Gay Couple

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Many of the U.S.’s most gay-friendly neighborhoods are in some of the country’s most expensive real estate markets. But there are also plenty of more affordable options for same-sex couples, according to real estate website Trulia.
Trulia identified zip codes with the heaviest concentrations of gay men and women by examining Census Bureau statistics. It then determined a neighborhood’s affordability by looking at the median price per square foot of homes listed in that particular zip code over the past year.
Even though the neighborhoods with the densest population of same-sex couples were among the nation’s most expensive, including San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood for male couples and Provincetown/Cape Cod, Mass. for same-sex female couples, Trulia found gay communities in affordable areas as well.
In the Castro district, for example, more than 14% of the households are made up of same-sex male couples — the highest rate in the nation, according to Census data. It’s also the city’s highest-priced gay neighborhood at $671 a square foot. But eight miles south is Brisbane, another gay-friendly enclave that costs half that amount at $311 a square foot.
In New York, Chelsea is the top choice for many gay men. There, the median home price has hit nearly $1,200 per square foot, according to Trulia. That means a modest-sized two-bedroom condo can cost a gay couple more than $1.2 million, an amount that is out of the reach for many home buyers.
A short train ride away, however, is downtown Jersey City, N.J., where many same-sex couples live, according to Trulia. The median price per square foot there is $452, almost one-third of the prices in Manhattan.
For lesbian couples in the New York metro area, the Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope, where the average home costs $664 per square foot, is the neighborhood of choice. While significantly cheaper than the Manhattan neighborhoods where many same-sex male couples reside, the prices are still steep. But Nyack, a bucolic Hudson River town about 25 miles north of Midtown Manhattan that is home to a fair number of same-sex couples, is much more affordable at $266 a square foot.
Trulia noted that the Census data it used to identify neighborhoods with large concentrations of same-sex couples required some “corrections and adjustments” since Census doesn’t ask respondents about sexual orientation. In total, the Census reported around 646,000 same-sex households in the U.S. in 2010, just 0.6% of the country’s 117 million households, Trulia said.
Below is a list of the neighborhoods with the highest percentage of gay residents and the median price per square foot to buy a home there. In addition, Trulia provided the most affordable, gay-friendly alternatives for both same-sex male couples and female couples.
San Francisco:
Most popular neighborhood among same-sex male couples: Castro, San Francisco ($671 per square foot). Affordable alternative: Brisbane, Calif. ($311 per square foot).
Most popular neighborhood among same-sex female couples: Castro, San Francisco ($671 per square foot). Affordable alternative: Redwood Heights, Oakland ($230 per square foot).
New York:
Most popular neighborhood among same-sex male couples: Chelsea, New York ($1,199 per square foot). Affordable alternative: Jersey City, N.J. ($452 per square foot).
Most popular neighborhood among same-sex female couples: Park Slope, Brooklyn ($664 per square foot). Affordable alternative: Nyack, New York ($266 per square foot).
Los Angeles:
Most popular neighborhood among same-sex male couples: West Hollywood, Los Angeles ($481 per square foot). Affordable alternative: Signal Hill, Long Beach ($200 per square foot).
Most popular neighborhood among same-sex female couples: West Hollywood, Los Angeles ($481 per square foot). Affordable alternative: Eastside, Long Beach ($207 per square foot).
Washington D.C.:
Most popular neighborhood among same-sex male couples: Logan Circle, Washington D.C. ($525 per square foot). Affordable alternative: Columbia Heights, Washington D.C. ($333 per square foot).
Most popular neighborhood among same-sex female couples: Alexandria, Va, ($405 per square foot). Affordable alternative: Hyattsville, Md. ($101 per square foot).
Boston:
Most popular neighborhood for same-sex male couples: South End, Boston ($608 per square foot). Most affordable alternative: Dorchester, Mass. ($209 per square foot).
Most popular neighborhood among same-sex female couples: Jamaica Plain, Boston ($304 per square foot). Affordable alternative: Roslindale, Mass. ($227 per square foot).
Miami/Fort Lauderdale:
Most popular neighborhood among same-sex male couples: Wilton Manors, Fla. ($206 per square foot). Affordable alternative: Oakland Park, Fla. ($115 per square foot).
Most popular neighborhood among same-sex female couples: Wilton Manors, Fla. ($206 per square foot). Affordable alternative: Lake Worth, Fla. ($66 per square foot).
Chicago:
Most popular among same-sex male and female couples: Edgewater, Chicago ($131 per square foot). Affordable alternative: Rogers Park, Chicago ($95 per square foot).
Dallas:
Most popular among same-sex male couples: Oak Lawn, Dallas ($160 per square foot). Affordable alternative: Northwest Dallas ($92 per square foot).
Most popular among same-sex female couples: Lake Highlands, Dallas ($128 per square foot). Affordable alternative: Also Lake Highlands.
Atlanta:
Most popular among same-sex male couples: Morningside/Lenox Park/Piedmont Heights, Atlanta ($129 per square foot). Affordable alternative: Grant Park, Atlanta ($104 per square foot).
Most popular among same-sex female couples: Avondale Estates, Ga. ($96 per square foot). Affordable alternative: Also Avondale Estates, Ga.
Philadelphia:
Most popular among same-sex male couples: Washington Square West, Philadelphia ($341 per square foot ). Affordable alternative: Center City, Philadelphia ($160 per square foot).
Most popular among same-sex female couples: Mount Airy, Philadelphia ($120 per square foot). Most affordable alternative: Also Mount Airy, Philadelphia.
from CNN

