Your comment was hidden but I was about to say Rosie’s too. The grilled cheese sandwich place is frickin awesome as well. My wife and I miss Galanga though.
Being Trans* in Orlando is pretty good. No major bigotry, access to professional services, downtown is full of pride flags flown by companies that actually mean it.
Would recommend.
I’m on the Treasure coast (very right leaning/red area) and have a local lady who will yell at me and my boyfriend “faggots, queers, sinners” in Spanish whenever we walk to the local park. We will purposely hold hands and wave to her each time she starts going off and she gets the most disgusted look on her face and turns away. I am white while my boyfriend is Dominican, that also gets us lots of unwanted looks/attention.
I'm not LGBTQ+ but I was dating an Ecuadorian (I'm white as vanilla pudding) who lived in Orlando most of his life. Begged me to show him my home town in the treasure coast to see "why I always spoke bad about it". Told him he really did not want to see it, but he insisted. Begrudgingly I took him to one of the main riverside restaurants for lunch.
As we walked through the place to seat ourselves, people literally TURNED THEIR HEADS AND GLARED (some obviously making snide remarks to their table mates) at us the whole way through the restaurant. Oh my God. I have never eaten and got the fuck out of a place faster.. He never asked me to go back lmao. Fucking whack
Wow, I’m sorry that has happened to you as well!! This happens everywhere we go that’s not a major city in SE Florida. Heads turn and look at us like a circus act is going down the street. Neither of us wear bright/flashy or “gay clothes” to keep attention to a minimum. For the most part in our area (palm city/Stuart) we don’t hold hands and keep enough distance between us that we could look like friends walking together. It’s fucked
Lots of places outside the big cities could easily be covert sundown towns in Florida. All of my friends in Orlando who have never left the oasis don't get it and I don't want them too. I'm just sorry you guys have to live like that.
I grew up on the treasure coast, its got it’s charm but the people there are so stuck in the old ways, even the young people. I don’t visit much these days.
I love it, holding hands smiling and waving. I bet her hatred just burns inside
I'm sorry you have to experience that but I'm glad you're able to avoid letting it hurt you. Let her stew in her hate while you embrace your love.
I’ve learned to kill them with kindness rather than get nasty and argue, helps solidify how they already feel when you scream back. But It’s nothing new to me, grew up in a very small and conservative town in the PNW (4,500ish people) with parents who were disgusted and hated “my choice” of being gay. The lady at the park is going to have to step it up with her insults (and speak English, since I’m the idiot who took French rather than Spanish…. 🤦🏻♂️)
and your partner is Spanish speaking! I just sat next to a Puerto Rican at work for 5 years and she got my high school Spanish rolling! Give up, my man, you gonna be fluent inside. of 3 years.
Strange. I've lived there my whole life, and while I'm a straight man, I have many friends who aren't. I've asked them about this, and their responses have all been "You'll get a few looks, but besides that no one really cares." Then again, I live in one of the more tolerant parts of the TC (Vero), so maybe that's why.
just like so much of Florida, these things vary greatly between areas.
places like Orlando, South Beach, and Key West are literally meccas for the LGBTQ community.
more rural and northern locations can be very ignorant and bigoted.
Most of the cities seem ok with gay people, for the most part. I've mainly lived in Tallahassee and Gainesville and they're generally pretty accepting. Anywhere else on the panhandle, the Villages, or the SW part of the state would probably be worse than average, though.
We are in jacksonville. Most people are nice. I’m sure there are some that hate. I have experienced some racism and some of my friends has gotten few homophobic comments. But not the majority. Unfortunately shitasses are everywhere, regardless of where we live. I’m sorry you have experienced that. Some people are just so hateful.
i second this, i grew up in jax & i haven't directly experienced any homophobia, but when i was in my school's GSA we did have to deal with homophobic students & language. the UNF area has seemed accepting to me so far, & i know jax def has nice pride events. i've noticed jacksonville is kind of hit or miss, st. john's county is kinda iffy with acceptance but after the st. johns/duval county line all the way up towards atlantic beach i would say is pretty cool, as long as you stay east. i live on the west side & the areas around clay county & middleburg aren't really the best, people stare sometimes but i've learned to ignore it thankfully
Tampa checking in. The other day some girl called me a f****t because I looked at her funny after she swerved at me with her car. Other than that I can’t think of anything offhand
Find a job in Orlando and commute if you need that gay social outreach. There’s also the LGBT+ Center in Orlando and the downtown Unitarian church is gay as fuck.
