Gay professional moving from Atlanta to Austin (Center: university, live in)

[artsyguy]

That's because you don't live there. Also if all you do is hang out on 4th street well yes you will see gay people. But once you leave the corner of 4th street you will see no more gay people. It's that easy.

Originally Posted by doctorjef

All I can say as a gay male is that my partner and I never found the gay presence in Austin to be deficient, and found it a very gay-friendly city.

[artsyguy]

Austin has the most democratic voters of a city its size and is the most political city of Texas. Politics = drama, debates, and duplicity = boring.

Laid back doesn't equal socially liberal in my book. It equals lazy and annoying.

To me socially liberal is San Fransisco Bay or West Hollywood....so stop trying to paint Austin as that.

Originally Posted by LAnative10

Austin is also the most liberal city in Texas. The city of Dallas however tends to vote Democrat in the presidential elections yet on a local level tends to go Republican. I find Austin, Dallas, and Houston to be socially open minded. The political scene is changing in Texas and thats because more people from outside of Texas are moving there by the droves (much like myself and Im a social liberal through and through). In Dallas, half the residents are not from Texas and 18% are not from the USA. In Houston 20% of residents are not from the USA. Austin gets alot of people from out of state too, but very few from foreign countries (maybe save Mexico).

[artsyguy]

Okay let me clear things up for you:

1.) A lot of gay men are not political. They don't care one iota about same-sex marriage. So if the people of Austin voted against the ban then great for them, that is purely a political decision based on what they feel are equal rights. Another side to the story is that Same sex-marriage also brings in huge amounts of revenue to the state. That is the real reason why people voted against the ban. Let's think politically here. Who would pass up on an offer for the city capitol and state to generate more revenue? Another side to the story is that democrats vote in a democratic way, they aren't going to suddenly change their minds and vote for a ban created by republicans (their rivals).

2.) UT Austin is politically correct with everything and anything. They have a genius marketing team-machine to create that appeal for every consumer type available. If you are short, green, and hunchbacked well then UT Austin is the place for you. We have hunchback prom and organizations just for you where you will meet many other hunchbacks. You will party down <spend tons of cash> at all the bars and football games with all your hunchback friends.

3.) It's the quality of the organizations that counts not the quantity. UT doesn't understand that. Try calling the LGBTQ organizations at UT and see if they pick up their phones and give you detailed information. See what kind of customer service you will get there. See what type of leaders they appoint to run their organizations. See how many people attend on a regular basis. etc. Most of the gay people that go to UT are from smaller towns or are leaving the home of their conservative/oppressive parents, therefore they don't really know what 'socially liberal' is until they have traveled to other areas of the country. Then you can truly compare and contrast, but to many gay students I'm sure UT is socially liberal for them only because they came from far more restrictive and oppressive areas, in true socially liberal areas people do not dictate what you should think and feel about a campus or city, in my opinion of course. People don't dictate any social or political agenda in Houston, Dallas, or San Antonio.

4.) I would give UT credit for trying but it seems they are in it just for appearances. You know the saying "keeping up appearances" it works well for major businesses to draw in consumers, however, it isn't the same as true substance and quality. What's next a lesbian sorority?

5.) How many straight men do you know from Austin,Texas are very comfortable being seen together with a flamboyantly gay man? You see that all the time?? It's a liberal city.......isn't it....

Originally Posted by homeinatx

UT Austin, befitting one of the largest campus in the country has a massive and active LGBTQ scene. At any given time, there are at least 20 LGBTQ organizations on campus with their own programming, events and publications. During the semester, you could go to a LGBTQ related event every day without trying - lectures, seminars, happy hours, brown-bags, community outreach and volunteering, recreational sports events. UT is continually rated one of the best campuses in the nation for LGBTQ students despite being located in a state that continues to discriminate against LGBTQ people in terms of domestic partnership benefits etc. Amidst all your Austin bashing - and I agree both Houston and Dallas have much more vibrant gay scenes - they are much bigger cities - Travis County was the ONLY county in the state of Texas that voted against a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages. The good people of your hotbed of tolerance Dallas voted to deny LGBTQ people the same rights as everyone else. So it would be in your interests to be a little more civil to the people of the only county in the state who think you are not a second-class citizen.

