Lesbian-friendly Texas (Houston, Dallas, Austin: school, to live, bars)

[SloopJohnZ]

I'm not arguing that it's not getting better, but we're still not there. And yes, Texas is still behind other states when it comes to social tolerance. You are blind to reality if you think differently. Again, Austin is Austin. Dallas is Dallas. Houston is Houston. Round Rock, Plano, and the Woodlands are different stories. What was it, two months ago a private school in Bedford made the news for turning away a student because she had two lesbian parents? Sorry, that's not very tolerant.

This is still the bible belt, and we still have a long ways to go. Just look at the advice given at the top of page 3. Is calling somebody your partner "flaunting" your sexuality? I don't introduce my wife as my roommate. Why should gay people have to act any differently than straight people?

[TexasHorseLady]

I find it amusing that just about EVERYONE seems to need someone to be prejudiced against (while pretending that they're not indulging themselves in the same KIND of behavior, if not with the same target, as those they castigate). If it's not gays, it's Texas. And NOTHING will change their minds. Same song, really, just a different verse. (By the way, I personally know lesbians who live in small Texas towns and introduce their partner as their wife, with no repercussions whatsoever.)

[doctorjef]

Something that I think is a good illustration of the social conservatism in Texas, especially in religion - but in this case within a mainline denomination usually thought of as pretty liberal - is that when Gene Robinson was elected as the first openly gay, partnered bishop in the Episcopal Church (in the Diocese of New Hampshire) my reaction was "that's wonderful, but the election won't get the necessary number of consents from the rest of the Church for it to be confirmed". I was completely wrong about that, but my mistaken prediction came as a result of having been an Episcopalian in Texas for so many years. All of the Episcopal dioceses in Texas are quite conservative (although there are gay-friendly and gay-neutral parishes in any of the larger cities). It is true that many other regions of the US have more socially accepting attitudes than you find overall in Texas and in much of the South (larger cities being an exception). When you have spent years living in Texas it is difficult to appreciate how much more conservative the state is than a lot of other places in the USA. Still, open hostility directed in-person to gay individuals in Texas is a rarity. Expressions of homophobia are more likely to take passive-aggressive or oblique forms and even that is a rarity in my experience.

[SloopJohnZ]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

I find it amusing that just about EVERYONE seems to need someone to be prejudiced against (while pretending that they're not indulging themselves in the same KIND of behavior, if not with the same target, as those they castigate). If it's not gays, it's Texas. And NOTHING will change their minds. Same song, really, just a different verse. (By the way, I personally know lesbians who live in small Texas towns and introduce their partner as their wife, with no repercussions whatsoever.)

Right. I'm just prejudice against Texas. You've figured me out.

You have one, solitary anecdote and that represents every gay person's experience in Texas.

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by SloopJohnZ

I'm not arguing that it's not getting better, but we're still not there. And yes, Texas is still behind other states when it comes to social tolerance. You are blind to reality if you think differently. Again, Austin is Austin. Dallas is Dallas. Houston is Houston. Round Rock, Plano, and the Woodlands are different stories. What was it, two months ago a private school in Bedford made the news for turning away a student because she had two lesbian parents? Sorry, that's not very tolerant.

This is still the bible belt, and we still have a long ways to go. Just look at the advice given at the top of page 3. Is calling somebody your partner "flaunting" your sexuality? I don't introduce my wife as my roommate. Why should gay people have to act any differently than straight people?

Cities like Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, New Orleans, & Miami sit on the very edge of the Bible Belt. The reason for this is because Catholicism is more prevalent there than in the rest of the predominately Southern Baptist bible thumping South.

Look at a map.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by SloopJohnZ

Right. I'm just prejudice against Texas. You've figured me out.

You have one, solitary anecdote and that represents every gay person's experience in Texas.

Didn't say that that one solitary anecdote represents every gay person's experience in Texas, any more than yours does. And, in fact, I've discussed the fact that while I'm not gay, I've known LOTS of gay and lesbian folks in Austin and environs over the years whose experiences do not reflect yours or artsyguy's. Including some who moved here with some preconceptions much like yours and were delighted to discover that they were simply that, prejudices that they'd been fed by other people who didn't really know (or who had a bad experience and attributed it to being gay rather than to, well, being them).

Are there people in Texas, as well as everywhere else in this country, prejudiced against gays? Absolutely. Just as there are people in Texas, as well as everywhere else in this country, who are prejudiced against people of various races (including white, don't kid yourself there), genders, religions, political affiliation, or any number of other things that people use to make themselves feel superior - including state, for that matter. That was my point - if someone is going to be prejudiced, they are going to find something or someone to be prejudiced against, all the while telling themselves that they're not prejudiced at all, it's those OTHER guys in that OTHER state that are prejudiced.

For the most part, though, I've noticed that, as another poster said above, generally if someone doesn't like you, it probably has to do with something entirely different than your sexual preferences. Unless, of course, you're hitting on them and they're not interested. But that would be the case whatever your sexual preferences are, even if they share them and just aren't interested in you, personally.

[diablo234]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

Cities like Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, New Orleans, & Miami sit on the very edge of the Bible Belt. The reason for this is because Catholicism is more prevalent there than in the rest of the predominately Southern Baptist bible thumping South.

This is probably a better map.

http://scienceblogs.com/bushwells/upload/2007/07/church_bodies.gif (broken link)

[homeinatx]

Demographically, the parts of TX where most people choose to live, i.e. the major cities are going to be lesbian tolerant, and most of them are going to be lesbian friendly. Houston is the largest city in the history of the world to elect an out lesbian mayor. Lubbock, the biggest city in West Texas has a major highway named after a lesbian. Austin, for a mid-sized city is a lesbian mecca with arguably the best lesbian music scene in the country - Gretchen Phillips, Butch County, Kings 'n Things - lesbian bands that tour nationally but choose to live in Austin, and tons of baby dyke bands. TX has the 4th highest number of gay and lesbian citizens in the U.S., and while the state voted for a ban on gay marriages, with the exception of Travis County, last year a judge in Dallas declared the state ban unconstitutional. Homophobia is everywhere, but there are many parts of TX where no-one cares about your sexual orientation, and the trends are all in favor of increased tolerance and visibility. Pick where you want to live and come on down. Small towns in the U.S generally, with the exceptions of VT, MA, and perhaps NH tend to be less accepting of sexual diversity, but there is not a major city in TX where lesbians won't be accepted, and in many, welcomed.

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

^^^Dont forget Dallas has a lesbian sherrif as well.

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

Thanks for posting that map Diablo. It makes an interesting point. Dallas always gets pegged with being more evangelical and baptist, but in Dallas and Collin County, there are more cathoilcs.