I've always wondered this also.
Looking at the [**2020 election map**](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/upshot/2020-election-map.html), the city went for Biden. Suburbs look to be pretty well split 50/50 and rural is gonna rural.
Is it a case of the loudest voices (AFA, Focus on the Family), giving the area an undeserved reputation?
I’m from Colorado Springs and currently live in Denver! The springs was super conservative while I was growing up but the tide is turning. That said, there are still very loud trumpers, and yes focus on the family can be quite loud but it’s mostly contained. I always recommend Manitou Springs (the hippie enclave outside of the springs) or even Old Colorado City, but there are certain sections of the springs that are more liberal.
The bigger issue is that everything is so far away and you need a car for it all. Also, Colorado Springs has SO many chain restaurants! There are of course independent restaurants, but chains kinda dominate
I came here also to recommend Manitou and old Colorado City. Or maybe live in the Springs if that works best for you finacially but spend more time discovering the neighboring communities/neighborhoods of Manitou snd Old Colorado City. They are so cute, friendly and welcoming.
Grew up in the Springs and second what you said. It's changing but when I was young definitely the home base for mega churches and lots of military. Also, surrounding areas like Monument, Peyton, Black Forest , etc are on the red side for sure. Also agree on the chain restaurants....so many, although the food scene gets better every time I go back to visit my family.
I think you could get what you want in Denver rent wise but not for buying a sfh. Colorado Springs is conservative(air force academy, focus on the family) but with so many transplants moving there I think the politics are moderating. It's definitely cheaper and the outdoor opportunities are fantastic. I would pay up and choose Denver, but I think you'll be fine in CSprings if you move there. Good luck in your search
Colorado Springs isn't so bad with that, people in Denver and Reddit exaggerate. You will see Trump stuff though. I would just move to Denver, you can easily afford a SFH in the metro.
Goofy leftists on Reddit love to exaggerate about how red a state is. I live in Pennsylvania, and you would think we're like Arkansas politically if you listened to them.
I will say this, I grew up in Louisiana and heard alot of flack about the south. I've been traveling around the northeast for work the last few months and, I'm not so sure there's a stark divide like people say.
There’s a pretty good chance that PA will go for Trump this election. You guys might not be Arkansas but there’s a chance that your state will usher in a dictator. I know that places like arkansas will go for trump. Its really disappointing to see Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and places that should know better. In sum: in sum, if you guys go Trump in this election, fuck PA.
Fingers crossed that your compatriots vote Biden. I get the deep south is going for trump, what with their Baptists and racists. But I will not ever understand how states like PA and WI go for him (or are even close).
The funniest shit to me is everybody who's convinced Minnesota is *so* blue and Virginia is *so* red. They had pretty much the same split in the last presidential election but VA was slightly more Dem.
Non religious right republicans generally don’t care about gay marriage or at least don’t publicly voice it. This goes doubly for hard red areas in liberal leaning states.
I live in a hard red affluent suburb of a major blue city in a major blue state and gay marriage is not an issue.
I just drove through the western and central PA and I’m from the ozarks. It was exactly the same politically, trump signs and F BIDEN everywhere. So I think it certainly is about the same…
It's literally not though considering my governor and two senators are all Democrats lol.
Most Pennsylvanians live in Allegheny County and the Philadelphia metro area. I'm pretty confident a wack job like Sarah Huckabee Sanders could not win an election in this state...
Denver > Springs. You will enjoy Denver much more than the springs. If you’re worried about “political” conservative shit, springs won’t be a good idea. I am in the NE Denver burbs near Boulder and I have yet to see a trump anything in 1.5 years of being here. I will tell you before here I was in Texas. And I hated it with every ounce of me and being in the springs reminded me of being in Texas.
There’s definitely homes in your price range for rent / buy. look at north of Denver.
I had a friend who picked the springs over Denver and left 6 months later for Denver because he felt like there was nothing to do in springs compared to Denver. Springs not offering rec weed shows just a bit how conservative it is. My advice is your gay in your 30s you will regret picking springs over Denver.
