how gay friendly is chicago (how much, live, restaurants)

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by gomexico

The above neighborhood listings aren't very helpful, IMO. Don't use them as your guide.

Agreed. Doesn't fit my experiences or those of my friends at all. Looks very randomly assembled with no basis in reality.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by ChiNaan

Agreed. Doesn't fit my experiences or those of my friends at all. Looks very randomly assembled with no basis in reality.

Seeing as I'm gay and have gay friends in many of those neighborhoods and have traveled both on my own and as a couple to many of those areas, I don't give a damn if you disagree because they do accurately reflect my experiences there, but to say they have no basis in reality is just dumb.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by InspiredbyNature

That's code for saying african-americans might have a bigger problem with your gayness than other neighborhoods (mixed, hispanic, or white). I would agree with marothisu, there is less tolerance in those neighborhoods, and black pastors especially are against homosexuality and view it as another vice/immorality their neighborhoods don't need. That's their view, not mine.

I don't think race has anything to do with it. I just mean that certain neighborhoods as you may have mentioned, are religiously against it. Seem to be more conservative sometimes. It happens with blacks, whites, hispanics, etc.

[hindukid]

I'd say that overall Chicago is very gay friendly but to compare it to SF is asking a little much. SF is probably known as the most gay friendly city in the country. Chicago is not like the rest of the midwest but its probably not as gay friendly as SF either.

However it wouldn't surprise me if Chicago was second best. But then again I have little basis to really know much about the subject. I do know that in most of the circles I travel in, if you made an anti gay comment most people in the group would definitely look at you funny and somebody would probably call you out on it.

[Lorielicious]

Originally Posted by linicx

Chicago IS in the Midwest, and an Alpha City, too. You should be fine. People are people; most have a personal prejudice about something. As to LGBT: some care; some don't; most won't.

I am honestly sick and tired of people coming to this board, asking how things are for whatever race, gender, culture, sexual orientation, etc, and then people who have no idea and are not part of these groups chirping in from their smug distance, telling people "Oh, everything is fine for [demographic X] here." Unbearably frustrating.

Anyway, I think ChiNaan's post is right. Obviously Chicago is in the Midwest; that wasn't really the question. There is a SF kind of culture and Midwest kind of culture, and the question was where in that spectrum does Chicago fit in. The answer is in the middle.

Originally Posted by marothisu

I don't think race has anything to do with it. I just mean that certain neighborhoods as you may have mentioned, are religiously against it. Seem to be more conservative sometimes. It happens with blacks, whites, hispanics, etc.

Oh, for god's sake...

I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but the church seems to be part of the fabric of black communities. And, also if you haven't noticed, homophobia runs rampant in religious parts. No, not all religious people hate teh gays, but you're deluding yourself if you're pretending that in places where Jebus is a way of life, gays aren't exactly welcomed. For a while, whenever I went home (I'm black, btw, grew up in LA's equivalent of the south side), I'd bite my tongue whenever marriage equality issues or whatever came up, but I don't anymore. If I alienate myself, and boy do I, oh well.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Lorielicious

Oh, for god's sake...

I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but the church seems to be part of the fabric of black communities. And, also if you haven't noticed, homophobia runs rampant in religious parts. No, not all religious people hate teh gays, but you're deluding yourself if you're pretending that in places where Jebus is a way of life, gays aren't exactly welcomed. For a while, whenever I went home (I'm black, btw, grew up in LA's equivalent of the south side), I'd bite my tongue whenever marriage equality issues or whatever came up, but I don't anymore. If I alienate myself, and boy do I, oh well.

Really? When did I say that all religious people hate gays? I was merely responding to a previous poster who basically equated the entire south side religious community to hatred. I never said that every single black community is like that. My original message said SOME communities on the south side. I never once said ALL. I was merely correcting him/her saying that basically singling out African Americans into this is extremely idiotic as many, many different people do the same exact thing. There are other church-centric communities out there, and if you don't think so then you need to definitely get out more.

[Lorielicious]

*rubs forehead*

Please try to see the point. I will draw you a picture if necessary. I just cannot help but to laugh that you portend to somehow miss the obvious shared thread among poverty, religion, race and homophobia, yet pointed out the south and west sides are places to avoid if seeking an accepting neighborhood. What do the west and south sides, in terms of the city in general, have in common? Hmm? So we have a plucky stranger and his decoder chiming in saying, "Right, so black neighborhoods," to which you are shocked --shocked I say!-- that someone could suggest black neighborhoods are more homophobic in general than others!

Yeah, it's not a secret, and it's clearly not a secret to you. And no one is singling out black people as being uniformly homophobic, as that's obviously stupid, and we all know that many others aren't accepting of gays. But the predominately black areas of Chicago are among the least gay friendly places to go. You know it, I know it, and the American people know it.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Lorielicious

*rubs forehead*

Please try to see the point. I will draw you a picture if necessary. I just cannot help but to laugh that you portend to somehow miss the obvious shared thread among poverty, religion, race and homophobia, yet pointed out the south and west sides are places to avoid if seeking an accepting neighborhood. What do the west and south sides, in terms of the city in general, have in common? Hmm? So we have a plucky stranger and his decoder chiming in saying, "Right, so black neighborhoods," to which you are shocked --shocked I say!-- that someone could suggest black neighborhoods are more homophobic in general than others!

Yeah, it's not a secret, and it's clearly not a secret to you. And no one is singling out black people as being uniformly homophobic, as that's obviously stupid, and we all know that many others aren't accepting of gays. But the predominately black areas of Chicago are among the least gay friendly places to go. You know it, I know it, and the American people know it.

I am not sure you 100% got my point. I pointed out the south side and west sides, because yes, there are some religious communities in them that DO big time go against homosexuality in a public way. I never once said it was all african american. That was you and another poster who put words in my mouth.And yes, there are a few churches I know of on the north side who are like that, but not as public as some of the other ones. There's more than just African Americans on the South Side, as we all know.

Just because someone mentions the south side or west sides, doesn't mean they're talking about African Americans. it's absolutely frivolous.

[chet everett]

...the fact is that mainstream news organizations rarely cover minority churches unless there is some tragedy to adddress. Combined with the fact that there a whole lot more minority church goers that never go on-line than there are for the evangelical type churches and you do need to do a little digging to find these voices but they are out there:

Blog: Grand Mufti Emanuel's Chicago Values

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by InspiredbyNature

you're backtracking now...

Yeah, it's usually good to not put words in other peoples' mouths.