Considering a moving to Arizona - need help! (Phoenix, Tucson: apartments, houses)

[Janeizzie]

My partner and I plan to move to Arizona within the next year. We are looking for a gay-friendly city. What is the elevation in some of the popular cities? How are the prices of apartments. Is the cost of living higher or lower than say, Massachusetts, Florida, New Mexico. What about medical facilities?
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Jane

[sweetmebri23]

Hi,

I read your post and saw that you have not received any replies, so I thought I would reply to you! Sorry to say I can't be of much help as far as which cities are gay-friendly. I just wanted to say that I feel bad that you even have to ask that question in the year 2006! I am so thankful that I had parents that taught me not to judge people based on their skin color or sexual preference!

I am in a interracial relationship, my husband is AA and I am Italian, so we have had our share of stares and whispers behind our back. We have a beautiful 12 year old dauhgter. I am a R.N. and there is a Dr. at the hospital that is AA, her partner is White. I was showing her a picture of our daughter the other day, and she asked me if we had had a lot of people stare at us or make nasty comments. I told her we haven't had much negative attention at all since moving to New Jersey 5 years ago. She then told me, "Well we get nasty comments and stares all the time, but then we have 3 strikes against us from the public's perspective. #1 We are lesbians in a committed relationship. #2 She is White, I am Black. #3 We did the unspeakable and adopted a child together!" I really felt bad after she told me that! Oh well, I just thought I would share that story and tell you that I hope you find a wonderful community to live in and that you are surrounded by loving, open-minded people!

[Ponderosa]

I don't know that there are any gay-friendly towns in AZ. But, you will most likely be accepted (meaning your lifestyle would be largely ignored) in Phoenix or Tucson or Flagstaff. AZ is not bible belt, but is not a bastian of liberal tolerance either.

[tucsondesertdweller]

Politically Tucson is supposedly more liberal then Phoenix, but in my opinion the outskiirts or suburbs are fairly conservative. Ok, I live in the burbs, in one of those cookie cutter deveopments, we do have some gay people living here, as far as I know , they are treated fine.
Cost of living , I would say is average. You might want to check a book called "places rated almanac, or something close to that title, probably find it in the book store, not sure if they have a website. Anyway for some more info click on this website towards the top on the City_Data.com area and you can click on different states and they will list all cities/towns, click on and get the demographics, etc., also gives elevation.
Also would suggest that if you are considering moving to say the Phoenix or Tucson area, visit in the summer, July and August, see how you tolerate the summer.

[Down Logan]

Arizona is basically a redneck state but Tucson and Flagstaff are going to be your best choices if you really want to move there. I wouldn't even consider Phoenix as an option. The weather is either hot or brutally hot. If you visit in January or February, you might think...hey, this is nice but stick around another month and you will soon see why everyone who moves there is from the armpits of the midwest and most only live there 6 - 10 weeks out of the year. They head back to their home states or often to another home elsewhere in the country to enjoy Spring and tollerable Summer weather. As for the gay lifestyle....it basically doesn't exist in Phoenix. There is no community feeling there at all. The gay bars are still backdoor type of establishments, hidden from society. It's not ok to be out in public. They have a very high rate of gay bashings. I used to live there 12 years ago and I still go 2 - 3 times a year to visit my family and I absolutely hate going there. My family understands but my parents are older so I really don't want to miss an opportunity to spend time with them. My partner is jamaican and I am white. He had never been to Phoenix and I have taken him for the last 3 trips and he absolutely hated it. We found ourselves being stared at in restaurants and shopping malls. We had smirks from waiters, busboys, retail clerks everywhere we went. We went to a gay bar named Amsterdam and even there we felt uncomfortable because we felt that the gay community there is not used to an inter-racial relationship. When we left, two cars in the parking lot were damaged by a gay basher. So, this is just my thoughts but you couldn't pay me enough money to live in the Phx area. It's not a city for gays and even if you were straight, you'd be bored to death. There is nothing to do there at all but go to ugly strip malls, bad chain stores and restaurants and that's pretty much about it. The houses by the way are cheap and ugly too. Bad construction and overbuilt. You can definitely buy cheap there compared to just about any other major city. Phoenix prices are low even though they think they are high but that is because most of them are very sheltered and have never been anywhere but San Diego or LA.

[sablebaby]

Boy, I don't really agree with Down Logan's response. I don't know where you live, but I've been here a long time and have not experienced anything that you mentioned. Three trips does not show a great example. Phoenix DOES have a gay community. There are numerous places to go that are not back door type places. I know so many gay people and everywhere I go I meet more.

[monsoon74]

Oh so negative! Did the poster known as 'movin-on' change their name to Down Logan? LOL

Frankly, Tempe should be a pretty liberal area wth the university and the younger demographic.

Over the last year, I seem to notice more and more gay couples out and about, and honestly, I don't give them a second look, nor do I see them being harassed. I'm sure you'd get looks even in places like San Fran or Provincetown, too, just not as many.

Look, you're gonna have jerks/rednecks/racists/whatevers no matter where you go. Live your life and don't care what others think.

[daaver]

Same here, haven't seen too much gay bashing. There are numerous apt complexes downtown that have decent gay populations. Heck, the Denny's of 7th has been known as "gay Denny's" for as long as I can remember, over fifteen years. Most of my workplaces have had openly gay folk at them without issue. I dunno. Maybe I hang out in the wrong circles.

[sweattea]

Originally Posted by Janeizzie

My partner and I plan to move to Arizona within the next year. We are looking for a gay-friendly city. What is the elevation in some of the popular cities? How are the prices of apartments. Is the cost of living higher or lower than say, Massachusetts, Florida, New Mexico. What about medical facilities?
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Jane

I know a lot of gays live in Phoenix's historic district.

[Pacifico]

This thread is over 8 years old but I wanted to see if there were any updates on the issues of gay and/or interracial couples tolerance or acceptance in Arizona and particularly Phoenix. I read the few replies in this thread and it seems as if at the time, 2006, gays and interracial couples didn't feel very welcome in Phx and AZ. Some of the complaints were being stared at and snide remarks. I'm considering a move from the Atlanta GA area and was hoping for a step up in this department compared to here in the Deep South.