A reader writes:
Contrary to one of your readers, it does not seem that crime rate plays much of a role. Many of the cities on the list have higher violent crime rates than San Francisco and New York, and many substantially so – Jacksonville, Las Vegas, Houston, Oklahoma City, Buffalo, Dallas, Baltimore, Detroit and Kansas City. Those are 9 out of the 15 cities and only include the cities over 250,000.
Another writes:
Your readers make a good point on families of all types fleeing expensive "gay mecca" cities. I'd take it a step further and say the phenomenon even fuels some "red vs blue" animosity towards gays. I know Portland, Oregon very well, for example, and have seen it go from a pleasant but affordable place with good schools, to a super-hip but very expensive place from which families are fleeing. There are certainly Portlanders who pin much blame on gays and lesbians flocking to the city, because:
1) without kids, gays can afford to bid up house prices, and 2) also without kids, they don't care about schools and instead vote to spend tax money on things like public art and subsidizing major-league soccer. Even my liberal but middle-aged Portland friends are unhappy that a growing share of public money goes to projects favored by the hip and childless while the school system is being allowed to fall apart. In truth gays are only a small part of the story – more important are wealthy "empty nest" retirees – but gays are a particularly visible and easily scapegoated part of it.
The Dish 