Why Are More and More LGBTs Moving to Red States?

Image courtesy of Consumer Affair -click to enlarges

While the husband and I will likely never leave Virginia permanently due to (i) the husband's very successful salon and his desire to never fully retire, and (ii) grandchildren in Virginia - two more are due in June/July - one of my dreams has long been to move to a gay-friendly state where we won't be second class citizens.  Many other LGBT Americans likely feel the same way.  Yet, according to a recent Consumer Affairs report, more and more LGBT's are moving to new LGBT safe havens are popping up across the nation, many of which are located in red states.  Among the cities mentioned as a "LGBT safe haven" is Norfolk, Virginia where 4.4% of the population is estimated to be LGBT. A piece in The Advocate looks at the forces behind the trend.  Here are highlights:

Many LGBT youths believe they have to move to notoriously gay-friendly cities like New York, San Francisco, and Seattle in order to live full and happy lives. However, according to a recent Consumer Affairs report, new LGBT safe havens are popping up across the nation. But the most surprising thing? Many of these cities are in red states. 

Salt Lake City, Louisville, Norfolk, Indianapolis, and other middle-tier red state cities offer LGBT youths greater affordability and less competition for well-paying jobs. In 1990, one-percent of Salt Lake City identified as LGBT, Consumer Affairs reported. Today, five-percent do. 

“What you’re really seeing is reflective of other national trends,” Consumer Affairs content manager Ryan Daly told The Daily Beast. “Specifically, it lines up with people—especially young people—choosing less to live in huge, expensive cities, which were traditionally friendlier toward LGBTQ individuals, and choosing instead to make lives for themselves in small and mid-tier cities in the middle and southern states.”

Affordability is the biggest factor in this migration. Also, the LGBT anti-discrimination laws passed locally and nationally have helped to make red state cities more desirable. With same-sex marriage now legal nationwide, LGBT members are less bound to crowded and expensive gay-friendly cities. 

While there is still major work to be done on anti-discriminatory transgender laws in many of these new safe havens, it is inspiring to see shifting demographics in traditionally conservative locales. With uber conservative Republicans in the presidential race right now, it will be telling to see whether this sea-change continues regardless of who wins the election. 

I will concede that over the last 13+ years since I came out and moved to Norfolk, there has been a sea change.  Some has been powered by U.S. Supreme Court rulings such as those in Lawrence and Obergefell, But in this area, I see the end of Don't Ask, Don't Tell as another significant factor.  With many out military personnel, a growing number of whom are in same sex marriages, many older conservatives are being forced to rethink prejudices.    Yet another factor for change has been the growing realization of local cities that gay friendliness is good for business.

HRBOR April 2010 Third Thursday Networking Event

Any Time Witness will be sponsoring the Thursday, April 15, 2010, business networking event for Hampton Roads Business OutReach ("HRBOR") at its Chesapeake, Virginia, location. Perhaps as one of the original founders of HRBOR I'm biased, but HRBOR has made a significant impact on both my business and my social life. I have made great friends and also generated numerous client referrals. I urge local readers to visit the event if you haven't previously attended a HRBOR function. It is a wonderful way to make friends and discover service providers in the LGBT and LGBT friendly community. For those who do not own businesses, ask about HRBOR's associate memberships. Here are details on the event:

DATE: April 15, 2010, Thursday
TIME: 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
HOST: Anytime Fitness
PLACE: 1437 Sams Drive, Suite 106
Chesapeake VA 23320
757-410-9205
www.anytimetidewater.com
(Off Battlefield, to the right of Sams Club)

