New study on gay life: Is Green Gaycres the place to be?

I've never lived near a big city.  I spent ten years in farm country in middle Georgia, another 8 living in the suburbs east of Atlanta, and now the last five in the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona.  I have visited Boston, been in Downtown Atlanta, and while they have their interesting quirks, I have to say I'd never want to live in that environment. 

I like the wide open spaces of the country, the outskirts, the boondocks, ranches and mountains of sparsely inhabited land. 

Interestingly enough, I'm looking at buying a house even further outside of town, "up the highway, down the road and around the bend, just past the wash and behind that mesquite tree", so far off the main road I'd have to tell people to stop at the end of the pavement and let me come meet you, oh, and bring your truck too because I'm not responsible for the potential damage to your passenger car on these 'roads'.  LOL

I don't think I'd be flying a rainbow flag outside the house, not that anyone would see it to begin with, or that I've ever wanted to do it at any other home I've lived in, but I certainly don't feel as though I would have a reason to lie about or hide my sexuality just because I live in the sticks. 

Having spent the last 20 years of my life living in big cities, and the last year and a half in the nation's 3rd largest city, I've had it. I like the quietness and relaxing atmosphere of a smaller town. And I'm not really giving up any of the supposed pluses of big city life. With Netflix, I don't need to worry about missing all the foreign and indie films. With Amazon, I can buy books and whatnot. Etc., etc..

I just wish I shared young people's hopefulness about finding a mate; I belong to the over 35 group who doubts I'll ever find somebody. But, that's ok, there's the internet for that too!

I moved from a major canadan city to the middle-of-nowhere pei to a small town in pei and found that people are more accepting of gay people in some smaller/rural communities. I felt it was easier to feel a part of the community in more rural areas than in large cities... but that's just me. I'm sure some others would feel the opposite! I have neer regretted my move and do not think i'll be moving into a city again for a long time.

I now live near D.C. and the area i live in is booming with probably an equal amount of straight and gay people, as well as different races. it's just diverse in every way possible.

Before moving closer to the city, I did live in a suburban neighborhood (It was very "desperate housewives") for 10 years and when it came to acceptance...well, it was almost non-existant. It was sort of like living in the 50's....you didn't talk about it and if it was brought up, someone would shut you up pretty fast.

a lot of the people i attended school with were the children of my neighbors, so yeeeeah.....school was hell. :-/

i think i went off topic....anyways, yes, the "vast generational shift" does surprise me.

 

 

I think part of the change in the younger generation is the shift in the overall culture that started when those -30 were younger, myself included. Ellen came out on TV the majority of the thirty and under crowd was somewhere in Middle school - college, followed by the advent of Willow on Buffy and Jack on Dawson's Creek and various other celebrities starting to come out. Social acceptance and just discussion even in small towns has come a long way in the past ten/eleven years and gay marriage is on the table and on the books in two states now, something that wasn't mentioned ten years ago.

Plus parents who raised kids of the 30 and under crowd were coming of age in the 60s & 70s and often have a much different view of gay people. Less and less people are getting kicked off the island so to speak. Families still have a hard time but less kids are finding themselves without a home and friends are by far more accepting than they used to be. There's not as much of a need to leave and find a new community as there used to be.

The statistics are dead on for me, except, unfortunately, NONE of my family members know that Im gay, and although I have a mix of gay and straight friends none of them know either. so it really sucks, especially when your mom starts talking to you about what she wants you to do when you get married(like for decorations), How she'll  spoil her grandchildren if its a boy or girl, and giveing me advice on how to treat my girlfriend or wife whenever I get one, all the while Im thinking WHAT AM I GOING TO DO? its one of the worst feelings in the world.

(Im tryin spring)

I grew up--not in the suburbs but in a small town that was fairly rural and also extrememly anti-gay.  Perhaps if it had been less agressively phobic I would have considered staying in the area--I kind of doubt it though.  From an early age I just wanted to get the Hell out of Dodge, and now I don't know if I could live so far away from a city.