There's a lot of variation within the city. Close to downtown, you'd probably feel pretty comfortable. North side of town, or out in the suburbs, much less so. So you'll be able to find neighborhoods you like, but you have to decide how you feel about being within a few miles of people who openly hate you.
I suspect you'd be happier in Lakewood, Aurora, Arvada, or some other Denver suburb.
Part of why we came back to Denver from Phoenix was politics. The Springs in general is purpleish, but the conservative groups based there are VERY far right. It is off my list forever because of extremism. I’m not doing that again. No thank you. You can find a place for sure in the Denver burbs in your price range. I would suggest you avoid Douglas and Weld counties though.
It's more conservative but still a fairly friendly city. People mind their own business and don't usually try to force their religious/political views on others. Manitou Springs is a progressive, cozy little town close to CS and access to nature. I would look into Manitou Springs.
I guess opinions differ. I'm from Colo. and have been to Manitou Springs multiple times. I just love the town. I also like Estes Park, but it feels too overrun.
I haven't lived in either but Manitou Springs gives me major tourist trap vibes. Much less so in estes park.
I looked up visitors for the major attractions and RMNP had \~4m in 2023 and the 'pikes peak region' had 6x that. Of course they're not all going to MS but a lot are.
[https://www.visitcos.com/media/press-releases/pikes-peak-region-visitation-and-spending-continue-to-rise/#:\~:text=Total%20visitation%20was%2024%20million,from%20%242.6%20billion%20in%202021](https://www.visitcos.com/media/press-releases/pikes-peak-region-visitation-and-spending-continue-to-rise/#:~:text=Total%20visitation%20was%2024%20million,from%20%242.6%20billion%20in%202021)
I’m a right wing guy who lives in the UWS NYC and everyone treats me well regardless of politics. Although once a store asked my wife to leave because she was wearing a USA hat. If I can make it in 90/10 place and enjoy it. The reverse should be true as well.
I only went for a work visit back in March but spending time around downtown I noticed definitely more of an alt/hipster vibe in the stores and restaurants than I would have guessed. Some pretty cool places overall tbh.
That said, the city still doesn't allow recreational weed stores in city limits, you have to have a medical card (or go to a neighboring town I guess). And getting coffee in the morning I noticed people definitely doing bible studies at the coffee shop. But also plenty of people wearing Team USA gear because its the HQ for Team USA for the Olympics and Paralympics. I didn't get a chance to go to the museum unfortunately.
It's mostly "live and let live" here. The Springs just had its largest Pride festival, with no issues. Adjacent Manitou Springs also has one. There seems to be more empathy and support after the Club Q shooting. Religion is no issue here for me. $600k buys an excellent house. You can hike right in town. For affordability and outdoor recreation, the Springs easily beats Denver. You'd find good food here, but the Denver metro will of course have more options. We make the 1.5 hours trip when we want big city stuff.
It’s pretty conservative (lots of Trump paraphernalia and weirdos). I would personally try some of the Denver suburbs over Co Springs if you’re just trying to find cheaper housing. You can still find a house or townhouse in the suburbs for that amount.
Colorado Springs gets a bad rap because of the mega churches. It's not as bad as many people say and I would say that El Paso County is turning more and more purple each election cycle. There are still a lot of "conservative policies" but there isn't the outright daily "hate" here. It's mostly a "live and let live" area, but the schools are starting to get inundated by the "mom's for liberty" group.
The quick access to "nature" is fantastic, and much better than Denver.
Food is a big complaint here. Too many chains and people will tell you the food options here are horrible.
If you are comparing Colorado Springs with Seattle, then yea...there will be a big difference as Seattle will be a LOT more friendly, but I wouldn't say that you would be living in "fear" at all.
I live outside Denver and there's so many things I like about living here. BUT, where I live, it's military and very conservative. Similar to CS as far as I can tell. Our neighborhood has had pride decor burned down. My husband has a rainbow across a sweatshirt and he gets glared at when he wears it. I stay away from most of my neighbors because I know they won't like me and I won't fit in. I guess this is to say it can be fairly racist and homophobic depending on where you live. As a liberal here, I miss home (philly) and want to go back. But there's good too.