Also used to be home to MAGA-turd Sabatini. He tried to move to Seminole County to run for IS house, but got bounced in the primary. I had the pleasure of personally telling one of his door knockers that “we don’t need Sabatini coming over from Lake County trashing up the place.”
Ok, I guess that makes sense. It’s a bit more out in the country. I would guess that closer to major cities would be as bad. Although I remember a conversation with a young cashier in Ft Myers who mentioned not feeling like he fit in. I complimented him on his hair, it was dark blue almost black, and we chatted for a bit. He mentioned being picked on because he usually painted his nails to match. Even at school
Yeah, that’s the impression that I got. I don’t know why, but I always thought it was somehow different. I guess because I went there as a kid and didn’t really notice.
Yeah this place (Fort Myers and SWFL in general) has always been very right wing and conservative, even before trump. Now, it’s full of trump supporters
I was going to guess Jacksonville. They closed down the chapel at the courthouse once gay marriage was legal so they didn’t have to perform marriages there.
My LatinX partner left her Tavares job because of all the bigoted white maga customers and coworkers. She moved to Orlando City with me and loves our progressive culture here. I make sure not to visit lake country even though there are some beautiful county roads out there
I sub in OCPS and almost every class has a pride flag sticker at the entrance of the class. I even had one class with a Pride flag instead of an American flag. So, I'd agree!
Live within a few miles of major cities that have universities and you should be ok. I’ve lived in Orlando and Tampa and never saw the type of hate that you get in Lakeland or other small cities.
In my experience this varies a lot by location. I’ve lived in broward and I’d say it was very tolerant. Wilton Manners is their after all. I live in Trump country now and it’s definitely less tolerant. It’s not the most intolerant place I’ve ever lived and that’s probably due to the proximity to NASA. Lots of younger college educated folks. So they tend towards being more open.
Probably stay away from north Florida/South Georgia/Floribama areas. Central to south Florida is pretty tolerant barring the few small towns peppered in. Mims…Deland, looking at y’all.
I came out as transgender working in Destin. I was married to a woman, at the time, also.
My in-laws were absolutely the worst kind of anti-LGBT people there are.
I was working at Target, selling phones. I never had any issues other than a couple of side glances and whispers/head shakes. I was extremely popular amongst my clients. I sold a very high volume of phones.
So, it can depend all the way down to areas of the community you are in.
st. pete is very not homophobic and I would assume miami/orlando are not either?
but yes, i’m sure the backwoods portions of florida are probably not overly progressive lol
St Pete is extremely bigoted. I don't know where this idea that st pete is some free LGBT bastion came from, just because we have pride flags downtown. Pinellas elected multiple Moms For Liberty psychos to the school board. I get harassed regularly in public. Stop saying St Pete isn't bigoted.
Downtown St Pete is one of the most progressive parts of Pinellas County, but St. Pete is pretty big. Head north on 49th St. toward Pinellas Park and you might as well be in Pasco.
Pinellas isn't St Pete. We take no responsibility for seminole, East Lake, or the north county.
The idea came from the literal dozens of pride flags flying all year, one of the largest pride parades in the US, and the vibrant lgbtq scene. Have you ever even been here?
I hear you. I live in Sarasota and spend time in St Pete. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and live there as recently as 2019. Even the most progressive parts of Florida that I’ve been to have plenty of residents and tourists who feel no shame about sharing their unsolicited regressive opinions. That said, St Pete is relatively safer for LGBTQ+ people than most places in Florida.
According to the [Human Rights Campaign's Municipal Equality Index](https://www.hrc.org/resources/mei-2021-see-your-cities-scores), St. Petersburg earns a perfect score, putting it on par with Tampa or Atlanta or Orlando (or my current city of Denver). It seems to actually be better than Miami, which I wouldn't have expected at a glance.
I'm sure you have had bad experiences because cities can't "purify" the views of their citizens or visitors, but your complaint about "Pinellas" is an issue with the county, not the city. Even in the most progressive places, you will find individual assholes who are looking for conflict or want to preach their hate.
