Gay/alternative friendly areas/towns? (Albuquerque, Santa Fe: home, university, salaries)

[MPinSC]

My husband and I are considering a move to the southwest in the next year, and NM is on our list. We've spent some time there in both summer and winter, and find it enchanting. He's a Family Practice physician, so all of this is predicated on where the job offers are.

This may seem an odd question for a decidedly hetero couple with two children, but are there areas other than Santa Fe that are gay/alternative friendly? I ask because while neither of us are, we have noticed an odd correlation in our travels. In our experience, areas that ARE gay friendly tend to be the sort of quirky but accepting, broadminded, welcoming type of community that we like. It's sort of a "go-by" for us.

P.S. Edited because for some weird reason the system let me type gay, but not l-e-s-b-i-a-n. Go figure.

[Mark S.]

Definitely Santa Fe. Other than that, not much. Most towns with a university have a healthy gay sub-culture, but you tend to get attitudes of being very accepting on-campus and a few choice locations and very antagonistic by the locals.

[MPinSC]

Yes, that's what I figured - pretty much the Santa Fe area. It's not a necessity for us, but we've found it to be a bit of handy a "measuring stick" when evaluating communities.

[Informer]

Greetings,

Just a little statistic to throw at you - while Sante Fe is surely on the list of what you are looking for don't overlook the ABQ metro area.

The gay/ l-e-s-b-i-a-n index for ABQ metro is 140 based on a scale of 100. With 100 being about the average. So ABQ metro is well above average.


Cheers

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by MPinSC

I ask because while neither of us are, we have noticed an odd correlation in our travels. In our experience, areas that ARE gay friendly tend to be the sort of quirky but accepting, broadminded, welcoming type of community that we like. It's sort of a "go-by" for us.

In that case, I recommend you check out the following Colorado cities: Boulder, Loveland, Colorado Springs.

They are certainly more expensive than most places in New Mexico (though not Santa Fe!), but I think you'll find the quality of life much better.

[Crackerjack]

Durango, Colorado has a very healthy gay community. I know several gay men and lesbia-n couples there. It is an outdoorsy, healthy city and is mainly a pro environment, liberal and alternative lifestyle city with new age thrown into the mix. A nice city, you might check it out. It is just north of the NM border. Also noticed your Husband is a doctor. They just opened a very nice, huge hospital in Durango and with all the new people moving there including a lot of retired people, doctors are needed.

[winnie]

Southern NM is not as tolerant of gays. I would say either move to one of the "artistic" towns like Taos, Santa Fe or Albuquerque or stay out of NM.

That was my experience while I lived there.

And just another observation, exxagerated PDA for any sexual orientation is kind of frowned on in most NM towns.

[Crackerjack]

Yes Winnie, you are right. I think because the Roman Catholic church frowns on it so much and the Roman Catholic church holds supreme in NM. According to the Pope, any Catholic won't accept homosexuality as normal. I know in the Native American areas it isn't as much a big deal for some reason. They seem to accept it better. My Native American friends that I know all accept people being gay as normal.

[CarolynW53]

Dear MPin SC,
My husband and I are also moving to either NM, CO or northern AZ within the year for a few reasons but we are lgbt civil rights activists as our son is gay and was horrendously beaten when he was 16 in our hometown in AR for being gay. We have held out and worked in AR for as long as we can but it has become too dangerous and hateful.

I wanted to be sure you knew that Colorado Springs is one of the most anti-gay cities for it's size in our nation. This from many we know who live or have lived there. Perhaps because two of the most anti-gay groups are there and or the air force academy. Shame as it is gorgeous scenery and have met really nice people from there but many are closeted.

The areas that are on our list from much research by talking with people we know living in these states which are more open minded as well as positive for raising children to be in a more accepting community are: Durango (#1 but most expensive of all), Santa Fe, Taos, Flagstaff, Denver, Mancos and ABQ.

We are hoping we can sell our properties here to raise enough to afford Durango, the weather, people and scenery are great (if you like snow) but the cost of living is high. There is a new hospital (I am a retired RNP) and the search is on for staff there and have heard salaries being offered are superb.

Good Luck and if you hear of any other locations would you let me know?

Carolyn

[Informer]

I wanted to be sure you knew that Colorado Springs is one of the most anti-gay cities for it's size in our nation. This from many we know who live or have lived there. Perhaps because two of the most anti-gay groups are there and or the air force academy. Shame as it is gorgeous scenery and have met really nice people from there but many are closeted.

The areas that are on our list from much research by talking with people we know living in these states which are more open minded as well as positive for raising children to be in a more accepting community are: Durango (#1 but most expensive of all), Santa Fe, Taos, Flagstaff, Denver, Mancos and ABQ.

Good Luck and if you hear of any other locations would you let me know?

Carolyn

Just wanted to say you are right about Colorado Springs - a very conservative city, as it being home to two large evangelical church headquarters.

The g/lb index for CS is 78 based on a scale of 100 being average. That is 22% below the national average - not a good choice.

I have found a site that has proved invaluble for profiling cities in the USA and most cities will contain the above mentioned index. Just type into your favorite search engine.

Happy searching.

Cheers