Best city and state for LGBT.

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Agreed. I've had a wonderful time when I've visited, but SF is just too expensive for me to even think about living there. What is more, sometimes I couldn't help but feel like a country bumpkin. Maybe it was just my perception, or maybe I'm just not sophisticated or urbane enough.

A little closer to home, I've taken a liking to Asheville, N.C. In terms of size, it's more in my comfort zone, and I've found it to be a friendly and supportive community for LGBTs. For an outdoor-oriented person like me, there's just so much to do - skiing, snowboarding, hiking, mountain biking, whitewater kayaking - and the cultural amenities aren't bad either.

The only real downside is that outside the city, the surrounding rural areas tend to be extremely conservative and religious - many counties in N.C. and S.C. have gone so far as to pass laws declaring homosexuality "incompatible with community standards".

besides san fran? sydney. it is generally recognised as the gay capital of the country. we have mardi gras, a load of bars, sex shops, clubs, a bookshop, an entire suburb and a street which constitute the "gaybourhood", a bunch of health and youth services, various social groups, queer film festivals and cultural events and the queer papers and activist groups which are found everywhere. my comrade has been to new york and she said that the queer scene there was nothing compared to here. she also said that antiqueer rhetoric was waaay more extreme in america than here and took on a really vicious colour when compared to here but thats a different issue. but new yorkers have stonewall not just a bar named after it. the real live stonewall.

Vancouver, Toronto or Montréal.

Three of the most livable cities on the planet, the full range of legal protections (including marriage and adoption), large communities, world class universities, and a very open immigration system.

US for now, maybe someday out of the country.

I don't anticipate making "a lot" of money until I'm around 40, if things haven't taken off in the states I may have the flexibility of hopping on a plane and GTFO out of here

I haven't been fortunate enough to visit Vancouver - hopefully one day I can make it happen. But agreed about Toronto & Montreal, though I would suppose that we would have the full range of legal protections all across Canada. They seem so much further along than the U.S. when it comes to LGBT & minority rights in general. I guess they're just more comfortable with diversity & have less of that obnoxious fundamentalism. In particular I've always thought of Montreal as one of the most gay-friendly cities on the planet.

I'm looking forward to visiting Ontario & Quebec again this summer - another in my never-ending series of kayaking adventures. I have a free place to stay in Montreal & Ottawa, with some kayaker friends I met on a trip last year. Already I can hardly wait for the fun times & big water!

Obvious choices are New York and LA. DC is all right too. Atlanta is quite gay-friendly but ONLY in the city. It's kind of like an island in the Bible Belt; no gay-friendly land for miles around. On the upside of that, us southern girls are pretty nice .

The same could be said for Austin, Texas. I've been there twice, and it's super liberal. When I went there at age sixteen, I felt so much culture shock because the city is so open, and I'm from a very conservative area. I'd venture to say that Austin is the San Francisco of the Bible Belt.

I would suggest San Fran for several reasons. Public Transportation, the Mission and China Town for groceries and we got the most gay stuff to do. Housing options are limited in that Public housing is very lousy. The East Bay communities are connected well to SF and are reasonable in prices. The city itself has gotten rather ugly in that we don't kick the homeless out and they are piling up like cords of wood on our sidewalks.

Somebody asked about bus passes. There are low income options under disability and senior discounts. this requires admitting you got something wrong and a doctor's signature, but is well worth it.

I know you are going to say they aren't big enough. I prefer the pacific northwest. Portland. Seattle.

edit: whoops, that looks to be right. check out the NYC MTAwebsite.

I usually bought the weekly unlimited use card, but I lived within walking distance of my school.

Last edited by Ca2MgFe5Si8O22OH2 on 30 Aug 2012, 2:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Vancouver is my dream city.

Grand Ledge, Michigan.

All that tough-guy strutting and posturing down at the macho bars is just to weed out the sissy-boys who can't handle the rough stuff.

Portland, Oregon, perhaps?

Maybe Seattle?

How do we define "best" for LGBTs? Is it most open, most opportunities to find a gay social life, best city for gay professionals, open to gay families, etc? San Francisco may have started gay culture, for instance, but it's so expensive that the gays are moving elsewhere. I personally would never live there.

I lived in Washington DC for a few years, and felt comfortable as a gay man there. I now live in Upstate New York, am actually more open here than in DC, and yet the city I'm in is surprisingly tolerant.

I live in Madison, WI and it's a very good place to be gay. We have bars, sports teams, etc and you can walk down the street holding hands and nobody will care. Heck, people waiting at a stop sign to let a gay rights march go past will cheer you on instead of getting frustrated that they have to wait.

Seattle, Seattle, Seattle