Where have you been all our lives? New Orleans, apparently.
A new study found out where’s the best place for same-sex dating in the United States. And spoilers, apparently it’s New Orleans.
The study conducted by sexual wellness organization Bespoke Surgical looked through seven different factors to categorize the 50 largest cities in the United States. These categories included LGBTQ population, percent of men/women who have sex with other men/women, the percentage of married couples living there, the quality of life for LGBTQ people, and more. Then the number was dropped to 49 cities after Louisville, Kentucky was found to be lacking data for the list.
Each of the cities was graded on a 5-point scale per category. Then as the organization writes:
“We determined each city’s total score from the total of each one’s individual factor scores, which were weighted according to their significance for gay dating. The sum of these weights is 10, which creates a total possible city score of 50. Each is listed below with its respective weight and data source.”
Again, New Orleans came up at the top of the list for this study’s results. It was then followed by Austin, Texas; Tampa and Orlando, Florida; Providence, Rhode Island; Denver, Colorado and Portland, Oregon (which tied for sixth); Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; and Atlanta, Georgia.
No region seemed more favored than the rest. While several South cities made the top of the list, the five lowest ranked cities, Oklahoma City, Raleigh, Virginia Beach, Nashville, and Memphis, are all in the South.
Some other interesting cities to acknowledge are Dallas at 17, Philadelphia at 25, Chicago at 26, Baltimore at 28, New York City at 35, Miami at 38, and Washington, D.C. at 43.
Again, Bespoke Surgical came up with these results by considering several factors like the number of LGBTQ people living there, the number of married pairs (though, perhaps finding couples instead of married pairs would have been more telling), the number of LGBTQ bars, and so on.
What do you all think? Do you agree with these results? Do you want a recount? And where’s your city on the list? Let us know down in the comments below.
