According to a new study from Consumer Affairs, LGBT people are moving to traditionally “red” states and adding a few more colors to the rainbow.
ConsumerAffairs.com used available information from the Census Bureau and Gallup to get the info and compiled it into the nifty map you see above, and the results are definitely intriguing:
- Salt Lake City saw the biggest increase in the size of its LGBT community as a portion of the total population, moving from 39th place in 1993 to 7th as of 2014 (the most recent available data).
- Of the 20 cities that saw a positive change in their ranking, 11 were in traditionally red states including Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana and Texas.
- Traditionally LGBT-friendly cities like Minneapolis, San Diego and New York saw a drop in their national rankings.
You can navigate around the map here and take a look at the LGBT demographic trends for multiple cities between 1990 and 2014.
It’s very cool, and the news really isn’t so shocking.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
As LGBT rights rise, the traditionally gay-friendly meccas like NYC and the West Coast are no longer the oasis in the desert for gays looking for acceptance.
Also, Salt Lake City is surprisingly beautiful and packed with more gays than you think. The beautiful mountain views during the descent into Salt Lake City International Airport alone are worth the trip, and we hear they have a pretty great pride, too.
Kelly Voelkel
Y’all come to Texas, Vote, and help us change to Blue!
Spike
Good gawd, why? Those are all fly over states.
Paco
Don’t the red states typically have a lower cost of living compared to the expensive gay enclaves in the blue states? Who can really afford to live comfortably in those places anymore?
David Paul Morgan
US writers. You need to explain your colour/color coding to us Euro-beings ð???ð???
joeyty
@Paco: That’s greatly true. NYC and San Francisco are nothing but dull rich snots now.
joeyty
@Kelly Voelkel: A bud of mine moved from Detroit to Dallas three years ago and LOVES it. Especially the gay scene. The only thing he dislikes is the extreme heat of the summer.
edensasp
@David Paul Morgan: RED State Predominately Conservative Republican. Blue State Predominately Liberal Democrat. Rainbow, All inclusive
SonOfKings
Yes, the affluent, enlightened bastions that gays have typically flocked to are no longer affordable. It may make more sense for many of us to choose value over style.
edwardnvirginia
Well, no wonder. So MANY queer folks in the ‘blue’ cities and states are insufferable pricks, bullies, liars and leaches.
Troy Eleder
As a gay married man trapped behind enemy lines in the South, I would welcome to company. But if you’re looking to more here without a fight from the locals, stay in a blue state.
joeyty
@edwardnvirginia: “Well, no wonder. So MANY queer folks in the ‘blue’ cities and states are insufferable pricks, bullies, liars and leaches.” The worst ones in NYC (I’m a native) are the ones who moved here from somewhere else, and now want to think they’re somehow cooler than the people they “left behind” and keep trying to prove it to themselves.
Greg Ballard
Why?
jgodsman
I grew up Canadian. I have lived in Toronto, Mexico, Texas, Salt Spring Island, Sedona–a lot of interesting places.
In recent years business interests brought me to the very strange–and in many ways–very unique state of Louisiana.
Yes, it is very backwards in a lot of ways and I didn’t like Baton Rouge ( too conservative & provincial), New Orleans ( very exciting but
too dark for me) and now the small town of Alexandria in the middle of the state, pop 50k!
What I found here surprised me! Even though it may be in the ‘ buckle’ of the Bible Belt, I’ve found a genuine and sincere core
of progressive and liberal people.
Many times gay people are the pioneers. I feel we are pioneering in a beautiful area,
the air is sweet, the Garden District is slowly blossoming, and the real estate and cost of living is cheap!
Yes, it doesn’t have all the great restaurants or cultural events of bigger cities–but it has heart, a sense of community and beautiful big trees! And a great, modern small airport!
Life is full of surprises and Alexandria has been a sweet one for us at this stage of our lives!
We are a gay couple who are in our 50’s and have been together for 30 years.
Glücklich
Meh. I dunno. If it weren’t for my husband and the weather, I’d move away from San Francisco. I love SF but I think it’s only because I’m used to it. I can’t think of anyplace I’d really want to move to, anyway.
Work takes me to New York about once a month and I enjoy it for a week or two at a time. If I move up in the company again it’d probably mean moving there; I’m ambivalent about the idea, though I know Mr. Glücklich would like living there.
inbama
If you’ve found the love of your life and you want the picket fence and the long and lasing relationship, moving to a red state makes all the sense in the world. You will make coupled gay friends – swiftly – and they will support and celebrate your relationship in ways unthinkable in the promiscuous blue gay ghettos.
Just know that election years are REALLY frustrating here.
Kangol
Having lived in red and blue states in nearly every region of the US, I’ll take a blue state over a red state any day, but since I’m no longer a 20-something I value a better quality of life over the overpriced, hectic place of some of the major gay-friendly cities. Wherever you live, making community is key, but no state should have laws that oppress LGBTQ people or deny any of our rights, which is still the case in too many.
