What is it like being gay in your town?

I live in Massachusetts which is like an Island of acceptance if you are Gay. I take this for granted. How is it where you live? I lived in Fort Myers Fla. in the early 90's and the city itself was good.....once you stepped out of the city limits.....AH not so good....I live in a light blue collar town....middle middle class. I was very happy that most of my neighbors were great. I was concerned because we moved from a city 2 miles into the next town...and I was very concerned...............WHAT IS IT LIKE FOR ALL OF YOU ?????

Jerry and I live in New Jersey approximately 25 miles west of New York City. Having lived just right across the Hudson River from NYC for a number of years it was a very open easy place for Gay people to live. About ten years ago, we decided to buy a house and searched for a community that would be very accepting. We settled in Plainfield, New Jersey. We made the decision because we could buy a lot of house for our money - We didn't really want a starter home and when we rode through, we saw a lot of gay flags flying, at that time here was a very active gay organization. The best thing we did was to put our house on the historic house tour the first year we moved in. We met a very large group of gay folks that we continue to interact with. Plainfield is a great place to live by our standards. Doug

I also live in Massachusetts, but in a snobby little town full of Italian/Irish Catholics (myself being raised Italian Roman Catholic as well). It's next to Framingham if you're familiar with it. My graduating class had 150 kids in it and there were no kids in my class that were out as gay (one guy did end up coming out a few years after graduating, but that doesn't count!) and about a THIRD of my class made up my CCD confirmation class! I'm already sheltered and naive as it is, but at least my good friend since I was 11 has known she is bisexual since before seventh grade. So there you have it, the only gay person I knew until I was 16 was my bi friend. It's much different for my sister, who's five years younger than me (a high school senior) and our high school is SUPER gay. She has tons of out gay friends in her class alone! No one I went to school with could believe it; her class graduation song might as well be a showtune. Sorry if I make no sense, I'm tired and distracted!

Me and Chris live about 20 minutes from NYC. We find it very accepting where we live. Our neighbors are very nice. At work, I'm out, Chris is not. But that's just how we are. I'm much more vocal. I always have to remind myself how lucky we are to live in a place that we don't fear for our lives. Many of us are not that fortunate. Rachelle

I live in Ohio. Need I say more? LOL When I moved back here to be with Sharon it was a bit of a culture shock. I had been living in NC in a college town and academia is very accepting of differences. But at our age, no one really cares. Our neighbors probably wonder and one had their daughter ask if we were sisters or friends. I am totally out at work (I read the handbook first) and although I know there are people who think I am going to hell, no one treats me differently. In general, I think it is easier for two women especially those "of a certain age" to live together without much problem.

I have Ohio beat, I live in rural West Virginia!! Donna and I live in a small development and for the most part people don't bother us. Every once in awhile we will have some name calling but nothing threatening. I would love to live in a more open minded area. Terri

Anne and I are in the Bible Belt. TN just voted on a State Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage and it passed by almost 90%. We are careful not to show too much affection in public spaces--it might not be safe. My last job, in an area hospital, I never told anyone I was gay. I referred to my partner as "my roomate" or "my best friend" (both true, by the way). Luckily I now work for Planned Parenthood and am able to be more open about our situation.

I'm very lucky, I live in Queens and work in Manhattan. I've never had a problem and I'm out to everyone.

we live in north alabama. (i believe someone above mentioned the "bible belt"?) yeah... need i say more? actually, i'm very out just in general. in public, at work, etc. the only people who don't know are my lovely 8 year old daughter and the majority of my family. idk how they could possibly miss it but whatever...

Hi - We're up the road from you in Portsmouth, NH. It's a great town - very accepting. We go to the Unitarian Universalist church here and had our ceremony there 7 years ago. There aren't any bars in town, but that's not our thing. Our neighborhood is great - there's another lesbian couple down the street. Becky