So... I got some questions about Austin (Dallas: colleges, live)

[austinnerd]

Man, they've been talking about gussying up Waller since I moved here over a decade ago. I guess they're kinda sorta making progress, but personally I don't think it's all that great of an idea. I think it's simply too far away from where the real action is (closer to Congress) and where the city is trying to drive more growth (e.g. Seaholm), that and it's simply too darn close to I35 (at least at around 6th) for it to really have great ambiance. I think if we want a "Riverwalk" type experience, the city is going to have to use something like Shoal Creek, which is exactly where they are trying to drive new growth and they are going to have to divert part of the Colorado to feed the section that is developed (say up to Duncan Park) in order to keep enough water flowing to make it attractive. They need to do it quick too while there are still some empty lots/abandoned or easily removable structures.

[Jennibc]

I honestly don't like the River Walk in SA that much. It's cute and all, but I much prefer what we have at TownLake which is lots of grade variation and trees.

[lukeag3103]

Originally Posted by Jennibc

I honestly don't like the River Walk in SA that much. It's cute and all, but I much prefer what we have at TownLake which is lots of grade variation and trees.

I love it, Townlake never gets old.

[lukeag3103]

Artsyguy obviously has issues with Austin. Eventhough this is a great beautiful city, it's not going to be for everyone. Maybe things haven't worked out for him here. Maybe he's just a negative person or can't appreciate some finer things. I don't know what his reason is for being here, but maybe he would be happier somewhere else. I am certain that we can trade one Artsyguy for many more positive people in Austin. If not, I would suggest that he get out of the basement or attic and get a better view. By the way Artsy, I'm not white.

And you can add me as friend, LOL.

[eepstein]

I can tell you one thing. If I was gay, Austin and Texas for that matter, would be the furthest place from my radar. Sacramento, one of the most "conservative" metro areas in CA, probably has 5 times the gay population of Austin.

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Yeah, it must have been before I got on City-Data, because when I arrived, he was badmouthing it for not having a gayborhood, and he's been badmouthing it about one thing or another ever since.

[eepstein]

Why does he have issues? Because he speaks about things that Austinites can't come to terms with??? He may have NO issues, just speaking truths that many people refuse to acknoledge. You never know!!

Austin a beautiful city? Please, I gotta know where you moved here from.

Originally Posted by lukeag3103

Artsyguy obviously has issues with Austin. Eventhough this is a great beautiful city, it's not going to be for everyone. Maybe things haven't worked out for him here. Maybe he's just a negative person or can't appreciate some finer things. I don't know what his reason is for being here, but maybe he would be happier somewhere else. I am certain that we can trade one Artsyguy for many more positive people in Austin. If not, I would suggest that he get out of the basement or attic and get a better view. By the way Artsy, I'm not white.

And you can add me as friend, LOL.

[G Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by eepstein

Why does he have issues? Because he speaks about things that Austinites can't come to terms with??? He may have NO issues, just speaking truths that many people refuse to acknoledge. You never know!!

It isn't what he says, but how he says it that leads people to believe that he (and others) have issues. When you are sarcastic, disrespectful, spiteful, use sweeping generalities and exaggerations, call names, and generally come off and angry and purposefully hurtful, then people are going to think you have a problem. He may not, but when all we have to go by are the posts, perception is reality. And if you think that he is only speaking "truths," you have to remember that and we all have different ideas of the truth, and should not devalue each other because we disagree.

[jobert]

Originally Posted by eepstein

I can tell you one thing. If I was gay, Austin and Texas for that matter, would be the furthest place from my radar. Sacramento, one of the most "conservative" metro areas in CA, probably has 5 times the gay population of Austin.

The closest thing Austin has to a gay neighborhood is South Lamar.

Seriously. I think about 5% of the people I see on that street at any given time may be gay, but that's more than the Austin avg. which would be about 1%.

I mean seriously..."Black Sheep Lodge?"... c'mon. There's also a leather shop and macho gay chic with the automotive shops and a Starbucks which seems to have about a quarter gay patrons at any time. If the gay population was to explode in Austin, this place would be the epicenter.

[homeinatx]

Originally Posted by jobert

The closest thing Austin has to a gay neighborhood is South Lamar.

Seriously. I think about 5% of the people I see on that street at any given time may be gay, but that's more than the Austin avg. which would be about 1%.

I mean seriously..."Black Sheep Lodge?"... c'mon. There's also a leather shop and macho gay chic with the automotive shops and a Starbucks which seems to have about a quarter gay patrons at any time. If the gay population was to explode in Austin, this place would be the epicenter.

According to 2006 data, 5.9% of the Austin population identified as gay or lesbian! Which is the sixth highest percentage in the U.S. Houston and Dallas have much bigger GLB populations but as a percentage of the total population, the numbers are lower.

http://www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/publications/SameSexCouplesandGLBpopACS.pdf (broken link)

And as for the insane claim above that Sacramento has probably five times the number of gay people than Austin. Using the data from the link above, Austin in 2006 had around 60,000, Sac had 80,000. In what mathematical universe does 80 probably = 5 X 60?

