San Francisco also has 110% more gay bars than the average American city.
At this point, it’s almost comical to remind any resident of San Francisco that the city is, in fact, the queer mecca of the world — a moniker the city has proudly donned since the 1970s. Though broader acceptance of the LGBTQIA+ community has continued to expand, hate remains prevalent; queer victims of violent hate crimes were more likely than LGBT non-hate crime victims to report problems in their lives; 2023 saw an increase in anti-queer incidents when compared to 2022; conservatives continue to lose their marbles at the sheer sight of Target’s Pride collection come every June.
Happy Halloween from the Castro 🕸️🎃👻🤡 #SanFrancisco #Halloween #HappyHalloween2023 pic.twitter.com/HjX5Ew1tjx
— Betty Yu (@bett_yu) November 1, 2023
Suffice it to say there’s a long, long (long) way to go before queerness is as ubiquitously accepted as suburban sprawls. But, again, for those of us fortunate to call SF home, it’s worth repeating that the city continues to exist as a bastion for LGBTQIA+ individuals.
And a recent report from Celver, a real estate agency of all things, published a new study that puts San Fransicos squarely as the most queer-friendly large city in the United States.
Case in point: San Francisco locals are more supportive of LGBTQIA+ Americans than other cities. Just 12% of SF residents surveyed opposed non-discrimination laws for the LGBTQ community — a figure that sits 37% lower than the national average of 19%.
Moreover, San Francisco also excels in allyship, with about 0.13 pledges to the Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) chapter 100,000 residents. By itself, that figure seems paltry. But compare it to the metro average of 0.08… and it’s 63% more than the current average.
Oh, and how could we forget: San Francisco’s collection of queer bars isn’t only iconic, but exist as a stark contrast to the national city average in their abundance; SF has 110% more gay bars than the average city in our study — a particularly important statist in a time where queer watering holes are on a nationwide decline, largely spurred by still-lingering financial volatility from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a world rife with misinformation and skewed validities, it’s reassuring to know that IRL statistics match our understood reality of SF’s position as queer AF hub.
Feature Image: Courtesy of ExperienceFirst
