Minneapolis, MN -
Minneapolis is the gayest city in America, according to gay glossy The Advocate. The magazine's selection has some wondering what exactly were the criteria for finding the best cities in the U.S. for gays and lesbians.
For each U.S. city, The Advocate's "completely unscientific" equation added up the number of Gay.com profiles (Gay.com is owned by Here Media, the parent company of The Advocate), listed officiants for gay weddings within 50 miles, elected openly-gay officials, Tegan and Sara performances over the past five years, lesbian bars, gay-friendly religious congregations, entries on YellowPages.com with "gay" in the business description. That total was then divided by the city's population.
Using this complicated formula, the city that is home to Prince, thousands of lakes and some brutally cold winters came out on top - as the gayest city in America.
Here's what The Advocate had to say about Minneapolis: "Over the past decade, Minneapolis has become the gay magnet city of the Midwest. It makes sense: People here are no-nonsense, practical, and don't deal well with hypocrites. This is where the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America took a historic leap forward and voted to accept gay and lesbian pastors, including the Reverend Mary Albing, the denomination's first openly lesbian pastor. And Minnesota senator Al Franken introduced the Student Non-Discrimination Act to protect LGBT youth from school bullies. But that's not all. Minneapolis also has the very hot Mayhem rugby team (MayhemRFC.com) and a thriving bear community with events like Bob's Bear Bash, every Wednesday night at the Saloon (SaloonMN.com)."
The remaining top five gayest cities in America were Santa Fe, Las Vegas, Orlando and Pittsburg. San Francisco was listed at number 11. The Chelsea in New York City, West Hollywood in Los Angeles and Boystown in Chicago didn't make the top 15.
Top 15 Gayest Cities in America, according to The Advocate
Minneapolis, MN
Santa Fe, NM
Las Vegas, NV
Orlando, FL
Pittsburgh, PA
Vancouver, WA
Atlanta, GA
Washington, D.C.
Seattle, WA
St Louis, MO
San Francisco, CA
Cleveland, OH
Denver, CO
Oakland, CA
Miami, FL