The most heterosexy city
Friday, June 22nd, 2007I was all set to write up a post about Houston’s GLBT culture in honor of Pride this weekend when I ran across this. Is Houston really America’s most heterosexual city and what does that even mean?
It means we’re sexy.
It doesn’t mean anti-gay. I’ve taken a sort of man-on-the-street, or man-on-the-internet, as it were, approach to my research, so I’ve been reading forum posts and blogs and comments about Houston and its gay community. I doubt anyone’s surprised that the consensus was that Houston is very gay-friendly - and everyone loves Montrose. Montrose is not the only interesting part of the city by any means, but that’s what a lot of people and travel guides think. A lot of people seem to prefer being gay in Houston to being gay in Austin because Houston has more of a gay “scene.” The idea is that the mood in Austin is so tolerant that there’s no need for “gayborhoods,” as they’re referred to, because gay people live all over the place. But it’s not as if there are “gay-only” areas of Houston, or as if gay people don’t live all over the place here. My next-door neighbors here in southwest Houston are two gay men. I think what’s really the case is that Houston is a more mature city than Austin, that over-sized small town, and for whatever reason, Austin just hasn’t developed anything like Montrose or any such express celebration of gay culture.
One last note on Texas cities and gay culture that’s too interesting to pass up: is Dallas emerging as the gay capital of Texas?
For more gay Houston information, Out in Houston and Pride Houston are two fabulous resources. Pride Houston is your source for information on the yearly parade and festival which happens tomorrow.
