is greenville gay/lesbian friendly (Clemson, Welcome: for sale, 2015, apartment)

[anaortizde]

hello,
I am a woman from canada. My partner (another woman) and I are thinking about moving to Greenville after an offer for a faculty position at Clemson University.

I have visited greenville once and we liked it; however, we could not get a sense of the gay scence at all. We are very open about our relation: we hold hands in public, and sometimes show affection. We have never had a problem anywhere in Canada...

Is Greenville a gay/lesbian friendly place? is there any gay friendly places to socialize with other gay people there? is greenville a good place for a lesbian couple?

Thank you very much for your help!

[Frankie117]

Well, Its not necessarily that its not "gay/lesbian friendly" but, if you have a good attitude you should do just fine regardless. However, as far as I know, there isn't much of a gay scene in Greenville, not sure if the town of Clemson has much of one either, you'll have to do some searching for yourself. But, the Carolinas are much different from Canada, and every move requires adjustment. Best of luck to you,

[gsupstate]

Originally Posted by anaortizde

hello,
I am a woman from canada. My partner (another woman) and I are thinking about moving to Greenville after an offer for a faculty position at Clemson University.

I have visited greenville once and we liked it; however, we could not get a sense of the gay scence at all. We are very open about our relation: we hold hands in public, and sometimes show affection. We have never had a problem anywhere in Canada...

Is Greenville a gay/lesbian friendly place? is there any gay friendly places to socialize with other gay people there? is greenville a good place for a lesbian couple?

Thank you very much for your help!

My partner and I (males) moved to Greenville about 5 years ago. We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! We are late 30's / early 40's, white collar, and settled. We've lived in much larger cities with major gay populations, and yet find Greenville to be our favorite place so far (probably will be our permanent home). We've found numerous gay/lesbian couples here and have cultivated a large group of friends. While you won't find much of the "club kid" crowd here and you won't see many people draped in rainbow flags, you will find a sizable gay community. Many stores in the downtown area have rainbow flag stickers on their doors. Most gay couples choose to live in the immediate downtown area (where condos abound), or in the North Main / Cleveland Park / Augusta Street / West End areas (these four areas immediately circle downtown).

We don't mix words and while not "in your face gay", certainly let it be known we are a couple. Most everyone we meet is accepting and warm. You'll be pleasantly surprised by the accepting attitude in Greenville (the abundance of a sizable European population probably helps).

We bought a boat this past year and have it at a marina on Lake Hartwell (about 40 miles south of Greenville on the Georgia state line). We quickly learned that Lake Hartwell is a thriving gay weekend location for both Greenville and Atlanta couples (on our dock alone there is a lesbian couple, two gay couples and multiple "friendly" straight couples). In addition, just a short drive to the North is Asheville (San Francisco of the South) and Bat Cave, a small town thriving with lesbian/gay bed and breakfast locations.

If you're looking for quality gay friends, cultural opportunities, enjoying life, etc, Greenville is for you.

PM if you'd like and I can give you additional info.

[anaortizde]

Frankie117 and gsupstate,

Thank you very much for your responses! This is encouraging.

We are not an "in your face gay" couple; but at the same time, we live our relationship openly and do not hide it; the same way as if we were a heterosexual couple. We say "we" and a "my partner/my girlfriend" etc when we talk to other people. And we are certainly respectful with other people and belief systems.

I will certainly contact you again in the future, after we make our decision. In the meantime if there is more information that you can share, I would really appreciate it.

Thank you very much

[asbfam]

I am the mother of a 20 year old WONDERFUL gay daughter who is a student at Clemson. We live on a 'for sale' equestrian property outside of Pendleton 15 -20 minutes from Clemson. For a while we have not practiced much religion and had been hurt by backward thinking & the lack of acceptance in the churches my husband and I were brought up in, we have been soooo very proud of our daughter (for many reasons)but she introduced us to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Clemson. Not only are we happy that she is not only accepted, but we are please that our form of faith or lack of it is welcomed......Other than that, I have been vocal about having a gay daughter (with her permission) and have found more acceptance AND understanding than expected with my southern Baptist and other friends. There is an active AFFIRM group ( for gay and questioning youth) organization for 21 and under in Greenville and a nice CGSA group at Clemson (not sure if that is correct title for the gay group) Anyway my family and I are all about the acceptance, inclusion, respect and so on of all people......Hey, I am short and even that is looked 'down' on. Fat people are discriminated against and I won't even get started on race...........But to answer your question about our area and gay friendly, etc..I think you will find it to be quite accepting, but of course not without acception. We see change for good happening, but certainly not fast enough...Right? I just tell my activist and very dedicated, bright daughter that she is living in the most exciting time in history of change occuring for the better for all people and SHE is a part of helping that happen! But as I was told when I worked for a nonprofit trying to help create equality years ago by a more experience person that 'change is slow'..That was very frustrating at the time. But now 15 years later the changes that have taken place locally, nationally and world wide are quite impressive. I wonder how you feel about that? I should stop talking and let my daughter see this and respond to you. She is more aware of the gay community and is very mature for her years, so relates more with older gays and others...Good luck!! Hope to meet you when you get here...Feel free to email us privately!

[k8swirl]

I may be a bit late to post on this, but my partner and I used to live in North Carolina (she's from there) and then relocated to Canada (where I'm from) for the benefits of gay marriage. While we appreciate how much easier being married is (taxes, apartment applications, healthcare, etc), we're looking at moving back to the US (we'd love to move back to the South). We lived in smaller towns throughout NC and very rarely had any negative encounters based on our sexual orientation - if anything we found Halifax, Nova Scotia far less progressive and had countless problems with being out in public. We're living in Edmonton, AB now and still run into stereotypes and petty nonsense occasionally. We're very out, but in the US, as in Canada, it pays to be aware of where you are and how you're behaving. During our years in the South, there were places and times we were very "straight-acting", but having travelled through rural Alberta and northern BC, we've felt the need to be just as careful here. The gay issue aside, we LOVE the South and found people to be hospitable, honest, funny and incredibly friendly. We are planning children in the very near future and our plans to move back to the US are based on the fact that we want to raise our kids in the South.

Hope this helps.

[wftlken]

I am curious if there is any updates updates to this string. I see it's from 2007...and here I am in 2015 thinking about the same move - to Greenville, but from So FL. Thanks all!

[BigRedBeth]

I see many gay couples walking downtown and have a gay married couple in my office; have not noticed anyone to have any issues with them.

[HartRes51]

Im new to the area and I know no one here. I am looking for organizations locally to connect with so that I can make some friends. I do not have a partner at the moment and would love to make some friends. Im still looking for a job and am quite "sequestered". Im newly out, not a person of faith and am not a real bar fly. Just looking for ideas for acquaintances. Thanks for any help you could be.

[beckycat]

Welcome to Greenville! Check out meetup.com.