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The Advocate, America’s oldest and most respected gay publication, doesn’t want to hurt South Beach’s feelings. No, the poor place has been through enough in the past few months. What with ACLU lawsuits, hate crimes, and meddlesome New Times reporters chronicling its decline as a gay Mecca. But this has to sting a little:
In its February issue, the magazine compiles a list of the country’s top 15 “gayest cities” using the following data: Same-sex couple households per capita, statewide marriage equality, gay elected officials, gay dating sites, and gay cultural offerings. Editors, who admitted the list was –at least a little bit — arbitrary, chose only two cities in Florida: Gainesville and Fort Lauderdale. To top it off, in describing our neighbors up north, the writer dissed Miami twice. Consider a blurb about Gainesville:
“Queer college kids mix well with aging gays here…Gainesville is a surprisingly hospitable area for gay and lesbian Floridians who have no desire to work for Disney or deal with all that Miami nonsense.”
And as far as Fort Lauderdale:
“Fort Lauderdale exorcised the college partiers and MTV’s Spring Break and transformed itself into a place for gays to vacation, indulge (there are more than 25 bars and clubs in the area), settle down, or escape South Beach.”
