Queer Jacksonville. City Ranked as one of Top Five Emerging Gay Cities.

[stephendare]

http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/050308/met_274914416.shtml



Springfield, San Marco, Riverside, Five Points.  It really does have a large number of homo-friendly hoods.

City ranks high with same-sex couples

The Advocate lists Jacksonville as an up-and-coming city for the gay and lesbian community.

By Matt Soergel, The Times-Union

A national magazine has named Jacksonville one of the "top five emerging cities for gays and lesbians."

Really.

Though the claim might not square with the city's conservative image, The Advocate, aimed at a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender audience, recently placed Jacksonville on that exclusive list, along with Plano, Texas; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Tulsa, Okla.; and Anchorage, Alaska.

To come up with those places, the magazine used U.S. Census estimates to look at the ratio of same-sex couples to all couples, comparing figures from 2000 and 2006.

The numbers aren't big - just 7.75 same-sex couples for every 1,000 Jacksonville households. But that was enough to move the city from 63 to 44 on the list of the nation's 100 largest cities.

"It's still kind of in the middle of the pack," said Gary Gates, co-author of The Gay & Lesbian Atlas, who worked with The Advocate on the article. "It's not that suddenly Jacksonville is one of the, quote, gayest cities in America."

But it fits in with a trend, he said, showing that the count of same-sex couples is going up in some of the most conservative parts of the country.

Cindy Watson said The Advocate's article left her "delighted and confused." Watson, executive director of the Jacksonville Area Sexual Minority Youth Network (JASMYN), said she was confused because the city has so far to go; delighted because it's good to see positive news.

"It's always exciting to see that Jacksonville is coming up in the world," she said. "A lot of people want to see Jacksonville as a world-class and first-tier city. The way the world economy works, a city that's attractive to gay and lesbian people is attractive to other people, too."

Watson wasn't the only one taken aback. Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton's spokeswoman Susie Wiles said, "Oftentimes, we don't think of ourselves as progressive, so the designation is interesting."

Gates gives a couple of main reasons for the increased number of reported gay couples in Jacksonville.

More realistic demographics

One is the country's ongoing population shift to the South and West, areas that tend to be conservative, in search of jobs, cheaper living and sun. Gay people have followed that trend.

The other - and probably more significant reason - is that many same-sex couples are now more comfortable in reporting their sexual identity. That means the number of people who come out of the closet is likely to go up in conservative areas.

Gates said census figures show that the number of same-sex couples who say they are "unmarried partners" has quintupled nationally since 1990, from 145,000 to nearly 780,000.

"There's broad evidence that social acceptance of gay people is increasing, even in fairly conservative parts of the country," said Gates, a senior research fellow at the Williams Institute, a gay-oriented think tank at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law.

He provided his demographic research to The Advocate, which then determined the cities on which it would focus. The magazine article said Jacksonville's strengths are its growing population, river and ocean, and parks and museums. And it mentioned Riverside, Avondale, San Marco and the Beaches as areas that attract same-sex couples.

Watson, though, is among those in the gay community who note that Jacksonville - unlike most large cities in the state - has no official ordinances to prevent discrimination against gay people in housing or employment.

"We have a long way to go in making our city the kind of nurturing place that gay and lesbian people hope for," she said.

Wiles' response: "Perhaps it isn't that big of a problem [based on the Advocate's article], so it doesn't require a legal solution."

A growing acceptance

Some progress has been made, said James Conner of Bridging Out Jacksonville, a research and advocacy group for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

At least 36 of the top 50 largest private employers in Jacksonville have nondiscrimination policies against gays, his group has found. That doesn't include public-sector employers such as the largest, the U.S. Navy.

Acceptance of gays only goes so far, Conner said.

He noted that during a recent gay pride event in Kansas City, Mo., former Mayor Kay Barnes wrote a positive, encouraging letter to the local gay newspaper.

"When I mention that to people [in Jacksonville] and mention the possibility that one of our political leaders might do that, the reaction was, people roll their eyes," Conner said.