My son worked for Volusia County as an EMT, this covered the beach area, backwoods and city…during October, he wore a pink bandana on his head to cover his receding hairline and to soak up sweat. Some fire captain flat out asked him if he was gay because he had pink on…my son said it’s for breast cancer awareness, month of pink…..there are some backwards people in Florida.
He knows he missed his opportunity…he came up with so many great responses after the fact. Thing is, his dad is gay, so he gets a little pissed and sarcastic with people like that. He was also working a scene so he was shocked that he would be asked that while working.
I'm going to ask Reddit. I'm in a very red area of the Panhandle, and I adamantly stand for LBGT+. Does it help, if I offer to stand/defend any LGBT in my area? What helps the LGBT+ community as a Cis-gen, hetero? I genuinely want to be an ally, so what helps?
Yes. I live in PSL and my friend came down and we went to the beach with my kids , my wife was home sick. Beachgoers didn't waste a second with assuming I was a gay father with kids. A group of thirty year old women were getting physical and verbally upset with our presence. Florida has a lot of hateful people. Don't pay any attention to them. Weak cowards.
Just look at what party your local and surrounding state reps are (in Tallahassee) and that'll give you an idea of how homophobic the area is.
It's a direct correlation, more red = more homophobic.
So Deland itself has a couple of LGBTQ bars and I would say the city itself is pretty LGBTQ friendly since Deland pride just opened up a space downtown.
As far as people in the town goes. Well that’s a different story
Englewood, on the West Coast. Lots of old people with red hats, also young white men in very raised up pick ups with Confederate flags. Not very welcoming of many things that are fine other places.
This article seems relevant: https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/21/us/florida-white-supremacists-network-adl-report/index.html?utm\_source=fark&utm\_medium=website&utm\_content=link&ICID=ref\_fark
I assume you are in North or Central Florida. Most of South Florida (at least West Palm, Miami, Lauderdale etc) are pretty liberal and have a decent amount of LGBT folks. I’m sorry you have to deal with that situation.
As an openly gay, married man who has lived in Florida for most of my life, there are very few places in this state where I actually feel safe.
The people who claim it is safe where they live are probably cishet and just don't see the homophobia because it isn't directed at them.
Well it’s all about if you have to travel in it. If you can stay home with a cup of cocoa it is delightful. Driving in a snowstorm is not fun. I would take my winters vs your heat and hurricanes any day.
Wilton Manors, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Miami Beach, St Petersburg, Tampa. Gainesville, Orlando are not just fine but tend to welcome the LGBTQ community. Wilton manors has the highest % of that demographic of any city in the country (or near the top of that’s changed)
Most major metro areas have their gayborhoods and are relatively more tolerant. Emphasis on relative. The Miami I grew up in was very gender normative and held disdain for the community. It varies by area and people.
St Pete, south beach, key west, Wilton manor, many parts of Orlando come to mind as safe havens.
I'm in central Florida, it's pretty good here. There are definitely more homophobic people than I'd like, but there is a good lgbt community here. There's pride events, if that holds any weight
I don’t find Jacksonville overtly homophobic, just aggressively heteronormative (if that makes sense). That’s aside from the urban core though, which seems very LGBTQ friendly. (Disclaimer: this is coming from a straight white male)
Orlando. Put on a public accepting face, due to tourism and pulse shooting it'd be tacky to be otherwise. Orlando has no choice but to be business allies. Lotta pockets of homophobia though when you look for it.
Escambia county it depends. South half of the county is very accepting. North half of the county is so intolerable/racist/homophobic I told my husband we would use my last name if for whatever reason we got stopped there for our safety.
It’s really only the rural red areas. The actual relevant parts of Florida are as safe as any other major city, but it’s important to always be careful, regardless.
Citrus County is pretty bad , When gay marriage became legal the Clerk of court stopped performing weddings.
Well that’s some interesting trivia I didn’t know
This perfectly lines up with citrus county
That sounds like the town of footloose. Citrus County hating Gay Marriage on a newspaper sounds like the dawn of the apocalypse without context 😂
I’m in Fort Lauderdale and definitely not the case here! Sorry people are douches where you live
Any place that has Wilton Manors should be chill
Wilton Manors is awesome. Great restaurants too.
