Advertisement

Book lists '50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Places to Live'

By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman
LAS VEGAS – Looking to pick up and put down roots in a more LGBT-friendly locale? One place to start searching could be the new book, "50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Places to Live" by Gregory A. Kompes.
Criteria for making the top fifty included the presence of an active gay community, youth outreach, gay-friendly politics, housing options and the quality of the nightlife.
Friendliness to gay families – in the form of equality for same-sex couples in adoption laws, legal recognition of partnerships, and other considerations – were not among Kompes' initial criteria, an oversight he now calls a mistake.
"I lived in Manhattan for almost 13 years, and during that time for the majority of the gay couples I knew, kids just weren't part of the mix," he said, and promised that family considerations will be part of the criteria when the book is re-issued next year.
However, Kompes said that he did research whether cities had domestic registries, as well as their human rights policies, and cities with fair-minded laws "definitely got pushed up" on his list as a result.
"Any of those cities that are really trying hard to get the laws – to me that was almost the same as having achieved the goal," Kompes said. "That shows that there are leaders, both gay and straight, trying to defend the LGBT community."
"50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Places to Live" by Gregory A. Kompes.In addition to an evaluation of each city's openness to LGBTs, Kompes provides a brief history, contact phone numbers for local utilities, and information on taxes, climate, the real estate market and the current job market for each of the cities profiled in his book. Information about public transportation, gay nightlife and culture, and contact information for any existing LGBT community centers or publications is also provided.
While some states have several cities on the top fifty list, Ferndale is the only Michigan city profiled in Kompes' book.
"This didn't happen by accident," said Ferndale Mayor Pro-Tem Craig Covey of his city's success in making the book. "Gay leaders and activists such as Ann Heler, Rudy Serra, Robert Lalicki, Amy Blake, Tom Pearlman, Jim Moll, and others decided many years ago that we would make this town open, fun, accepting, and diverse. And we went about it in a professional, methodical, and long-range way. And we made plenty of straight allies on the way."
"When the homeowners in town saw their property values skyrocket for fifteen years, largely as a result of the gay influx, they became solid allies," Covey added.
"I've lived in Ferndale since 1995 and have been privileged to see its remarkable transformation into a hip urban little town," said Kathleen LaTosch, special events and marketing director for Affirmations Lesbian and Gay Community Center. "What do I love about fabulous Ferndale? I love the cute, walkable downtown area – I can walk from home to anywhere in town. In fact, since I live and work in Ferndale, going anywhere farther than one mile away seems like a major day-trip now."
"Ferndale has a terrific selection of restaurants, it attracts a diverse crowd of people, and I find it to be more gay-friendly than any other town in Michigan – including Ann Arbor and Saugatuck," LaTosch added. "I recently had some construction workers giving me bids on building a new garage. One of them asked about my 'husband.' I laughed and said, 'Actually I have a wife, you're in Ferndale now,' and we both had a laugh."
For his part, Kompes said that Ferndale was included in his book because of a variety of factors, including his own memories of visiting the Detroit area in 1994.
"I was just really impressed by the family-orientedness of Ferndale, and the general style of the city," Kompes, who now lives in Las Vegas, said. "I grew up in Cleveland, and I'm familiar with the Great Lakes region, and it felt like I was coming home. Ferndale has stayed in the back of my head."
After he was contacted by Michigan LGBT activists who asked him to make sure the state was considered, as well as receiving a request from his editor to include more small cities, "The emails, the phone calls and the memories just sort of all came together."
Updating "50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Places to Live" to include gay family considerations is only one of the LGBT-related projects on Kompes' desk. The other is a book on "the everyday gay activist."
"I'm just an average, slightly overweight, middle-aged boring guy with a long-term partner. And I believe that everybody should be treated equally. And there are everyday things we can do in our lives to achieve that," Kompes said, citing voting and shopping at LGBT-inclusive businesses as two of the things he plans to discuss in the new book.

"50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Places To Live" by Gregory A. Kompes is out now by Career Press. For more information visit http://www.careerpress.com.

Advertisement
Topics: News
Advertisement

From the Pride Source Marketplace

Go to the Marketplace
Directory default
An award-winning shelter providing pet adoption, a low cost/full service veterinary clinic that is…
Learn More
Directory default
Detroit Regional LGBT Chamber of Commerce MemberPlanterra’s Detroit-based design team has over 45…
Learn More
Advertisement