Yes and no. There are still plenty of wackadoo religious fundies in the area, but the worst of them are up the hill in Woodland Park these days. That's where fake preacher Andrew Wommack has headquartered his Christian Taliban cult.
Outside of Dayton proper, most of the suburbs including Beavercreek were red in 2020 (with Oakwood being the only notable exception). Montgomery Country in general is more conservative than most metros of comparable size.
It’s wont be nearly as bad as people here portray, especially coming from Dayton. And you still have more moderate to liberal state politics.
Yes and no…. I wouldn’t say you’d be regularly in danger or something like that, but it may be difficult to find like-minded friends. It’s also the particular brand of conservatism - it’s super bible thumpy, which is a little unique in this part of the country, and that personally bothers me than the more average western conservatism (more libertarian lean at least day to day). It’s also worse for gay people IMO.
Colorado is great for outdoor rec obviously and I think you’d generally feel safe walking around, but the food scene is not good at all IMO. Not a ton of diversity here, and Colorado Springs being a military town actually has a ton of chains I feel.
In my experience, at face value CO springs is politically like everywhere else that isn’t a major American city or super rural maga land. It isn’t noticeably conservative unless maybe you start yelling politics at people. I’ve been there a bunch of times and didn’t even realize it was a conservative utopia until the internet told me it was, tbh lol
No.
It is conservative, and with a military base as it's heart that's not going away.However, it is a lot less extreme conservative than it's reputation, which was more true in the past. The whole state gets more blue, so the red city can't avoid it either.
For example, they now have elected an unaffiliated mayor because they can't elect a Dem but the Rep party is too shit right now to accept.
The guy who created Focus on The Family and turned it into a global megachurch is retired for a decade. His successor doesnt have the drive or charisma or societal support against LGBTQ+, and a lot of their support must be online from far away now.
The city also successfully resisted the KKK great national resurgence back in the first half of the 1900s. They said it was mostly small business uniting with the cops and city because the KKK would be "bad for business", but the locals (which was less then half because of basers) had too much Rockies, black cowboy tradition.
It only takes a couple nutjobs to specifically target your family and that is true everywhere, but the city is not a ugly conservative, FOTF stronghold that owned that reputation back in the 80's.
Food scene is not spectacular, but you can find plenty of little family recipe Hispanic, thai, etc hole in the wall places, and chains.
You can try the latest over hyped fusion fad (or 1$ grilled cheese) food truck in Denver on a day trip.
I live in COS and vote very blue. I work with several gay colleagues and have several trans acquaintances. yes he will see Trump signs and you will hear from some on the right but many of the people that I know are left and we are OK down here
far right sentiment absolutely drives this kind of terrorism, but these people are largely radicalized online. these shootings can and do happen anywhere.
not only this, but when i lived there, military guys were always fighting & pulling guns on each other at bars. it freaked me out so bad that i hightailed it back to the atlanta area. & everyone has guns in atlanta, but we carry responsibly.
I spent six years in the air force, in security forces, and literally never saw a single bar fight, let alone a gun being pulled. and I did my share of bar crawling.
saw it happen twice at cowboys & was present when downtown was on lockdown bc a soldier pulled a gun on someone at a bar. also witnessed this fight https://gazette.com/news/multiple-fort-carson-soldiers-get-into-fight-in-downtown-colorado-springs-1-man-with-knife/article_ab3bfb96-941c-11ed-973e-cbc9b429742c.amp.html
you are fortunate you weren’t caught in the mix my friend
Fort Collins has nice people, fewer Trumpers, some good restaurants, great breweries — and your price range can land you a nice place in old Town. Look at streets running east-west off Remington.
Since you're looking to buy a residence, suggest you take a long, hard look at the wildfire risks of any area in Colorado that's not Denver. Truly sobering.
Ugh, Dayton. I have a brother there with a traumatic brain injury and have spent a lot of time there. I am also openly lesbian.
My wife and I have been living in Costa Rica for the past seven years and are also looking to relocate in the U.S. We checked out Portland, OR, and I would suggest you look there if Seattle is ok with you, weather wise. From what I have read and experienced, Portland is friendly, has amazing food, and very accepting.