[doctorjef]

Originally Posted by artsyguy

That's because you don't live there. Also if all you do is hang out on 4th street well yes you will see gay people. But once you leave the corner of 4th street you will see no more gay people. It's that easy.

Listen, I lived continuously in Austin from Sept. 1985 to August 2004. I also lived there between 1974 and 1976.

I do know what I'm talking about.

[Trainwreck20]

But once you leave the corner of 4th street you will see no more gay people.

I guess it is my civic duty to tell the two guys across the street that they must be mistaken and aren't gay, since I can see them . Oh, I don't live on 4th street.... I guess my boss and his partner must be an apparition, as well, but as long as my paycheck gets signed somehow....

How many straight men do you know from Austin,Texas are very comfortable being seen together with a flamboyantly gay man?

Don't really care for flamboyant people of any persuasion or gender in most situations, but it has nothing to do with being comfortable, it is more about being annoyed.

[artsyguy]

The city has changed. Or you've exaggerated its qualities.

Originally Posted by doctorjef

Listen, I lived continuously in Austin from Sept. 1985 to August 2004. I also lived there between 1974 and 1976.

I do know what I'm talking about.

[artsyguy]

Gay people are a lot of times flamboyant. I don't see too many flamboyant straight men.

And you know of four gay people. Big deal. Your boss is gay, well of course nobody has a problem with that..........if my boss was a slobbering transgendered hunchback with halitosis I'd still follow orders.

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Don't really care for flamboyant people of any persuasion or gender in most situations, but it has nothing to do with being comfortable, it is more about being annoyed.

[doctorjef]

Oh yes, I'm sure Austin is just a different world since I last came back in July 2005 to close on the sale of my house and oversee the packing and moving of my stuff. Must be totally changed.

[homeinatx]

There is so much muddled thinking and misinformation in parts of this thread, I don't know where to begin. . . Neither the university not the state of Texas are businesses. Students and citizens cannot therefore simply be thought of as customers. The U.T. Football program is much more like a business, but it has an entirely separate revenue stream to the university. The quality of the LGBTQ organizations on campus are excellent-though there is of course always room for improvement. Visit the Gender and Sexuality Center in the Student Services Building, speak to the guys who live in the gay fraternity on Campus, or attend a lecture put on by the Sexuality Research Cluster? I promis you it is not all window-dressing.

There is a helluva lot more going on at UT than Rice and SMU ( both much smaller schools so that figures) and I don't know much about UTSA. A&M, although historically a more conservative school has not insignificant LGBTQ programming. Just like Dallas, Houston and San Antonio have more gay bars and more gay people because they are bigger cities, most bigger universities - lie U.T. and A&M have bigger gay scenes. Because Austin is a smaller city, and UT is one of the largest if not the largest university campus in the U.S., the university plays a bigger role in the life of the city - gay and straight - than universities play in Houston, Dallas or San Antonio. (It is staggering to me that as wealthy and culturally rich as Dallas is it lacks a Research 1 university! And Baylor a hundred miles away does not count.)

And if same sex marriage was to bring huge amounts of money to the state, why then did every other city in Texas vote against it. They don't want money??? If anything there is an economic rationale for the ban - the state by not recognizing the partners of LGBTQ people won't have to pay its employees the same insurance and retirement benefits it pays straight married couples.

And i have plenty of straight male friends in Austin who have no problem meeting me at Charlies or Rain or The Rusty Spoke for a drink.

But back to the OP- Austin's gay scene will be smaller than Atlanta's, but the boys in Austin can be very friendly. There are plenty cultural events spread out over the year - Lake Travis Circuit parties - if that's your thing, the internationally recognized Austin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, weekly if not daily social and cultural events on campus. There's the Capital Gay men's Chorus, a gay men's tennis league, way too much stuff to mention, in addition to all the other things that makes Austin a wonderful place to live.

Who knows maybe you could even out a smile on artsyguy's face!

[Scitats]

Originally Posted by artsyguy

The city has changed. Or you've exaggerated its qualities.

What in the world makes you believe your opinions of a city you barely lived in for a month are more valid than doctorjef's? Since his experience was different, he must be lying? And there is no way the city has changed that much since 2004 for his opinion to be invalid.