Is Illinois a good place for LGBT people? (Chicago, Peoria: apartment, rental)

[fireandice1000]

I currently live in South Dakota and will probably end up moving within the next year or so. (I am browsing other states just as an FYI). Are any parts of Illinois really good for LGBT people? I am looking for a city between 25K - 120K to live in that isn't incredibly crime ridden or expensive. I want to be able to attend college or community college/vo-tech so a public school nearby would be nice.

[linicx]

Are you talking about the Chicago area or Illinois as a whole? You title is a bit confusing.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by fireandice1000

I currently live in South Dakota and will probably end up moving within the next year or so. (I am browsing other states just as an FYI). Are any parts of Illinois really good for LGBT people? I am looking for a city between 25K - 120K to live in that isn't incredibly crime ridden or expensive. I want to be able to attend college or community college/vo-tech so a public school nearby would be nice.

You should post this in the general Illinois portion of the forum, not the Chicago one.

[linicx]

Illinois is a bit of an odd duck because Chicago area has more than half the state poplution living there. The rest of the state is mostly farm land with pockets of population seperated by miles of corn and soybeans. The problem is not that there are no LGBT communities, it is that the communities are small.

Once you get closer to the center of the state the COL is much easier to manage. You can find a studio in decent area for $500 and maybe a little less. There are a lot of small towns, but most don't have readily available rental units or the schools nearby.

The gay communities seem to be Peoria, Bloomington, Springfield and Champaign. Peoria and Bloomington, I think, are the two nearest communities.

The Peoria area is the largest area and it offers a wealth of what you are looking for: community college, many trade schools, a univeristy and four-year college nearby. Also, if you have an interesting hobby that you can teach others how to do, it is possible that you can teach a class at the park district and pick up some extra bucks. Peoria also has a medical school.

Bloomington-Normal is about 35 miles. ISU at Normal is an very good University; its campus is about 22K and I belive it does offer some financial aid. Bloomington does have a 4-year college and a community college.

Springfield does have an SIU campus but I don't know what else it offers.

The flagship Uninveristy of Illinois is in Urbanap-Champaign. The campus is about 35K students and teachers. I do not know what other educational oppertunities are in this area because the U is dominant.

Outside of this area, Davemport Iowa has a reputation of having an active gay community. You can live directly across the river in IL in cities 2/3 smaller than Davenport.

[Aerio]

Champaign-Urbana has a combined population of around 120,000 or so. It has an LGBT community that's connected with the University of Illinois; it also has Parkland College, a local community college.

I don't consider the area expensive in living arrangements. I myself pay $525 for a one-bedroom apartment on campus. (I consider this pricey, though) Another example I will give you is my friend's house, which cost her $185,000. It includes four bedrooms, three bathrooms, modern amenities, two-car garage, and decent land-space. I used to pay $400 for a room in this house. This, to me, is cheaper than what I would pay in Chicago. It all depends on perspective -- is this cheap for you?

Crime is probably above-average for a town* of this size. I myself have never been mugged, stabbed, beaten, etc., but it still exists nonetheless on campus, and in pockets in the area.
I don't know how much crime happens on-campus versus in-town, but if you are street-smart and can figure out a bad neighborhood from a good neighborhood, you will be safer than you think.

I've never considered myself endangered in my six years in Champaign-Urbana as a gay person.
Good luck with your search!

* -- when I say "town", I refer to both cities since they are, for practical reasons, conjoined.

[prairiestate]

Check out Iowa. Illinois is fine, but I'm guessing you don't want a really big city since you didn't post this in the Chicago forum. Des Moines is a wonderful small (maybe medium depending on your definition) sized city, and gay marriage is legal in Iowa.

[linicx]

B-N is no more than 30-60 minutes from any of the LGBT communities in Central Illinois plus Chicago is closer.

[Vasily]

Another Iowa city to consider is Iowa City - university town, 67K population. I went to school there many years ago, and it's a nice college town. Some of the towns mentioned (Peoria, Davenport/Quad Cities) might be difficult places to find employment. Also, I grew up in Rock Island across the river from Davenport, and it's not what I'd call a "safe" town ... neither for that matter are areas of Davenport. A lot of gang and drug activity.

[linicx]

I don't understand the insistance to drag Iowa into an IL forum. What makes anyone think Peoria and Bloomington are not hiring when Costco and Targest are building new stores?

The IL side of the Quad Cities is 90 miles from Peoria and about 150 miles from Bloomington. Why would the OP want to drive 200 miles to IC when he can hop a train in Normal and go to the CITY?

[Maintainschaos]

Any of the cities in central Illinois could probably fit your needs, but the one with the largest LGBT community (due to the size of the university and number of students and faculty) is probably Champaign-Urbana, although if you don't already have a job and are looking to get one, the areas with the lowest unemployment are Bloomington-Normal and Springfield. All the cities in central Illinois (Peoria, Springfield, Champaign-Urbana, Bloomington-Normal and Decatur) have some form of university in the area, and the area as a whole offers more opportunities than the aforementioned places in Iowa. Despite Iowa having legalized gay marriage, civil unions are recognized in Illinois; both are more than can be said for the rest of the Midwest.