The February 2010 edition of the Advocate contains an article written by Mike Albo that has uses an interesting way to calculate their findings that Atlanta could be the nations gayest city. The online edition of the magazine shows us different variables they used such as online hook up sites, dating sites, gay bars, number of open elected officials, among some other data. My favorite part was the fact they actually considered gay movies tagged on Netflix as a point for that city.
We do clubs so lets first talk about that factor. Atlanta is was one of the best cities when it comes to the club scene um you know about 5 years ago or more. That time is way over and they have since shriveled up to smaller bars without a full time Jungle and Backstreet. Their liquor laws are some of the strangest in the country but those may be changing. The only thing Atlanta has now in their scene are some of the countries hottest guys, spread out bars with no centralized direction, and a naked baccalaureate party nude bar.
They claim there are 26 bars in Atlanta but fail to mention the true number for cities like Austin, TX? Austin has more bars than 4 my friends! What exactly is this bar count number based on? I mean if you want to base it on popular bars then Atlanta may well go down to the number 4 itself leaving it almost in a tie against Austin at 4. More people go out in Austin on the weekdays and they both have big circuit parties.
I respect the journalism behind most anything the Advocate… well that is until they got pushed into Out magazine and became a insert for the Out. It has mostly became an online site just like everything else we were used to seeing show up in our mailboxes. The article itself makes me want to examine a few things that could matter such as number of clubs vs. online profiles. I see some cities such as Albuquerque, NM ranks high in online profiles (lesbians?) and low in bars. Then you see San Diego ranking high in bars and low in online profiles. They getting on Craigs’ List for this too? Just Sayin’
It stereotypes Seattle as the birthplace of Grunge and having numerous cute boys but I have to say Seattle was just not exactly that definition. Hmm maybe some cute boys here and there (hotter online than at the club). I thought I might get impressed with this city but it just never happened. Maybe I needed to smoke something? lol.
Oh wait maybe we should go back to this Netflix ranking system. You also notice the Netflix towns are places where they are most likely having boyfriends and sitting at home watching movies. Now that sounds more like Atlanta, Seattle,
What I got most out of this report from the Advocate magazine is that Asheville, N.C. is now on notice! I want to visit this city and put it on notice because it has lots of places to drink and lots of guys online but wait let’s take a look at who is on a4a hook up site now from 18 to 30 years old:
Asheville, N.C. has 178 Adam 4 Adam profiles with photos from 18-30 years but at 3am EST time there are only 23 online. Well ok you guys may not stay out late but is anyone home? The city of Dallas, Jacksonville, and Ft. Lauderdale looked all about the same until you looked at who had logged in the last few days or most recent. Dallas (377); Oklahoma City (401 profiles) (68 now); Albuquerque (398 profiles) (89 now); Jacksonville, FL a hot college town! (500+ profiles) (97 now); Broward C. Fort Lauderdale (134 online now) Austin (237 now). Seems the college jerkers are up late tonight! This also compares to Arkansas (112) Huntington Beach (43) Greater Hollywood (289) all online right now hooking it up on Adam 4 Adam. Arkansas, yes that is only 112 people online right this minute. Then again maybe everyone is looking at Xtube this time of night.
My findings examining this closer is that if you want to find out where the older gay population lives that is more relationship oriented you should judge by Netflix movies because they scored low in college towns and higher in cities where there was more couple type stuff going on. If you want to dance your glitter off at some gay dance hole then you better pick a city that has some big enough for those who are all online otherwise most of those people will probably not go out. If there is not anything for them to do they may stay in or goto a straight club or get a lap dance at Swingin’ Richards.
Atlanta is a beautiful city full of those Southern boys you want to take home. The gay bars almost need a shuttle to one another they are so spread out though. Midtown is just not what it used to be anymore. The Pride and Halloween (if not combined are always a big event) then you have HotLanta and the circuit events that come to town that shake the boys out of their homes to play!
I think one of the most liberal, gayest cities I went to in terms of young happy couples was Boston, MA – even though they just lost out to that Brown posing Cosmo guy (how gay is that?). The best gayest city for the NUMBER of clubs is London (if you want to mention out of the U.S.), West Hollywood, Ft. Lauderdale, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Columbus, and maybe even Las Vegas. But let’s not forget the absolute gayest city in terms of number of CLUBS right now is Orlando, FL. They have more clubs than any US city I have been to including Pulse, Revolution, P-House, and Salvation… and Rain. Not counting the few several other bars. Orlando should have topped this list they definitely have online profiles but I am sure they could care less about Netflix because they are probably on a different flix site in that city!