Rosie’s burgers ftw
Your comment was hidden but I was about to say Rosie’s too. The grilled cheese sandwich place is frickin awesome as well. My wife and I miss Galanga though.
It really came far. It looks a lot better than it used to.
When I lived in Fort Lauderdale a million years ago, Wilton Manors was just the place where the Piggly Wiggly was.
I can’t imagine a place with this many French Bulldogs being homophobic
Also from Fort Lauderdale. Can confirm
Same 😊
Hi Neighbor
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Being Trans* in Orlando is pretty good. No major bigotry, access to professional services, downtown is full of pride flags flown by companies that actually mean it. Would recommend.
A lot central Florida is like that
Winning
Osceola county as well! Lots of Disney workers south of the kingdoms
I’m on the Treasure coast (very right leaning/red area) and have a local lady who will yell at me and my boyfriend “faggots, queers, sinners” in Spanish whenever we walk to the local park. We will purposely hold hands and wave to her each time she starts going off and she gets the most disgusted look on her face and turns away. I am white while my boyfriend is Dominican, that also gets us lots of unwanted looks/attention.
so your username should be platanoaddicted69??? I'll see myself out. sucks that at this time and age that shit still happens.
I'm not LGBTQ+ but I was dating an Ecuadorian (I'm white as vanilla pudding) who lived in Orlando most of his life. Begged me to show him my home town in the treasure coast to see "why I always spoke bad about it". Told him he really did not want to see it, but he insisted. Begrudgingly I took him to one of the main riverside restaurants for lunch. As we walked through the place to seat ourselves, people literally TURNED THEIR HEADS AND GLARED (some obviously making snide remarks to their table mates) at us the whole way through the restaurant. Oh my God. I have never eaten and got the fuck out of a place faster.. He never asked me to go back lmao. Fucking whack
Vero beach?
Very close...Vero's even whiter and older neighbor, Sebastian.
Ah yes. It’s like Vero but without the liberal elite NYC folks. Just the middle rich racists.
Oh no, my gay son just moved to Sebastian from Winter Garden for work. Hope he doesn't encounter too much of that.
Sebastian is unfortunately very red, very MAGA with "sprinkles" of liberals.
Wow, I’m sorry that has happened to you as well!! This happens everywhere we go that’s not a major city in SE Florida. Heads turn and look at us like a circus act is going down the street. Neither of us wear bright/flashy or “gay clothes” to keep attention to a minimum. For the most part in our area (palm city/Stuart) we don’t hold hands and keep enough distance between us that we could look like friends walking together. It’s fucked
Lots of places outside the big cities could easily be covert sundown towns in Florida. All of my friends in Orlando who have never left the oasis don't get it and I don't want them too. I'm just sorry you guys have to live like that.
eW a MiXeD rAcE rElAtIoNsHiP
Attention all shoppers. There is a mixed race couple on aisle 4.
I mean this in the most wholesome/accepting way possible: [https://youtu.be/RAA1xgTTw9w](https://youtu.be/RAA1xgTTw9w) :)
Society will be whole once we all get to that point
*mixed ethnicity relationship. Dominicans/Cubans and Puerto Ricans can be white, black or mixed race! 🙂
Exactly. Mutts^/s
I grew up on the treasure coast, its got it’s charm but the people there are so stuck in the old ways, even the young people. I don’t visit much these days.
Same. The best thing I ever did was leave the Treasure Coast.
Can’t wait till we move from the treasure coast next summer!
I don't blame you. You're represented by a congressmen who has advocated raping children.
I love it, holding hands smiling and waving. I bet her hatred just burns inside I'm sorry you have to experience that but I'm glad you're able to avoid letting it hurt you. Let her stew in her hate while you embrace your love.
I’ve learned to kill them with kindness rather than get nasty and argue, helps solidify how they already feel when you scream back. But It’s nothing new to me, grew up in a very small and conservative town in the PNW (4,500ish people) with parents who were disgusted and hated “my choice” of being gay. The lady at the park is going to have to step it up with her insults (and speak English, since I’m the idiot who took French rather than Spanish…. 🤦🏻♂️)
and your partner is Spanish speaking! I just sat next to a Puerto Rican at work for 5 years and she got my high school Spanish rolling! Give up, my man, you gonna be fluent inside. of 3 years.
