The Gayest Cities in America?

You have to wonder about a list of the 15 gayest cities in America that doesn’t include New York – the home of Stonewall, The Great White Way and Liza Minnelli. But rather than picking the usual homo-terrific destinations in the U.S. (think: P-Town and Key West), The Advocate has assembled a rather surprising urban roundup of the supposedly “queerest burgs” in the country for its February issue.

But you’re in good company, New York. It seems that Philly – where you get your history straight and nightlife gay, and where Ben Franklin isn’t the least bit afraid to short pants – didn’t even make the list.

But these cities did: Denver (where oxygen is an import), Pittsburgh (Queer as Folk wasn’t even filmed there), Santa Fe (do gays genuinely like Aztec print?), Cleveland (well, they did win the 2014 Gay Games), Vancouver, Wash. (is it some kind of lesbian commune?) and Las Vegas (showgirls are not drag queens).

Fortunately, Orlando, Miami, Seattle, Washington D.C., Atlanta and San Francisco – also all on the list – seem pretty on point as well-known gay meccas (Atlanta’s Gay Pride puts Philly’s to shame by most accounts).

But you may be surprised by which city took first place on this gay-but-not-so-gay countdown: Minneapolis, home of Prince and, well, Prince. Seriously, folks. Minneapolis?

After spending the better part of the morning wondering how Purple Rain headquarters could possibly be gayer than Philadelphia, Pa., and New York, N.Y., we decided to take a closer look at how the magazine came up with their findings.

The author, Mike Albo, used a novel research method that had him perusing the phone book for references to all things “gay” (paging Mr. Talese and Ms. Harden). He also fingered gay politicians, counted same-sex nuptials and looked for as many profiles as he could find on sites like Gay.com to definitively showcase “where the gays are.”

And while Philly folks and New Yorkers may feel a little slighted this time around (the Fruit Loop and Christopher Street are nothing to sneeze at)  it’s nice to know that LGBT communities are making inroads all over the country – even in cities we never thought to visit (or in case of Vancouver, Wash.) ever even heard about.