Is Flagstaff gay-friendly?

[Ritchie_az]

Originally Posted by soccerscore

Thank you all for the responce. Im actually coming from Wyoming, and I thought for sure it would be better in Flag, but from the sound of things, its pretty debatable.

According to phxgreenfire's link, Wyoming is worse off than Arizona regarding anti-descrimination-based-on-sexual-orientation laws. If you are not having problems in Wyoming in this regard you're not going to have them in Arizona.

Originally Posted by kdog

Interesting that you're drawing conclusions from speculation by a couple of anonymous sources, and without having spoken with a single gay person from Flagstaff.

One poster, on the grounds that he or she could potentially be fired. I pointed out that it's extremely unlikely something like that would happen. I'd be curious what on here the OP read that he finds "debatable"....

[phxgreenfire]

Originally Posted by Ritchie_az

I'm not arguing one way or the other whether there should or should not be a law. My point had to do with the question asked by the OP and then your warning to the OP that he can be fired.
First, only about 1/3rd of the states have some sort of anti-descrimination-based-on-sexual-orientation law, and 2/3rds don't. If having this law is a "must" for the OP, you provided him a link which shows which states have it. However, since most states don't have such a law, the OP would be significantly limiting his choices. That's good information and is up to the OP to decide.
Second, according to the other link you provided (thank you, btw), there have been six alleged (I use that word only because little information is actually given) cases since 2006, and five of those six would likely be protected under the current AZ anti-descrimination-based-on-sexual-orientation-for-public-employees law. That leaves the OP with one example (a transsexual at a community college who was not allowed to use the woman's restroom) to decide if there is really any risk of being "fired" for his or her sexual orientation.
If you ask me, the risk is 0 or a number really, really close to it.

You're quite welcome.

I don't know what the risk factor is, and it can be really hard to gauge. A lot will depend on the OP's boss and company policy. Regarding a couple Arizona-based companies: US Airways earned a perfect score and PetSmart scored pretty low.

Buying for Workplace Equality 2011 - Human Rights Campaign | @HRC

That's something else the OP could look into regarding places to work and decide which categories mean most to him. In this instance, some companies will do what state governments won't.

What I'm curious about is "why Flagstaff?" I'm curious because it isn't a very big city and wouldn't have quite as many options, resources or as much variety as a larger metropolis. Example: if the OP hopes to start dating after moving, there would be a larger pool to choose from in a city with a larger gay community.

[soccerscore]

Im looking to finish school. Specifically in the Sports Training Dept. NAU is looking good for school choice, but I was wondering about the other aspects to flag.

[Ritchie_az]

From what I understand, NAU is a very good university. Flagstaff and nearby Sedona are a couple of the more "liberal" towns in Arizona. I personally would doubt that you'd have any issues.

[CodyW]

Overall, it's pretty calm. The gay population at NAU is huge, it seems. Of note, however, are the events thrown by PRISM, our gay-straight alliance type organization on campus. Every event that have seems to end with some big dramatic occurrence. A couple months ago some kids were allegedly 'beat' after an event.

Flagstaff is easily one of the most liberal towns in Arizona, though.

[Cowpunk]

Having lived in Flagstaff for the last three years, I can tell you that there is a rather large gay community for a town of it's size (although it IS small). Almost all the gay people I have met here are out of the closet and I haven't found much in the way of hostility, except in some isolated cases. I am even a regular at a straight country bar and can still be pretty open about my sexuality.
When I first visited, I asked around about a gay bar and all the staff at downtown watering holes just kind of laughed and were, like, "There's no gay bar here because they just go anywhere they want around here."
Of course, that doesn't mean one should throw all caution to the wind. Sketchy circumstances can occur here just as they can anywhere. After all, there are places even in San Francisco where gay people would not be safe. Use common sense like you would anywhere.
As far as work, the options will depend on your career choice. There are a lot of medical, service industry and tourism jobs around here, and a lot of "blue collar" work, but after that the options become more limited. With NAU, of course, there is also education and its supportive environment.

[KitsuneMoon]

Yes, there are plenty of gay people in Flagstaff, along with their supporters. Their are also lots of closed minded hateful conservatives and ultra-religious types here. So the treatment you would get depends on the people where you work. The largest private employer in Flagstaff is Gore Medical, and if you work there as an openly gay man, you might be in trouble. It's a Mormon company. Owned by Mormons, run by Mormons. If you get a job someplace else like NAU then you'd probably be fine.

[pokuku]

Originally Posted by KitsuneMoon

Yes, there are plenty of gay people in Flagstaff, along with their supporters. Their are also lots of closed minded hateful conservatives and ultra-religious types here. So the treatment you would get depends on the people where you work. The largest private employer in Flagstaff is Gore Medical, and if you work there as an openly gay man, you might be in trouble. It's a Mormon company. Owned by Mormons, run by Mormons. If you get a job someplace else like NAU then you'd probably be fine.

This is complete and utter bs.

One thing about Flagstaff is that the lesbian population is huge, while the gay male population is much smaller than you would think.