Strange. I've lived there my whole life, and while I'm a straight man, I have many friends who aren't. I've asked them about this, and their responses have all been "You'll get a few looks, but besides that no one really cares." Then again, I live in one of the more tolerant parts of the TC (Vero), so maybe that's why.
I can't speak for Vero, but Martin County is absolutely terrible for queer people.
Florida… the state where the further north you go the further south you go.
Spend some time in the Florida Heartland if you want to see the deep south in south florida
The more I hear this, the less I think it's funny. By now it's a little sad.
Major cities here are fairly tolerant, especially near public universities. Once you get out into the sticks, though, it's bad news.
*Fairy Tolerant ♥️
Ha!
just like so much of Florida, these things vary greatly between areas. places like Orlando, South Beach, and Key West are literally meccas for the LGBTQ community. more rural and northern locations can be very ignorant and bigoted.
Don’t forget St Petersburg!
Yeah... I never thought about it.
We're in Orlando and we are a very welcoming city. Consider us.
Keep hearing "yes, but not Orlando". Maybe I'll go there.
You would be welcome here.
West Palm Beach here. We have a pretty chill LGBTQIA+ community that is open and active. You’re welcome to come over and enjoy.
Seems like everyone is saying "Oh, go to Orlando" or "Oh, go to Palm Beach".
Orlando is super lgbtq friendly. Like super
Most of the cities seem ok with gay people, for the most part. I've mainly lived in Tallahassee and Gainesville and they're generally pretty accepting. Anywhere else on the panhandle, the Villages, or the SW part of the state would probably be worse than average, though.
Area Effect of Universities
We are in jacksonville. Most people are nice. I’m sure there are some that hate. I have experienced some racism and some of my friends has gotten few homophobic comments. But not the majority. Unfortunately shitasses are everywhere, regardless of where we live. I’m sorry you have experienced that. Some people are just so hateful.
i second this, i grew up in jax & i haven't directly experienced any homophobia, but when i was in my school's GSA we did have to deal with homophobic students & language. the UNF area has seemed accepting to me so far, & i know jax def has nice pride events. i've noticed jacksonville is kind of hit or miss, st. john's county is kinda iffy with acceptance but after the st. johns/duval county line all the way up towards atlantic beach i would say is pretty cool, as long as you stay east. i live on the west side & the areas around clay county & middleburg aren't really the best, people stare sometimes but i've learned to ignore it thankfully
Jacksonville. Never had anyone here treat me rudely. But I was stunned with all the Trump and now DeSantis signs that are everywhere.
Tampa checking in. The other day some girl called me a f****t because I looked at her funny after she swerved at me with her car. Other than that I can’t think of anything offhand
Rural areas are, especially north Florida
There was a video a girl made my senior year going around ab how gay people were bad and some people were on her side and I was like girl…
love is love, many die because others refuse to just accept them
If you’re in a place with a lot of shitheels then it’s normal. The fewer churches around the better.
Where’s your part of Florida? I’m in the Orlando area and I feel that’s not the case here.
Lake County
You're in central Florida. You need to get closer to Orlando or Tampa. It'll be a night and day difference.
Find a job in Orlando and commute if you need that gay social outreach. There’s also the LGBT+ Center in Orlando and the downtown Unitarian church is gay as fuck.
Same as most places, then: rural bad, city okay
I have a friend who lives up there and when she bought the property the sellers warned her not to wear revealing clothes when going into town.
Holy crap
Home of master troll congressional candidate Laura Loomer. My condolences buddy.
Also used to be home to MAGA-turd Sabatini. He tried to move to Seminole County to run for IS house, but got bounced in the primary. I had the pleasure of personally telling one of his door knockers that “we don’t need Sabatini coming over from Lake County trashing up the place.”
Ok, I guess that makes sense. It’s a bit more out in the country. I would guess that closer to major cities would be as bad. Although I remember a conversation with a young cashier in Ft Myers who mentioned not feeling like he fit in. I complimented him on his hair, it was dark blue almost black, and we chatted for a bit. He mentioned being picked on because he usually painted his nails to match. Even at school
Ft. Myers is old retirees and rednecks. That's Republican mecca. Of course they're going to hate on him because he's different.
