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Today's New York Times has a fun story about the latest census data on gay couples, which shows that traditional gay meccas like San Francisco and West Hollywood are giving way to farther-flung parts of the country, like Pleasant Ridge, Mich., and New Hope, Pa. While the article is quite interesting -- with interviews with same-sex couples from around the nation -- the real star of the piece is Nick Meinzer, a 41-year-old FTM hairstylist from San Francisco, who you can just picture taking a drag off a cigarette outside the salon he works at on Castro Street as he spoke to the reporter:
“You settle down in small towns because there is not much to choose from,” said Meinzer (who I imagine was admiring a glimpse of a wisp of hair falling on his forehead in a store window reflection). “In urban areas we wait longer to settle down. I’ve been single for two years. They’re not counting those of us who are single.”
Of the top cities like Pleasant Ridge, Meinzer said: “I’ve never even heard of those places. You’d think if they were so great you’d have heard of them.”
Of the top cities like Pleasant Ridge, Meinzer said: “I’ve never even heard of those places. You’d think if they were so great you’d have heard of them.”
Sounds lovely to me. (Kudos for completely passing for a bitchy, middle-aged gay guy -- can't imagine why this one's still single!) I wonder if he's friends with Dennis Ziebell, 61, the owner of Orphan Andy’s, a Castro diner he opened 35 years ago, who doesn't believe the count was accurate. “Take another survey, that’s all I can say,” he said. “I’ve been in a relationship for 36 years and nobody from the census asked me about it.”
Read Sabrine Tavernise's full article HERE.
5 comments:
Pleasant Ridge is really nice. Sort of a Royal Oak annex just past the Detroit Zoo.
@BW: If it's so great, why haven't I heard of it????
Guerneville is a city? When did Guerneville become a city? Doesn't a city need to be like tens of thousands of people? Gville maybe has like one thousand. And it's interesting that SF and Key West aren't even on this list for the last two censuses. Me thinks that the people in charge of certain area weren't allowing their census takers to ask the 'right' questions.
Bitchy as her comments may have been, she's right. They are not counting single lgbt folk which, like the heterosexual population, is a big hunk of change in our community. Is there any other community that is counted in couples? Anyway, keep up the good work Kenneth--love the blog! :)
With Palm Springs separated from Rancho Mirage by a sliver of a city that is home to gay resorts (Cathedral City) I'd have to say the Palm Springs metro area is the gayest in the US.
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