Shawn Farris

WINCHESTER, TENNESSEE – A man says his life was threatened and he was beat up this weekend just because he’s gay.
Shawn Farris was at his 20th high school reunion in Franklin County right outside of Winchester, TN, when it happened.
Farris says the attack was unprovoked and his attacker made it very clear he was assaulting him just because he’s gay.
But, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office says they have no plans to investigate this as a hate crime. Spokesman Sgt. Chris Guess says the incident appears to be nothing more than a fight.
Farris sees it differently, and that’s why he will be pressing charges against the man he says beat him up Monday morning.
Farris, who is a flight attendant, was already an advocate for gay teens.
He started the group the “Flight Attendant Project” in hopes he could prevent gay teens who are bullied from committing suicide.
He says what happened to him Sunday morning will only make him fight even harder for his cause.
Farris hopes his attack will be treated as a hate crime. But, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office says it’s only a simple assault.
from WSMV TV

Chrishaun “CeCe” McDonald

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – Chrishaun “CeCe” McDonald, 24, and some friends, all of whom were black, were walking outside a Minneapolis bar last June when four white people began calling to them using racial and other types of epithets.
McDonald, who was born a man and is transitioning to a woman, later testified that she and her friends tried to walk away. But, authorities say, one of the bar patrons, Molly Flaherty, smashed a glass of alcohol against McDonald’s face, cutting her.
A fight broke out. At one point, Flaherty’s ex-boyfriend, Dean Schmitz, said: “Look at that boy dressed like a girl,” according to McDonald’s testimony.
He subsequently pulled McDonald out of the melee. Then he put a hand to his shirt and said, “You stabbed me,” according to a witness. To which McDonald replied, according to the witness, “Yes I did.”
With a pair of scissors, in the chest.
Schmitz, a father of three, died on the scene.
The aftermath of the June 5, 2011, killing has been a controversial one in Minnesota, with the transgender community rallying to support McDonald.
McDonald eventually pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter in exchange for 41 months of prison time — which, according to a Minneapolis Star-Tribune report on Monday, will be served in a men’s facility, not a women’s.
McDonald is taking hormone treatment as part of the transition to becoming a woman, but officials decided to classify her as a man. She has requested to continue receiving hormone treatments in prison.
Outrage over McDonald’s anticipated placement in a men’s prison had been strong around the Web, but Colorlines reported Friday that some of McDonald’s closer supporters are taking a quieter approach for now.
“People tend to think about how CeCe identifies as a woman and say she should be able to go to a women’s facility,” Katie Burgess, the executive director of the Minneapolis-based Trans Youth Support Network and a McDonald supporter, told the news website Colorlines.
“But there’s really no history of transgender people being placed according to their gender identity. So once CeCe is placed in a permanent facility, she’ll look around and decide if she feels safe there. If she doesn’t, she’ll move forward with a civil suit against the Department of Corrections to be relocated to a safer place. That may or may not be a women’s prison.”
A legal primer from the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders released in November 2011 said that, “Generally, when prisoners have had sex reassignment surgery, prison authorities have confined them according to their post-surgical sex designation; prisoners who have not had surgery have been imprisoned with inmates of the sex ascribed to them at birth.”
According to the Star-Tribune, as of late January, Minnesota had 10 inmates it deemed as having “a gender identity disorder.” That’s a clinical term accepted by the American Psychiatric Assn.’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-V, the modern bible of mental health classifications.
But for Burgess of the Trans Youth Support Network, the idea of the state determining someone’s sexuality is dangerous.
“In my experience, the committee process is remarkably abusive and just disgusting,” Burgess told Colorlines. “Generally, they’re made up of all non-transgender people with absolutely no cultural sensitivity. They look at three things: physiology — meaning your genitals — sex orientation and prior placement. Rather than protecting transgender people, who are easily the most vulnerable group when it comes to sexual violence in prison, the underlying idea is that transgender people are sexual predators.”
The woman accused of attacking McDonald, Molly Flaherty, has been charged with second-degree assault with a deadly weapon and third-degree assault causing substantial bodily harm, according to City Pages, a local weekly.
from The Los Angeles Times
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