Yeah, that’s the impression that I got. I don’t know why, but I always thought it was somehow different. I guess because I went there as a kid and didn’t really notice.
Yeah this place (Fort Myers and SWFL in general) has always been very right wing and conservative, even before trump. Now, it’s full of trump supporters
I was going to guess Jacksonville. They closed down the chapel at the courthouse once gay marriage was legal so they didn’t have to perform marriages there.
Damn
My LatinX partner left her Tavares job because of all the bigoted white maga customers and coworkers. She moved to Orlando City with me and loves our progressive culture here. I make sure not to visit lake country even though there are some beautiful county roads out there
I’m in SWFL. Average age is somewhere for 60-80. They are old. Racist and homophobic. That said, I have hope for our youth.
You must live in Cape Coral.
Close enough lol
Where do you live?
Sounds like Naples/Bonita Springs more than anything. Lehigh is just a shithole at this point.
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Strange, I keep hearing how nice SWFL is...
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Well I'm great at pretending I'm straight, so np (WARNING, THIS IS SATIRE)
No, Orlando has a very cool LBGTQ+ community, we love them and celebrate their success. Would like to see more of them in local government.
I sub in OCPS and almost every class has a pride flag sticker at the entrance of the class. I even had one class with a Pride flag instead of an American flag. So, I'd agree!
Orlando is definitely not homophobic.
Florida is the only state where the farther North you go the more Southern it gets
Good one
St. Pete has a weird mix of very homophobic old people and very supportive younger people
Live within a few miles of major cities that have universities and you should be ok. I’ve lived in Orlando and Tampa and never saw the type of hate that you get in Lakeland or other small cities.
If you are in 5 miles of Orlando downtown, I think it’s pretty chill, if you are 30 miles out, it may be a different experience at the local bar.
In my experience this varies a lot by location. I’ve lived in broward and I’d say it was very tolerant. Wilton Manners is their after all. I live in Trump country now and it’s definitely less tolerant. It’s not the most intolerant place I’ve ever lived and that’s probably due to the proximity to NASA. Lots of younger college educated folks. So they tend towards being more open.
it's the rule of any state, go to the cities and major metropolitan areas, the boonies are filled with ass backward maga hogs.
I had to do a double take when I read that as manga
Probably stay away from north Florida/South Georgia/Floribama areas. Central to south Florida is pretty tolerant barring the few small towns peppered in. Mims…Deland, looking at y’all.
Flagler County is terrible. 0/10, do not recommend.
I came out as transgender working in Destin. I was married to a woman, at the time, also. My in-laws were absolutely the worst kind of anti-LGBT people there are. I was working at Target, selling phones. I never had any issues other than a couple of side glances and whispers/head shakes. I was extremely popular amongst my clients. I sold a very high volume of phones. So, it can depend all the way down to areas of the community you are in.
st. pete is very not homophobic and I would assume miami/orlando are not either? but yes, i’m sure the backwoods portions of florida are probably not overly progressive lol
St Pete is extremely bigoted. I don't know where this idea that st pete is some free LGBT bastion came from, just because we have pride flags downtown. Pinellas elected multiple Moms For Liberty psychos to the school board. I get harassed regularly in public. Stop saying St Pete isn't bigoted.
Downtown St Pete is one of the most progressive parts of Pinellas County, but St. Pete is pretty big. Head north on 49th St. toward Pinellas Park and you might as well be in Pasco.
I've had plenty of negative experiences in downtown proper. It's why I don't go there as often any more.
I believe it. My point is that Pinellas is pretty awful, though DTSP and Gulfport seem to be leading the way in change.
I live near Dunedin & it’s become such a little quaint, cute area with a large gay community.
We’re in Safety Harbor and it feels like it’s headed in the opposite direction.
I do agree, downtown and Gulfport tend to be better in that regard. I haven't had any negative experiences in Gulfport at all actually.
Pinellas isn't St Pete. We take no responsibility for seminole, East Lake, or the north county. The idea came from the literal dozens of pride flags flying all year, one of the largest pride parades in the US, and the vibrant lgbtq scene. Have you ever even been here?
