What Are The Gayest Cities In America? Not New York Or Los Angeles

Jan 10, 2013 by gaycities

While New York, Los Angeles and Provincetown may immediately come to mind when you think “gayest cities in America,” they’re nowhere to be found on this year’s list by The Advocate.

Using a (rather dubious) set of criteria, The Advocate‘s “Gayest Cities in America, 2013” purports that there’s more to LGBT life than “fabulous soirees and mimosa brunches,” and put considerable consideration into marriage equality victories and the wave of LGBT elected officials from the recent election cycle.

That being said, they also included such criteria as “concerts by Scissor Sisters, Uh Huh Her (uh, huh who?), Girl in a Coma (girl in a what?), and cast of Glee“; “fabulous shopping” which apparently encompasses Whole Foods, West Elm and Pottery Barn (#eyeroll); gay rugby; and roller derby.

…Right.

We assume they were trying to avoid stereotypes while running, or skating, headfirst into them. While transgender protections, marriage equality, bisexual resource groups and the HRC’s Municipal Equality Index were also factors, we can’t help but question the veracity of this ranking. Especially since you can’t get gay married in the majority of these cities.

Here’s the full list, and by the looks of it the state of Washington is basically shitting glitter:

1. Tacoma, WA

2. Springfield, MA

3. Spokane, WA

4. Washington, D.C.

5. Seattle, WA

6. Salt Lake City, UT

7. Eugene, OR

8. Madison, WI

9. Atlanta, GA

10. Minneapolis & St. Paul, MN

11. Oakland, CA