Looking for a nice lesbian-friendly city? You won't do badly in New York. In response to The Advocate's strange annual list of the nation's gayest cities (Salt Lake City? Okaaaay) the ladies of Autostraddle have gone and made a list of the "21 Most Lesbianish Cities" around the country and guess what? We're number two!
The "totally unscientific" survey has about as much legs to stand on as the Advocate's but is much more open about it— i.e. because of their methods they favor small towns over big cities. And yet still we come in near the top, just behind Northampton and Amherst in Massachusetts ("the birthplace of Rachel Maddow's career"). Here's how they describe our humble little hamlet:
...the city is chock-full of dykes. New York City's got more gays & lesbians up inside it than any other city in the country and the diversity of the LGBTQ scene and the anonymity afforded by NYC's masses make it a prime location for one to spread one's newly-queer wings. Conversely, newly legalized same-sex marriage makes it a nice place to settle down. NYU, The New School, Barnard and Columbia are chock-full of lesbians, as is nearby Sarah Lawrence. There are resources/activity groups for everyone of every sexual proclivity, gender identity, political passion and yoga style preference.
Although Manhattan's West Village and Chelsea neighborhoods have become largely male-centric spaces, lesbians have made gayborhoods of their own in areas like Park Slope, Red Hook, East Harlem and West Harlem. Nightlife is always evolving as some clubs close and new nights crop up, from Cubbyhole to Choice Cunts to Lovergirl. However everything is super fucking expensive all the time.
All of which rings pretty true to us—and gets backed up by the fact that gay and lesbian tourists love our town. But what do you think? Should we have beaten Amherst? Or been lower on the list?