BEVERAGE Sponsor:
Sherrise Powers, Attorney at Law
Don King, Judy Boone Realty

FEATURED NON-PROFIT:
The Norfolk SPCA (New Member)
www.norfolkspca.com

HRBOR Reflections - Two and a Half Years Later

This past Saturday I attended the board of directors retreat for Hampton Roads Business Outreach a/k/a HRBOR, the NGLCC affiliate that nine others and myself founded in 2007. Since that time HRBOR has grown and from it I have secured both clients and wonderful friends (the boyfriend first asked me out at a HRBOR networking event). The retreat was a great experience and helped bond the current board more closely together - I am one of the two original board members remaining. From its outset as the only NGLCC affiliate in Virginia, HRBOR has sought to benefit both its members and the larger Hampton Roads area as is visible in its mission statement:

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Hampton Roads Business OutReach (HRBOR) is a broad based coalition of LGBT owned and LGBT supportive businesses and professionals dedicated to the development, growth and advocacy of Hampton Roads and its LGBT community. By promoting an environment in which diversity can flourish, HRBOR is committed to the economic growth and prosperity of our members and our community.

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For those coming out in mid-life, I cannot encourage you enough to get involved in your own GLBT community. Take the time to find organizations that will provide a vehicle to become involved and to make new friends. If you cannot find one, then consider starting an organization as the ten of us original board members did.

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One thing that struck me during the retreat was the fact that the board as a whole does not fit the anti-gay stereotype that our enemies disseminate. We are all professionals or retired professionals. Four board members are former members of the U.S. military, one of whom was discharged under DADT at a great loss to the military. Two of us were forced from larger law firms when our sexual orientation became known. Not all of us are gay. All of us are passionate activists who know that right is on our side and that history is on our side. We all care very deeply about our community - both in terms of the GLBT community and the larger community and we want to make Hampton Roads what it could be if it would throw aside provincial thinking and bigotry.

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HRBOR has been a wonderful experience for me and is a positive influence in the area community. I am very proud of what the original board started and have every confidence that HRBOR will continue to grow under the current leadership.

HRBOR Gets Some National Exposure

Last week the Daily Press - the newspaper that covers the Hampton-Newport News-Williamsburg area of Hampton Roads - did a story on Hampton Roads Business OutReach's ("HRBOR") January Third Thursday networking event which was hosted in part by the boyfriend. Since the Daily Press is owned by the Chicago Tribune Company, low and behold, a story on HRBOR appeared in today's Chicago Tribune. As a founding director of HRBOR, it makes me proud that work is getting out about HRBOR on a larger scale. Here are highlights from the Tribune's story:

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In the newly released film "Milk," historic footage shows San Francisco police arresting groups of gay men and carting them off to jail.

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It was a very different scenario in Hampton on Thursday night at the Hampton Roads Business OutReach monthly gathering at a downtown wine shop. This time, Mayor Molly Joseph Ward was on hand to welcome this fast-growing association of gay and lesbian business professionals and their supporters to her city.

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From an initial meeting two years ago, the group, which calls itself HRBOR, has grown into more than 150 members on both sides of Hampton Roads. Using social networking and other support strategies, HRBOR is working to strengthen ties among the business community of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered individuals. On the third Thursday of each month, the group gathers to socialize, exchange business cards and learn about anti-discrimination in the workplace and other employment issues affecting the LGBT community.

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"It's still legal to fire someone in the state of Virginia based on their sexual orientation," said board member Cindy Cutler, a loan officer with Countrywide Home Loans. "This is something we're opposed to. "For members who don't feel comfortable being out in their workplace, HRBOR provides a setting where they can be themselves and interact with like-minded professionals, said HRBOR President Shannon Bowman, who owns Khaboom Advertising in Norfolk.

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Hampton Roads Business OutReach — a networking organization of business professionals in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community — meets on the third Thursday of every month at different locations throughout Hampton Roads. More information is available online at www.hrbor.org.

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Among HRBOR's members now are three banks - including RBC Bank which will host the etworking event in February, the Contemporary Arts Center in Virginia Beach, the Peninsula Fine Arts Center in Newport News, and WHRO, the local public broadcasting network. In fact, each month membership grows and local politicians from the city in which the host member is located are now attending.