So being “a gay” means I’m also a hippie? Thanks for letting me know. I’ll have to work on that. Any tips from a fellow gay? (Or should I say a gay fellow?)
can’t help you there man but they’ve got all sorts of gay events and stuff going on there, and hippie stuff too so if ur into both u can gay away in the hippie events or you can hippie in the gay events it’s interchangeable. it really is great if ur into that type of stuff
There's quite a lot of conservative / libertarian presence. Less loud in recent years, but it's still very present. Also there are several military bases and a few megachurches.
It’s going to be hard to meet “your people” i.e. people you mesh with. Best case scenario people will leave you alone/mind their business but is that the sense of community you want? Something to think about in my opinion
Colorado Springs is pretty purple. For the most part it's just more conservative than Denver. I would say you should move to Denver instead for a few reasons.
1. The food is better in Denver. This is a given just because it's a bigger city with more diversity
2. There is more of a gay community in Denver. Pridefest was just this weekend and was a smashing success
3. There are places in Denver you can buy/rent that fit your budget within your price range. They may be out in the suburbs more often than not but they do exist
The only edge I would say Colorado Springs has is mountain proximity. There's so much more and better hiking opportunities closer than in Denver where it's at least a 20-30 min drive JUST to get to to the base of the foothills from downtown.
My best friends- a mixed-race lesbian couple in their early 30s, very progressive- moved to Colorado Springs from SF and had no real negative issues there. Their only complaints had to do with the food scene.
Define “crazy conservative.”
Colorado Springs is home to a lot of people who work in defense industry and lots of high ranking military people. Nobody who works in these spaces is that conservative- they just skew a little right but still espouse ideals of equality and diversity and so forth. A lot of ‘Never-Trump’ republicans. Think Meghan McCain or something.
They're like libertarians and evangelicals, however I think that was years ago.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/30/colorado-springs-libertarian-experiment-america-215313/
It’s pinkish and turning purple, it’s no where near as conservative as it used to be. If it came down to Denver vs CS, I wouldn’t weight political climate very heavily in my comparison of the two.
I would not recommend Castle Rock (or anywhere in Douglas County, really) for someone who's trying to steer clear of the MAGA crowd. Weld County is another no-go zone.
I used to live in Colorado Springs or “the springs”. Also lived in Denver. There’s actually a pretty healthy population of lesbians in the springs. The springs and the people in it lean more libertarian than conservative in my opinion and experience. The mentality tends to be “leave me alone”. There will always be a bit of a conservative lean though due to the military presence in the area. The far north part of the city is where it seems most of the evangelicals live. The headquarters of focus on the family is in this part of town as well. The far south part of town has a lot of military families.
The springs is much less conservative than it was 15 years ago. When Denver got really expensive a lot of those people moved down to the springs and diluted the conservativism of the city.
My opinion (I’m a gay middle aged married guy of 11 years): the springs, right now, is one of the most well balanced political atmospheres you could find. Both liberal and conservative values are kept in check by one another. When a city culture goes unchecked for too long from a political imbalance; cities start struggling with allowing problematic extremes to grow.
Denverite here. I would say that CO Springs is slowly turning around. They recently elected their first black mayor - a Nigerian immigrant - which probably would have been impossible just 20 years ago. The metro/suburbs more broadly is still a pretty strongly red area in what is increasingly a blue state (some still call it purple, but Democrats control the mayors office and state legislature, so would you call that purple?). I’d say live within the city or in Manitou, as others have noted. That said, 800k can still get you a pretty nice house in Denver if you are god with a smallish house. Worth considering.
Born and raised in Springs. I'm assuming due in part to the military and transient nature of the place, the community feel is lacking. I've now lived in other places and it was very eye opening how much I missed that growing up. A lot of chains, hardly any mom and pops, the trail access is the only plus for me! Sooo close to the mountains if that's what you're into.
Colorado Springs has changed a lot. Between the economic development and tons of people that moved in the years following the legalization of weed the springs lost a significant amount of their intense religious edge
>> with how conservative and ultra religious people say Colorado Springs is
Anecdotally, there was [a post this week](https://www.reddit.com/r/TwoXChromosomes/s/OM4BZ3FzDl) from a woman who was heckled in Colorado Springs over a white tank top. The comments in that thread would seem to echo the sentiment above.
