San Francisco is "queer utopia," but Oakland "is on the up-and-up when it comes to lady-queerness" because it has more lesbian couples. Oakland is also the affordable queer alternative, with its own gay dive bar -- The White Horse (although we'd dispute the "dive" part) -- and its own pride parade. In fact, queer culture practically dominates the Bay Area "regardless of the fact that so many heterosexuals share the space." This according to Jezebel.com, which ranked the 21 Most Lesbianish Cities in America. But don't get too self-congratulatory yet -- Jezebel found three regions that rank higher.
One is Los Angeles, even though "There are lesbians that loathe the fuck out of this city," says Jezebel. That said, "It never snows, there are girl parties nearly every night, and the place is teeming with creative women." Well, OK, but we still think some of the Bay Area's keywords -- Harvey Milk, the Castro, Michelle Tea, Frameline, Good Vibrations -- outdo all this plus The L-Word.
But whatever. Also outranking The Gay Bay is New York City, which, says Jezebel, " is chock-full of dykes." Like any good Northeasterner, it rides much on its pedigree -- with lots of queer women populating N.Y.U., the New School, Barnard, and Columbia. Add the lesbian-infused districts of Park Slope, East Harlem, and West Harlem -- and the fact that same-sex marriage is legal in New York -- and you have a pretty convincing argument.
Topping (!) the list is Amherst/Northampton, Mass. "Northampton's got more lesbians per capita than any town or city in the entire country, and that's not even counting the transient students from Lez-Heaven Smith College or Mount Holyoke," Jezebel says. Same-sex marriage is legal in that state too, but we're not so sure that all this region's queer factors -- a lesbian dance club, a queer bookstore, a queer newspaper, and a queer film festival -- puts it atop the nation. Then maybe it's the roller-derby league and numerous vegan restaurants? (Hey, Jezebel said it, not us.)
According to Jezebel, the Bay Area beat Boston, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Austin, and Miami, among others. Houston also made the list -- which might come as a surprise to some of us here "in the bubble" who will never forget that Texas has a capital "W" (as in "Bush") -- until you consider the election of Annise Parker, the first openly gay mayor of a major U.S. city. Lesbianish indeed.
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