corner. Not saying anything bad about the place, I've always liked CR a lot.

[Chicagoland60426]

Iowa is the first and only midwest state to have gay marriage legalize, so there must be some tolerants of gays/bi to an extent.

[zz4guy]

I would recommend the Southeast quadrant.

[iowegian]

Originally Posted by Chicagoland60426

Iowa is the first and only midwest state to have gay marriage legalize, so there must be some tolerants of gays/bi to an extent.

Not necessarily, as it wasn't put to a vote. I'm not sure that it would have passed if it was, to be honest. I am hoping that people seeing that the world isn't ending due to legal gay marriages will lead them to at least not vehemently oppose it, if not outright support it. But we'll see.

I think what Chicago60614 said is true: there is not a neighborhood there that caters to a gay population, because that population is really not that present in CR. But finding a neighborhood in which you can feel comfortable shouldn't be too challenging.

[jmgg]

Most people with half a brain judge people by how they are, not what they do in private. It's how you conduct yourself that matters most

I may not agree with your lifestyle, but would be more than happy to have you move in next door. Good people are good people and no 2 people will ever agree on everything.

It's people that are in your face constantly about things (and I'm not just talking about gay matters) that drive me nuts.

You can fit in anywhere in somewhat open minded areas like CR or IC. I wouldn't worry about it if you're friendly and not blatant about things.

[Persimmony]

Originally Posted by Chicagoland60426

Iowa is the first and only midwest state to have gay marriage legalize, so there must be some tolerants of gays/bi to an extent.

no not really, for some reason there was no vote.

[steve0518]

Is Iowa City really out of the picture? Move to North Liberty or North Coralville, still Iowa City metro, but ridiculously close to Cedar Rapids. Particularly the SE side. In fact, it would likely be a quicker drive to CR, depending on where you go. There is a huge cultural difference between the two metros, despite their geographical closeness.