Alain Raymond is the North Florida field organizer for Equality Florida, which works on LGBT issues, including organizing against the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage on the state's fall ballot.

He said some stigma remains for the gay community, but the city is following the national trend toward more acceptance.

"It makes sense that Jacksonville would follow suit," he said. "It's a major metropolitan area, there are LGBT people in this city that people get to know, and they see it makes no sense to discriminate against them."

Dan Merkan, director of evaluation at JASMYN, has conducted surveys of gay Jacksonville residents at various gay-pride events. He said they're not scientific surveys, but they do show broad patterns in thinking.

Only about 40 percent of those polled said that Jacksonville is a city that embraces diversity. But he finds it intriguing that when respondents were asked if they would recommend Jacksonville as a good place for LGBTs to relocate, the numbers were higher: 67.1 percent in one study, 64.1 in another.

"I know I stay," said Merkan, a Missouri native. "It's not a bad place at all. I'm enjoying nice weather here while my folks are enduring freezing weather."

Room for improvement

Watson, his colleague at JASMYN, said Jacksonville has become a more hospitable place for gays - but it lags behind others.

"This is anecdotal, but I know quite a few young adults, who have a lot to offer, who look at Jacksonville," she said. "And then they look at another city - even a city like Charlotte, Savannah, Tampa or Orlando; I'm not even talking about New York City - and there's more community, more acceptance, and legal protection."

Many move away for a better life, she said.

"Gay people need the same thing everybody else needs - a safe place to live, a place where your talents can be appreciated and encouraged, where you can engage in a community."

[gatorback]

Plano, Texas?  Wonder where Austin fit in lol.

[gatorback]

I don't read the Advocate Stephen; however, I appreciate a little (10%) what the Human Rights Campaign does for the human race.  I think HRC is a great for people who want to give to the GLBT community yet I'm fundamentally against HRC as it's just another money pit praying on your dollar IMHO.  A lot of your HRC dollar goes to flying the HRC from coast to coast party after party.  I agree we need HRC but they could do a little less  let's  party party with your buck.

[Driven1]

holy crap!  this city is going down the drain fast. 

[gatorback]

It's been going down the drain since the 20's when the Baptist elected their mayor.

[Beloki]

Oh oh, Here comes the neighbourhood! 

[second_pancake]

Somehow the paper doubts that our Mayor will ever embrace the gay community as warmly as the other mayor mentioned.

ROFLMAO!!!  Sorry, I had to seriously laugh out loud at this one given all of the under-the-table contributions and contracts our precious Mayor has given to his 'friends.'  There's been speculation about Peyton for quite some time now so to say he may never "embrace" the gay community, I have to say, maybe he already has...at least in one way. 

[gatorback]

Payton rumors?

[JaguarReign]

Oh great now all my friends won't shut up about Jacksonville being gay.

[David]

yep and if those out in the stix were to read that article (which they won't probably) it will only fuel the age old question I get asked whenever I reveal where I live:

"Riverside? ain't that where all the gays live?"

"yer not one aintcha?"

Although I'm not, i love poking at those who are sqeemish about it.

One co-worker told me he could never live in Riverside because of the gay population. I asked him if he was such a manly man, why would he be afraid of walking around in Riverside on any given day. Is he afraid someone's going to sneak outta the bushes and sodomize him?  He said yes.

So I showed him this video to explain the lifestyle and put his mind at ease:

http://www.youtube.com/v/ghxn38bX7w0

[heights unknown]

Y'all have got to be kidding right?  Jax an up and coming gay city?  Not that I am staunchly advocating gayness but I just can't imagine podunk, shotgun carrying, backwood hick(s), redneck, backwoods, tobacco chewing and snuff dipping Jacksonville tolerating gayness let alone being gay friendly.

Nothing ever remains the same; this too is a sign of growth and progress in "Big Jax" and the First Coast in general.

Heights Unknown