We need to pass ENDA!
martinbakman
@Glücklich: I miss being able to drive into San Francisco whenever I felt like it. LA is fun, and it’s permanent, so making the most of it, but it’s not like the Bay Area.
Tobi
This map tracks moving trends by considering changes in the size of one demographic as a percentage of the total population.
Do these figures really represent people who are actually moving, ore are they just coming out of the closet?
Sluggo2007
@joeyty: Of course he likes it! Moving ANYWHERE from Detroit would be a big plus.
ShaunNJ
@jgodsman: I don’t understand your comment about New Orleans being too dark for you (or maybe I do). Is the city missing many streetlight? If you mean there are too many black people for your taste – let me say while you have a right to your feelings, we didn’t need to have that articulated. It would have been enough to say you prefer life in Alexandria. The freedom of speech we enjoy here in the U.S. doesn’t necessitate saying offensive things. Funny you mention the state being your new home is conservative and backwards, yet you bring some of the attitudes which make it thus ~ assuming I’ve correctly interpreted what you’ve written.
ShaunNJ
I agree Salt Lake City is really beautiful – though the culture there can still be largely dominated by the LDS. Gays are probably moving to blue states for the same reason many do – cost of living. Many red states are still conservative – often very religious. Hopefully the LGBT people moving to these areas will vote for public officials who embody inclusive values.
DCMacDaddy
@David Paul Morgan:
RED = Conservative; Republicans
BLUE = Liberal; Democrats
Glücklich
@ShaunNJ:
I’m sure he means NOLA’s reputation for being sinister/a little spooky. Pick up a book.
edwardnvirginia
@jgodsman: AS the literature, movies, music, and culture of Southern places shows, Southerners often live out more richly and often tragically complex imaginative lives, and more soul-fully creative lifestyles, than most ‘blue state’ clones. Sad and very sad it is that most queer media – organized out of blue state hubs – is stupidly monotone! YES, monotone: they media all report the same stupid stories, makes up the same pointless controversies, and use the same if-rational and un-reasonable claims about ‘who’ queer people ‘are’ and ‘should be’. Simple example: out here in rural South there HAVE ALWAYS been women – younger and older – who own and work the farm, own and work the family business, taking on ‘manly’ roles, dress, appearance in society – e.g. the farmer with shorter hair than a Marine, in overalls and boots covered in tractor oil, mud, and horseshoe*t, WITHOUT earrings, WITHOUT perfume, walking like ‘John Wayne’ – accepted and respected where she goes. The boring clones of the blue states media DEMAND that she announce her ‘preferred gender pronouns’, demand to use the men’s restroom, etc … but those neither benefit her life not add to her liberties. She will haul out a gun (since she have a plenty of them and is likely well know for skill with squirrel hunting, or putting down an ailing animal) to protect anyone – ANY-ONE – who is being threatened with violence. She is a symbol go liberty and safety in the community that many ‘feminine’ women admire and many ‘manly’ men respect. She is a LEADER in the community. Why do the silly blue state queer media demand that she ‘announce her preferred gender pronouns’, and demand to use the men’s urinal?
edwardnvirginia
@ShaunNJ: …. ‘conservative’ fiscal values – often informed by ‘conservative’ moral values – have helped ‘conservative’ communities to have sound budgets, lower taxes, and more productive, dynamic economies.
Brian
There is no such thing as a GLBT person. Just doesn’t exist.
Ryan Friesner
All about the Benjamin’s $$
Glücklich
@Brian:
Looks like the 72-hour hold is over.
Glücklich
@martinbakman:
I’m one of the few SFers who doesn’t loathe Los Angeles but I don’t go looking for the worst out of places I visit.
That said, I avoid anything west of La Brea if I can. I am obsessed with Los Feliz and old downtown. For the right offer I’d consider moving down there.
Chicago, too: all the verticality and vibrance of New York with the huge, spread-outness of L.A. but the winters are unbearable.
Blackceo
Interesting. I like the cold weather so I can’t imagine living anywhere other than the north/northeast. I do think that cost of living has a lot to do with it. I live in DC suburbs and if it wasn’t for my fiance and I having great careers, there’s no way in hell we’d be able to live here comfortably. But its a reality for a lot of people who essentially live paycheck to paycheck. Wages have been stagnant and the cost of living has continually gone up so I get it. If you live paycheck to paycheck you can’t save, which is so important for emergencies and for if you lose your job. I don’t know how people do it honestly, especially if they have kids and they are struggling to make ends meet. The house I paid for would cost a fraction of that in somewhere like Atlanta suburbs or North Carolina, but I’m northeast born and raised and can’t imagine living anywhere else. I’m just thankful I have that choice.
