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City Ranks High
with Same-Sex Couples
The Florida Times-Union
By Matt Soergel
May 3, 2008
A national magazine
has named Jacksonville
one of the "top five
emerging cities for gays
and lesbians."
Really.
Though the claim
might not square with
the city's conservative
image, The Advocate,
aimed at a gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender
audience, recently
placed Jacksonville on
that exclusive list,
along with Plano, Texas;
Fort Wayne, Ind.; Tulsa,
Okla.; and Anchorage,
Alaska.
To come up with those
places, the magazine
used U.S. Census
estimates to look at the
ratio of same-sex
couples to all couples,
comparing figures from
2000 and 2006.
The numbers aren't
big - just 7.75 same-sex
couples for every 1,000
Jacksonville households.
But that was enough to
move the city from 63 to
44 on the list of the
nation's 100 largest
cities.
"It's still kind of
in the middle of the
pack," said Gary Gates,
co-author of The Gay &
Lesbian Atlas, who
worked with The
Advocate on the
article. "It's not that
suddenly Jacksonville is
one of the, quote,
gayest cities in
America."
But it fits in with a
trend, he said, showing
that the count of
same-sex couples is
going up in some of the
most conservative parts
of the country.
Cindy Watson said
The Advocate's
article left her
"delighted and
confused." Watson,
executive director of
the Jacksonville Area
Sexual Minority Youth
Network (JASMYN), said
she was confused because
the city has so far to
go; delighted because
it's good to see
positive news.
"It's always exciting
to see that Jacksonville
is coming up in the
world," she said. "A lot
of people want to see
Jacksonville as a
world-class and
first-tier city. The way
the world economy works,
a city that's attractive
to gay and lesbian
people is attractive to
other people, too."
Watson wasn't the
only one taken aback.
Jacksonville Mayor John
Peyton's spokeswoman
Susie Wiles said,
"Oftentimes, we don't
think of ourselves as
progressive, so the
designation is
interesting."
Gates gives a couple
of main reasons for the
increased number of
reported gay couples in
Jacksonville.
More realistic
demographics
One is the country's
ongoing population shift
to the South and West,
areas that tend to be
conservative, in search
of jobs, cheaper living
and sun. Gay people have
followed that trend.
The other - and
probably more
significant reason - is
that many same-sex
couples are now more
comfortable in reporting
their sexual identity.
That means the number of
people who come out of
the closet is likely to
go up in conservative
areas.
Gates said census
figures show that the
number of same-sex
couples who say they are
"unmarried partners" has
quintupled nationally
since 1990, from 145,000
to nearly 780,000.
"There's broad
evidence that social
acceptance of gay people
is increasing, even in
fairly conservative
parts of the country,"
said Gates, a senior
research fellow at the
Williams Institute, a
gay-oriented think tank
at the University of
California at Los
Angeles School of Law.
He provided his
demographic research to
The Advocate,
which then determined
the cities on which it
would focus. The
magazine article said
Jacksonville's strengths
are its growing
population, river and
ocean, and parks and
museums. And it
mentioned Riverside,
Avondale, San Marco and
the Beaches as areas
that attract same-sex
couples.
Watson, though, is
among those in the gay
community who note that
Jacksonville - unlike
most large cities in the
state - has no official
ordinances to prevent
discrimination against
gay people in housing or
employment.
"We have a long way
to go in making our city
the kind of nurturing
place that gay and
lesbian people hope
for," she said.
Wiles' response:
"Perhaps it isn't that
big of a problem [based
on the Advocate's
article], so it doesn't
require a legal
solution."
A growing
acceptance
Some progress has
been made, said James
Conner of Bridging Out
Jacksonville, a research
and advocacy group for
the lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender
community.
At least 36 of the
top 50 largest private
employers in
Jacksonville have
nondiscrimination
policies against gays,
his group has found.
That doesn't include
public-sector employers
such as the largest, the
U.S. Navy.
Acceptance of gays
only goes so far, Conner
said.
He noted that during
a recent gay pride event
in Kansas City, Mo.,
former Mayor Kay Barnes
wrote a positive,
encouraging letter to
the local gay newspaper.
"When I mention that
to people [in
Jacksonville] and
mention the possibility
that one of our
political leaders might
do that, the reaction
was, people roll their
eyes," Conner said.
Alain Raymond is the
North Florida field
organizer for Equality
Florida, which works on
LGBT issues, including
organizing against the
constitutional ban on
same-sex marriage on the
state's fall ballot.
He said some stigma
remains for the gay
community, but the city
is following the
national trend toward
more acceptance.
"It makes sense that
Jacksonville would
follow suit," he said.
"It's a major
metropolitan area, there
are LGBT people in this
city that people get to
know, and they see it
makes no sense to
discriminate against
them."
Dan Merkan, director
of evaluation at JASMYN,
has conducted surveys of
gay Jacksonville
residents at various
gay-pride events. He
said they're not
scientific surveys, but
they do show broad
patterns in thinking.
Only about 40 percent
of those polled said
that Jacksonville is a
city that embraces
diversity. But he finds
it intriguing that when
respondents were asked
if they would recommend
Jacksonville as a good
place for LGBTs to
relocate, the numbers
were higher: 67.1
percent in one study,
64.1 in another.
"I know I stay," said
Merkan, a Missouri
native. "It's not a bad
place at all. I'm
enjoying nice weather
here while my folks are
enduring freezing
weather."
Room for
improvement
Watson, his colleague
at JASMYN, said
Jacksonville has become
a more hospitable place
for gays - but it lags
behind others.
"This is anecdotal,
but I know quite a few
young adults, who have a
lot to offer, who look
at Jacksonville," she
said. "And then they
look at another city -
even a city like
Charlotte, Savannah,
Tampa or Orlando; I'm
not even talking about
New York City - and
there's more community,
more acceptance, and
legal protection."
Many move away for a
better life, she said.
"Gay people need the
same thing everybody
else needs - a safe
place to live, a place
where your talents can
be appreciated and
encouraged, where you
can engage in a
community."
Times-Union writer
John Timpe contributed
to this report.
The Advocate’s
top five
The Advocate
named these communities
as the top five
“emerging cities” for
gays and lesbians. It
used U.S. census data to
compare the increase in
the ratio of same-sex
couples to all couples
from 2000 to 2006.
Plano, Texas
Same-sex couples per
1,000 households: 11.45
Ranking: 16, up from 98
in 2000.
Jacksonville
Same-sex couples per
1,000 households: 7.75
Ranking: 44, up from 63
in 2000.
Tulsa, Okla.
Same-sex couples per
1,000 households: 7.74
Ranking: 46, up from 77
in 2000
Fort Wayne, Ind.
Same-sex couples per
1,000 households: 7.56
Ranking: 52, up from 90
in 2000.
Anchorage, Alaska
Same-sex couples per
1,000 households: 7.54
Ranking: 54, up from 74
in 2000.
This story can be
found on
Jacksonville.com at
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/050308/met_274914416.shtml.
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