The Advocate's Gay Map Model.
Recently the Advocate published an analysis of our country as they went on the hunt for the 'Gayest Cities in America', 2013. You would think that San Francisco, and in particular the Castro, as reigning Queer Mecca of the entire known planet, would've been leading the pack. Alas it's not to be. According to the results we're 17th! Woot?!
Uh. HUH. You read correctly. We didn't even bust into the top 10. To add insult to injury we're playing the lucky pierre position trapped between the silver foxed thighs of the Daddy's from Scottsdale, AZ and the conservative bastion of the Mickey Do Me queens in Anaheim, CA. Really? Scottsdale is gayer than the Castro?
Did number crunchers of this scientific poll take into account our enormous, always flying, Gay pride flag? Our history of leading the fight for equality? The Cockettes?
What about the legends of drag who populate our City and entertain the Queer troops like Biscuit pals Heklina of the uniquely San Franciscan Trannyshack or Juanita MORE! and her infamous Booty Call at the Castro's QBar?
What about all the hot men? And porn? This City is lousy with it and absolutely lives to produce hot, Queer porn. Surely that'd boost our numbers in the methodology used to construct this list?
It seems having a good time or getting laid wasn't deemed essential for this poll developed by the Victory Fund. Their criteria was based on a myriad of details that make up a well-rounded, modern, homo life. Topping why we're the bottoms of this list was the rude reality we still live in a state that continues to deny same-sex couples the right to marry.
Additionally they threw in facts like does your town have a Gay rugby team, has Glee visited your urban enclave since 2009 and how large is your bisexual community? Then they divided these factors by the population within city limits which must've been larger than 150,000 people to qualify. Talk about size queens.
While SF anguished at 17 another Bay Area City fared well. Coming in at number 11, Oakland, with its huge, ever-growing, SF ex-pats pop-Lesbians, Queer couples and working class/blue collared Queers searching for cheaper rents-has ballooned our Sister City's LGBT ranks nearly double in the last decade.
Polls are subjective so don't despair. We here at the Castro Biscuit will soon conduct our own relatively unbiased poll and TRUST-the Castro and San Francisco-will come out smelling like fresh starched sheets. Like an exclusive Top, new to the scene-looking younger, more vital than ever-and ready to take on all comers. You know, kinda like the average fluffed, photoshopped and slightly exaggerated Grindr ad.
