Saturday, June 18, 2011

The LGBT Heart of it All!

When you think of Columbus, Ohio you probably think it's yet another mid sized Midwestern conservative city. You may know it as the capital of Ohio and the home of "The Ohio State University".
What you probably didn't know is that Columbus, Ohio is one of the most open gay cities in the country. Columbus measures over 50,000 gays in their population. A higher percentage than Chicago.
For those of us who are life long Ohioans, we know "C-bus" (as it's called) is a different world from the other other larger cities in the state.
30 years following the cities first Pride March, a publication called "614" recently featured an article called "Why Is Columbus So Gay?"  Consider the first pride participants wore bags over their heads to hide their identity. Today companies pay to advertise in the parade!
Writer Travis Hoewischer  does an excellent job of explaining how an ever increasing gay population has helped to "gentrify" decaying urban neighborhoods and has become an economic and political force.
Being gay in Columbus has become a non issue.A year or so ago Ohio State hosted a huge "Andy Warhol" exhibit. On one of the Sunday's men were encouraged to come in "drag"! Really.
Follow the link and read the article. Forget San Fransisco and check out Columbus!

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