Advocate.com released its second annual list of the gayest cities in America and to the surprise of most in the Bay Area, San Francisco did not make the top ten.
The online publication admitted their calculations were completely unscientific, but claim they are "strangely accurate." The key to the findings may be that the list is looking for a per capita number.
Among the factors the Advocate used in its equation:
- Gay.com profiles
- Number of listed officiants for gay weddings
- Number of openly gay elected officials
- Lesbian bars
- Gay friendly religious congregations
And this is what they came up with:
- Minneapolis
- Santa Fe, N.M.
- Las Vegas
- Orlando, Fla.
- Pittsburgh
- Vancouver, Wash.
- Atlanta
- Washington, D.C.
- Seattle
- St. Louis
- San Francisco
- Cleveland
- Denver
- Oakland
- Miami
If its correct, or even close, it shows that homosexuals are branching out beyond the enclaves of Provincetown, West Hollywood and the Castro and into the heartland of America. Remember, Minneapolis is home to the Mall of America.
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As for the Bay Area showings on the above list, the Advocate wrote about No.11 San Francisco:
Heaven will be much like San Francisco, according to Belize, a character in Tony Kushner’s play Angels in America. “Big city. Overgrown with weeds, but flowering weeds. On every corner a wrecking crew and something new and crooked going up catty corner to that ... and big dance palaces full of music and lights and racial impurity and gender confusion.” The description of San Francisco, gentrifying but still scrappy, suits the gay daddy of American cities. The gay-friendliest straight mayor in history, Gavin Newsom, is leaving office to become California’s lieutenant governor, possibly to be succeeded by the city’s first openly gay mayor. Possible candidates include out pols Bevan Dufty and Tom Ammiano.
And here's what it had to say about No. 14 Oakland:
Now that San Francisco’s too pricey for most of the middle class — including artists and the funky gays — Oakland has become the Brooklyn of the West Coast. In fact, according to an Urban Institute analysis of U.S. Census data, Oakland has the second highest concentration of same-sex couple households in the country as far as large metro areas go (behind San Francisco). Back in 2004, officials promoted economic development by proposing an official gay business district. Since then the city has welcomed a surge of gay nightlife, an annual Black LGBT Film Festival (BlackLGBTFilmFest.com), and even a nude yoga studio for men (SensoryEnergetics.com).
