Interracial Lesbian Couple Seeks New Home (Portland, Eugene: fit in, rental, lawyers)

[little_ph0enix]

Hello all,

My partner and I are currently stuck in misery - uh, I mean Missouri. She is originally from Florida and I was born and raised here in the midwest. She is black, and I am white. She is spiritual/non-religious, I am an atheist. She is in IT/Multimedia and I am in Higher Ed. She hates long winters and I despise long, hot summers. She needs to be near the ocean and I need to be near mountains.

Needless to say we are looking for a new place to live. For many years, Oregon has been at the top of my list. I'd love to hear from you about these questions that I have (which, undoubtedly, have been mentioned elsewhere on this site a million times ... I did scroll back a bit and didn't find exactly what I was looking for).

1. Portland, Eugene, Salem, Corvallis, or elsewhere?
2. Where is the GLBT community in Oregon? Are they active/hidden, welcoming/cliquish? Specific neighborhoods we should gravitate towards or stay away from?
3. Is the cost of living really as high as they say in places like Portland? We currently pay $895 for a 2-bed, 1-bath, 1000 sq. ft. rental house in a nice neighborhood of Kansas City. How would you compare this to rental prices in Oregon?
4. How difficult would you say it is for someone from out of town to land a job in Portland/Corvallis/Eugene? Do most people move there and then find a job?

Any other suggestions, advice or information you have would be fantastic. Thanks!

[Silverfall]

Hi,
I know that Portland has a fairly good sized gay and lesbian community. I think they operate just like everyone else. There will be people you like and people you don't. I think the group is fairly active. There aren't any particular gay communities like they have in San Fran.

You are going to want to stick to a larger city for more tolerance. The cities of Portland, Salem, and Eugene are fairly tolerant. The rest of Oregon is quite conservative. That's not to say you wouldn't be welcomed, but you may get more negative comments.

What you are currently renting you could do in Salem, but not in Eugene or Portland. Cost of living in higher there. The midwest is much cheaper than Oregon. We have the UGB (urban growth boundary) here which inflates the cost of land.

There are several non-denominal churches in Salem that would work for your partner. Oregon has the lowest church attendance of any state, so there are a lot of non-religious folks here.

As for finding a job...IT jobs have stiff competition and your partner would probably have an easier time if she were located here. You could probably find a job prior to moving in higher ed.

If you haven't been out here yet. I would check out Portland, Salem, and Eugene. All 3 have Universities for you to look at for employment, and all would have some IT jobs, although Portland would probably offer the most.

Here is a link to the Gay Oregon web site. There is a lot of information on it to give you an idea of what the community is like out here.

Hope this helps!

[jm21]

1. Portland, Eugene, Salem, Corvallis, or elsewhere?

In the NW, Portland and more-so Seattle have pretty large GLBT populations (2 of the largest in the US). Vashon and Vashon Island in WA as well, for less populated areas. For percent GLBT, Seattle is #2 and Portland #8 on the list I saw. Eugene seems like it would, but I don't know and it didn't show up on any lists I saw. Corvallis and Salem almost certainly not, they're fairly conservative towns. Lesbian couples seem to fit in fine everywhere in OR though, that I've seen. Gay guys seem to have a lot more difficulties. But maybe that's just my perception as a male of the species...

2. Where is the GLBT community in Oregon? Are they active/hidden, welcoming/cliquish? Specific neighborhoods we should gravitate towards or stay away from?

Pretty much, Portland. They aren't invisible, but don't really draw attention to themselves that I've noticed. Don't know too many of them personally.

3. Is the cost of living really as high as they say in places like Portland? We currently pay $895 for a 2-bed, 1-bath, 1000 sq. ft. rental house in a nice neighborhood of Kansas City. How would you compare this to rental prices in Oregon?

I pay $825 for a 1bdrm apt, but that's high. Really varies by neighborhood and quality.

4. How difficult would you say it is for someone from out of town to land a job in Portland/Corvallis/Eugene? Do most people move there and then find a job?

Hard in Portland and Corvallis, probably Eugene too but I don't know personally. Really depends on what kind of work though. There seems to be a surplus for certain jobs in the different areas, probably due to lots of graduates wanting to stay in the area. So like there's a surplus of nurses in Corvallis, surplus of lawyers and (it seems?) doctors in Portland, etc. I would think getting into higher ed would be very difficult in any of those towns. Don't know about IT.

[jjpop]

Actually, there's a fairly large and quite open population of lesbians here in Corvallis.

[bobmulk]

Ashland would be another place--quite liberal.

I think you would find it easy to get into higher ed and IT here in Oregon. I work with a number of organizations and companies and they're DYING for qualified, experienced talent. As for the nursing comment above--NO. There is NO surplus of nurses in Oregon. All the hospitals are BEGGING for nurses. I know Oregon higher ed is always desperate for people because they tend to pay lower than other other universities. There's a thriving high tech community throughout Oregon--mostly Central Oregon and the I-5 corridor. I think you'd both find something. Good luck.

[jm21]

Originally Posted by bobmulk

Ashland would be another place--quite liberal.

I think you would find it easy to get into higher ed and IT here in Oregon. I work with a number of organizations and companies and they're DYING for qualified, experienced talent. As for the nursing comment above--NO. There is NO surplus of nurses in Oregon. All the hospitals are BEGGING for nurses. I know Oregon higher ed is always desperate for people because they tend to pay lower than other other universities. There's a thriving high tech community throughout Oregon--mostly Central Oregon and the I-5 corridor. I think you'd both find something. Good luck.

MOST of OR is begging for nurses. My dad hires them, and he gets nurses who tried to find work in the Corvallis area (Because they went to school in the area) who couldn't find full-time positions after 1-2 years of looking. Yes, pretty much all OR hospitals are begging for nurses, a friend of mine who's a nurse got offered a job while riding on the MAX, just having a casual conversation, but apparently the Corvallis area really sucks for it.

I knew professors at OSU who taught 2-3 classes a day, each at different universities, with an hour or two drive between universities. Tenure is becoming less and less common in OR. There are certain types of degrees which are commonplace here, even though generally the education level isn't remarkable. I'd guess if you were teaching in an engineering field you could find employment fairly easily, but if you're teaching English, good luck.

What companies are dying for people with BAs/masters/PhDs in English, psychology, womens' studies, library science, or some similar bull**** degree? My undergrad degree is in English and no one was offering me jobs then, and you have to work pretty hard to find a decent entry-level attorney position here in Portland (but not so much in the rest of OR, except probably Eugene and Salem).