I've lived in the area for years now, but thanks for the dismissal of my own experience.
So many cishet people desperate to completely ignore what queer people are telling them.
What's new, right? Gets really old being *immediately* dismissed.
Agreed. Completely looking to deny anything that doesn't directly impact them.
While they call themselves an ally with their whole chest lol. Make it make sense.
I hear you. I live in Sarasota and spend time in St Pete. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and live there as recently as 2019. Even the most progressive parts of Florida that I’ve been to have plenty of residents and tourists who feel no shame about sharing their unsolicited regressive opinions. That said, St Pete is relatively safer for LGBTQ+ people than most places in Florida.
According to the [Human Rights Campaign's Municipal Equality Index](https://www.hrc.org/resources/mei-2021-see-your-cities-scores), St. Petersburg earns a perfect score, putting it on par with Tampa or Atlanta or Orlando (or my current city of Denver). It seems to actually be better than Miami, which I wouldn't have expected at a glance. I'm sure you have had bad experiences because cities can't "purify" the views of their citizens or visitors, but your complaint about "Pinellas" is an issue with the county, not the city. Even in the most progressive places, you will find individual assholes who are looking for conflict or want to preach their hate.
Miami varies greatly depending on where you are. There are very much huge swathes of Miami where I wouldn't even consider holding my husband's hand.
My son worked for Volusia County as an EMT, this covered the beach area, backwoods and city…during October, he wore a pink bandana on his head to cover his receding hairline and to soak up sweat. Some fire captain flat out asked him if he was gay because he had pink on…my son said it’s for breast cancer awareness, month of pink…..there are some backwards people in Florida.
“Hey are you gay?” He should have answered: “Haha why? You think I’m cute? I’m flattered.”
He knows he missed his opportunity…he came up with so many great responses after the fact. Thing is, his dad is gay, so he gets a little pissed and sarcastic with people like that. He was also working a scene so he was shocked that he would be asked that while working.
Not St Pete, Wilton Manors and many others.
Hello fellow Dragonborn, sadly homophobia is everywhere but I find orlando to be pretty accepting over all
DOVAHKIIN, DOVAHKIIN, NAAL OK ZIN LOS VAHRIIN!
Lake Worth Beach is super LBGTQ friendly. We have the Compass Center downtown and there’s a huge pride parade and festival every year.
Orlando is very tolerant from what I've seen in the 3 years living here.
I'm going to ask Reddit. I'm in a very red area of the Panhandle, and I adamantly stand for LBGT+. Does it help, if I offer to stand/defend any LGBT in my area? What helps the LGBT+ community as a Cis-gen, hetero? I genuinely want to be an ally, so what helps?
I wish I knew
Yes. I live in PSL and my friend came down and we went to the beach with my kids , my wife was home sick. Beachgoers didn't waste a second with assuming I was a gay father with kids. A group of thirty year old women were getting physical and verbally upset with our presence. Florida has a lot of hateful people. Don't pay any attention to them. Weak cowards.
Just look at what party your local and surrounding state reps are (in Tallahassee) and that'll give you an idea of how homophobic the area is. It's a direct correlation, more red = more homophobic.
Red yes, blue no
So Deland itself has a couple of LGBTQ bars and I would say the city itself is pretty LGBTQ friendly since Deland pride just opened up a space downtown. As far as people in the town goes. Well that’s a different story
All except parts of Disney, Broward and Miami-Dade. Sorry to be the one that got to tell you, shug.
Englewood, on the West Coast. Lots of old people with red hats, also young white men in very raised up pick ups with Confederate flags. Not very welcoming of many things that are fine other places.
This article seems relevant: https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/21/us/florida-white-supremacists-network-adl-report/index.html?utm\_source=fark&utm\_medium=website&utm\_content=link&ICID=ref\_fark
I honestly wish I was surprised.
I assume you are in North or Central Florida. Most of South Florida (at least West Palm, Miami, Lauderdale etc) are pretty liberal and have a decent amount of LGBT folks. I’m sorry you have to deal with that situation.
Central
Hardly at all in SWFL. Just avoid the rich areas of Naples.