Despite the fact that the state of TX enacts very unfriendly GLB legislation, TX has the fourth highest GLB population in the U.S., and those numbers have probably grown considerably since 2006, given the growth in Texas population generally.

While I would not call Austin a gay mecca, it has a distinguished gay rights history. It is one of the first municipalities in the United States to pass a gay rights ordinance in 1975, 3 years before San Francisco does the same in 1978! And 3 years after the first such ordinance is passed in 1972 in East Lansing. College towns in the seventies tended to be more radical in some respects than even big coastal cities, and while I think Austin is regrettably less radical than it was in the late 1970s, it has BY FAR the best legal record in the state of Texas for protecting its sexual minorities from discrimination. Houston has no gay rights ordinance or anti-discrimination protections but it just elected a lesbian mayor. Go figure. Actual Texas, as opposed to the Texas of the dumber parts of the liberal imagination (which sees the state as only redneck, gun-toting, lynchmobs - and there is some of that) is contradictory and diverse (one of only 4 majority non-white states with CA, NM and Hawaii). Like CA, TX is way too big to be generalized: socially, politically, economically, culturally.

Both CA and TX have banned gay marriage, and while almost every urban county in CA voted against the ban, Travis County was the ONLY county in Texas to vote against the TX ban, though things are getting very interesting in the courts of both states with rulings finding the bans to violate the federal constitutional rights to equal protection. We shall see. I think it would be a hoot if TX ended up legalizing gay marriage before - let's say, New York. Unlikely, but possible, if the jurisprudence holds and develops

More anecdotally, when I moved to Austin in 2001, I found the gay scene in Austin fine but a little dull, but in the last 2 years it has become very interesting (again - perhaps! -scenes are often cyclical and transient). Camp - camp, *****bomb, Cheer up Charlie etc. Go watch Butch County perform or the deliciously disgusting Christeene or Kings and Things or the Texas Roller Derby gals and then tell me that this not an extraordinary counter-cultural, cutting-edge LGBTQ scene. Old timers tell me that the last time it was this good was back in the 1980s heyday of Gretchen Phillips and 2 Nice Girls etc

To the O.P, Austin has a bunch of cool scenes and a bunch of blandness- like many other places. Its infrastructure needs work, but its intangibles are fantastic!

[Paulmmm]

Originally Posted by homeinatx

According to 2006 data, 5.9% of the Austin population identified as gay or lesbian! Which is the sixth highest percentage in the U.S. Houston and Dallas have much bigger GLB populations but as a percentage of the total population, the numbers are lower.

http://www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/publications/SameSexCouplesandGLBpopACS.pdf (broken link)

And as for the insane claim above that Sacramento has probably five times the number of gay people than Austin. Using the data from the link above, Austin in 2006 had around 60,000, Sac had 80,000. In what mathematical universe does 80 probably = 5 X 60?

Despite the fact that the state of TX enacts very unfriendly GLB legislation, TX has the fourth highest GLB population in the U.S., and those numbers have probably grown considerably since 2006, given the growth in Texas population generally.

While I would not call Austin a gay mecca, it has a distinguished gay rights history. It is one of the first municipalities in the United States to pass a gay rights ordinance in 1975, 3 years before San Francisco does the same in 1978! And 3 years after the first such ordinance is passed in 1972 in East Lansing. College towns in the seventies tended to be more radical in some respects than even big coastal cities, and while I think Austin is regrettably less radical than it was in the late 1970s, it has BY FAR the best legal record in the state of Texas for protecting its sexual minorities from discrimination. Houston has no gay rights ordinance or anti-discrimination protections but it just elected a lesbian mayor. Go figure. Actual Texas, as opposed to the Texas of the dumber parts of the liberal imagination (which sees the state as only redneck, gun-toting, lynchmobs - and there is some of that) is contradictory and diverse (one of only 4 majority non-white states with CA, NM and Hawaii). Like CA, TX is way too big to be generalized: socially, politically, economically, culturally.

Both CA and TX have banned gay marriage, and while almost every urban county in CA voted against the ban, Travis County was the ONLY county in Texas to vote against the TX ban, though things are getting very interesting in the courts of both states with rulings finding the bans to violate the federal constitutional rights to equal protection. We shall see. I think it would be a hoot if TX ended up legalizing gay marriage before - let's say, New York. Unlikely, but possible, if the jurisprudence holds and develops

More anecdotally, when I moved to Austin in 2001, I found the gay scene in Austin fine but a little dull, but in the last 2 years it has become very interesting (again - perhaps! -scenes are often cyclical and transient). Camp - camp, *****bomb, Cheer up Charlie etc. Go watch Butch County perform or the deliciously disgusting Christeene or Kings and Things or the Texas Roller Derby gals and then tell me that this not an extraordinary counter-cultural, cutting-edge LGBTQ scene. Old timers tell me that the last time it was this good was back in the 1980s heyday of Gretchen Phillips and 2 Nice Girls etc

To the O.P, Austin has a bunch of cool scenes and a bunch of blandness- like many other places. Its infrastructure needs work, but its intangibles are fantastic!

There you go muddying the waters with pesky facts again. Why can't you just lie, exagerrate, rant, insult, and use lots of emoticons, so we'll know what the real truth is?!