I love being so close to NY, Philly, and DC. Don’t get it twisted though. Its very segregated by income. Gentrification has changed a lot in those cities. My fiance at one time suggested a move to Austin, Texas and since I do not have a poker face, I think he took the look on my face when he said that and never brought it up again. Can’t do Texas. I know Austin is the liberal enclave of Texas but I’d never be able to leave Austin. I like the hustle and bustle of big city life and for as segregated economically and racially as many of the big “blue” cities are, our friends and social circle are very diverse. The only other cities I could imagine myself moving to outside of the northeast/mid Atlantic corridor are Chicago and Seattle. I absolutely love to visit Seattle. Its very beautiful but there aren’t many POC who live there and I need diversity.
Glücklich
@Blackceo:
“I like the hustle and bustle of big city life and for as segregated economically and racially as many of the big “blue” cities are, our friends and social circle are very diverse.”
This exactly. Some people like the city, others like the country. Each have their advantages.
In an alternate universe I’d live someplace like Carmel, CA or Big Sur but in this universe I’d be bored to tears after a week. Beautiful places but little to do and no way to make a living.
Pete
The article is misleading: gays aren’t moving to ‘red states’, just the blue sections of them, like Austin TX, the NC Research Triangle, Fairfax Co, VA, etc. And some of the Red State meccas have always been know to have a large gay population, like Atlanta and New Orleans. In many ways the South invented American gay.
Uncle Mark
@Glücklich: Brian’s like Beetlejuice. You mentioned his name three times over the course of 72 hours…and called him into being.
Uncle Mark
@Ryan Friesner: You’re right. It is often about the money, but I like to think of it as a group of heroic gay cowboys, riding each other into various red states, fixing up homes, adding culture, improving property values, turning them purple or blue…and then riding off to help another red state in desperate need.
GayEGO
We need to be in all U.S. states, and my lifetime partner of 54 years, married almost 12 years in Massachusetts, are both retired and living the American dream. Life should be equal for all of us and people have and are learning that we live just like everyone else. Those who have been brainwashed by their religions will either learn or just have to put up with it as we are here to stay.
Glücklich
@Uncle Mark:
My fault. Self flagellating now. Everyone’s staring.
William Perri
Well someone has to turn them blue !!!!
Mack
Generally Red states have lower cost of living and lower taxes, but the quality of living might not be as great as say NYC or San Francisco. I live in Reno which the State is purple. Northern Nevada is cheaper but is redder than Las Vegas which is more expensive. It is a beautiful area with Lake Tahoe less than an hour away and San Francisco only about 3 hours away. Move here and enjoy life (and help turn it blue).
rbernard
@ShaunNJ: After 33 years in San Francisco, I recently moved back to Louisiana with my husband of 37 years. Though New Orleans has a wonderful rich culture, charming, legendary cuisine, and we had many family/friends there, we ended up moving to Covington, LA across the lake because of the crime rate in New Orleans scared us away. At my age, I don’t want to be a victim of violence. I love the diversity of New Orleans, but the crime there is 3 times the national median. I think you might be reading too much into @jgodsman comments. My read was he was describing a scary place and maybe a better word was it is too dangerous to live in that venue. Otherwise, I agree with @jgodsman’s overall assessment of Louisiana and at age 59, I feel we made a great choice of retiring the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain with easy access to NOLA’s many amenities – to each their own
galatians328
@GayEGO: … the ‘me so superior & you so ignorant’ attitude implicit and explicit in your person-of-faith-bashing – which is frequently heard in queer media and by queer leaders – is DIRECTLY responsible for much of the ‘backlash’ bills moving through so many state legislatures (as anti-trans ‘restroom’ bills, as failure to protect LGBTQ in workplaces, etc).
HOW INFURIATING to many otherwise tolerant people when queer leaders DEMAND a right to colonize other people’s religious faith REQUIRING/COERCING them to bake a (same-sex wedding) cake that they don’t want to bake. STUPID queer orgs/leaders have been more interested in shaming Christians, Jews, and Muslims than in building coalitions that can pass workplace nondiscrimination laws!
AzLights
@galatians328: Bullshit. Your religious rights do not include the right to discriminate against those of whom you disapprove. Christianists SHOULD be shamed for their hatred and lack of basic decency. Those stupid RFRAs will backfire on you. If you can discriminate, so can others discriminate against you…after all, if it’s a “sincerely-held religious belief”…
Glücklich
@galatians328:
Put down your Baaahhhble and pick up a paper. Religious groups don’t need queers’ help to look foolish.
Franklin
As a gay person of color the south is starting to have more of an appeal to me. Though in many locations of the south the local politics may run counter to my beliefs, there are several urban areas that are a little more socially relaxed. Not to mention that the population of people of color in the south is a lot larger and more highly educated, which means more opportunities to date. Being a gay black person and trying to date in places like SF and Los Angeles can be a soul destroying experience.