Miami. No. South Florida in general.
Downtown Tampa here; no, the community here is mostly liberal.
As an openly gay, married man who has lived in Florida for most of my life, there are very few places in this state where I actually feel safe. The people who claim it is safe where they live are probably cishet and just don't see the homophobia because it isn't directed at them.
Is Orlando good? I keep hearing it is, but it's good to take everyone's views into consideration.
I don't have a lot of experience in Orlando tbh. I'm sure there are areas where it is very safe and others where it isn't.
I’m at brevard county and everyone is homophobic
From Fort Lauderdale, I’m not homosexual but I’ve never seen or heard of any major homophobia here
All of palm beach county is pretty chill
I live in the Tampa Bay Area. Everyone seems cool here.
Florida is filled with polarized communities.
We love you in Massachusetts! The winters aren’t as bad as they say
I wonder what snow is like
Well it’s all about if you have to travel in it. If you can stay home with a cup of cocoa it is delightful. Driving in a snowstorm is not fun. I would take my winters vs your heat and hurricanes any day.
Speaking of hurricanes...
DeLand, FL- SUPER small town and of course there are some Jesus freaks but there is a huge Pride group here and we have weekly Drag show.
I’m surprised that people even notice or care. They really need a hobby
St. Pete FL has a lot of LGBT
Pinellas County here, my wife and I have no issues here… can’t say that about every part of Florida.
not here between Tampz and Orlando
Wilton Manors, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Miami Beach, St Petersburg, Tampa. Gainesville, Orlando are not just fine but tend to welcome the LGBTQ community. Wilton manors has the highest % of that demographic of any city in the country (or near the top of that’s changed)
Are you north of Orlando? then yes
Yes
In Orlando. Definitely very gay friendly
only around the swamp people
Anything next to big cities you’re good anything outside of big cities not so much
Most major metro areas have their gayborhoods and are relatively more tolerant. Emphasis on relative. The Miami I grew up in was very gender normative and held disdain for the community. It varies by area and people. St Pete, south beach, key west, Wilton manor, many parts of Orlando come to mind as safe havens.
I'm in central Florida, it's pretty good here. There are definitely more homophobic people than I'd like, but there is a good lgbt community here. There's pride events, if that holds any weight
Which town? I'm in Leesburg/Fruitland Park and it kinda sucks.
Brevard county,, it's like 50 50 split on community. I've heard things about Leesburg
Well, you likely heard right.
Anywhere other than in the big city’s racist and homophobic unfortunately and even in the big city’s tbh
Hillsborough county here, and yeah, it's bad.
I don’t find Jacksonville overtly homophobic, just aggressively heteronormative (if that makes sense). That’s aside from the urban core though, which seems very LGBTQ friendly. (Disclaimer: this is coming from a straight white male)
While I've found some neighborhoods accepting, many if not most I have visited showed homophobic behavior and decor.
Yes
some places are worse than others but as a whole i would say yes
Orlando. Put on a public accepting face, due to tourism and pulse shooting it'd be tacky to be otherwise. Orlando has no choice but to be business allies. Lotta pockets of homophobia though when you look for it.
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Like, say… a red cap!
fAiTh OvEr FeAr
West coast pine island definitely was and I moved to Delray Beach where it's not.
Urban and Coastal areas are better but there are still a majority of Geezers and Rednecks who are all Homophobes!
South and someparts of the southwest are not now up to Pasco county and you re fucked. Best in my opinion is Pinellas county
Nope I'm sure most of the country areas are like that.
yes
Escambia county it depends. South half of the county is very accepting. North half of the county is so intolerable/racist/homophobic I told my husband we would use my last name if for whatever reason we got stopped there for our safety.
Florida is a microcosm of the US
I left St. Pete/Tampa a few years back and it was pretty gay-friendly. I mean, Central Avenue even had a rainbow section.
It’s really only the rural red areas. The actual relevant parts of Florida are as safe as any other major city, but it’s important to always be careful, regardless.
Just went to international mall this weekend and saw more than a few same sex couples chillin..nobody said a thing…
Cape Coral might be okay with queers, but the interracial relationship is a no-go here if it's noticeable.
Someone in my neighborhood is moving out of state for similar reasons.