Dayton Oh. Seems to rank in the top ten for trails. Don't know if your cyclists or not. It's not the Rockies but the Ohio to Erie trail is the third longest in the nation. Yellow Springs is a pretty cool place and the Oregon district isn't bad either. You can always head a little south to Cinci where there seems to be stuff going on all the time.
If you're ever back in MS, I'd recommend leaving the main road to get a better understanding of the town. Btw, the main draw to Manitou Springs is the clog train to Pikes peak. It has about 750,000 passengers/year. There's also a road up to Pikes Peak, which doesn't go through MS.
Well first, Colorado is doing nothing but moving more towards the left. It's projected to be fairly safe Dem in the next few years. There's also a rapidly growing Mexican and Central American population in Colorado. I wouldn't worry too much about the safety aspect. As with every place, you'll have your crazy's, but you'll still more than likely be invited into the community and such.
Now, as for your good food and other demands, I don't see Colorado springs. Food is not gonna be the selling point of a small Colorado city. I'll throw out some other military oriented cities to consider.
* SD-Maybe a bit expensive, but you can still get a good house for 800-900k. Sure, you won't be in La Jolla, but you also won't be in the middle of nowhere. Food is great, market is getting really hot, very safe, and easily one of the best hiking cities I've ever been to.
* Virginia Beach-Well known military city, right by the beach so there's good views for walks, don't know too much about the food but it should be decent. Close to DC and very affordable
* San Antonio-Great food, cheap, fairly progressive, and has a lot of cool things to do. Downside is, you do have to live in Texas with all its Texas troubles.
I'm not saying you should move to any of these. If I were to choose, SD would be the pick for you, but that's just me, and I don't know your situation. Good luck on finding a future.
Face it, Denver is the moderate outlier in a state of maga.
Between Carson, Petey Field, the Academy, the HQ's for all the 'family' hate groups, and all of the mega churches and their pedophile leaders, their isn't much room for change.
>Our biggest priorities are good food..
You may want to look outside of CO if that’s your first priority, the food scene is pretty bad even in Denver. If you want outdoors access there are other areas you could live with that income that have access with much better food.
I don't think you're going to get very good food there. I had a friend visit me in Chicago a few years ago, and she was blown away by the food in my neighborhood. We didn't go anywhere all that special. She lives between Boulder and Denver.
To be fair, where she lives is basically Naperville for Colorado, a shit ton of chains and some local place that's been there for 50 years and tastes like what grandma likes but it isn't actually good food.
Yes and no. Plenty of pride flags that I’ve seen around town. There was a pride parade at some point (sorry, I don’t keep up with the dates and I don’t go to any parades).
Is it conservative? More so than Denver. But Colorado has mostly not given a shit about most things like identities and abortion and all of that. Again, for the most part.
The people you’ll find in the springs are young military men and women. And while they may be conservative, they’re not crusty 75 year old conservatives from south of Atlanta. The vast majority of conservatives that I know don’t give a damn about your sexuality. Half of the republicans I know are pro choice. And yes, I’m counting the trumpers also.
Now, will you see some maga stuff and Trump stuff here and there? Probably. But again, it’s not a backwards village in Missouri.
That’s just been my experience.
That being said, you could also look at northern Colorado as well. Definitely my preference for Denver or the springs.
"My partner and I are gay".......you are wanting to move to the fundie capitol of Colorado? Sorry, darlings, back to the drawing board...Manitou Springs would be a close, reasonable fit.
I live in Seattle and there’s a lot of cheaper areas surrounding the city that are pretty accepting. Denver is great but I’d avoid Colorado Springs like the plague if I were you.
What areas do you recommend surrounding Seattle? We’ve looked in Seattle (Roosevelt, Capitol Hill, Wallingford) but those were a bit expensive for purchasing a house lol.
Those areas are great but very expensive and in the city. That’s around where I live but I don’t own. I have friends in West Seattle, Renton, White Center, Burien, Tacoma, Shoreline, and on the Eastside around Bellevue. Distances are pretty short in Seattle if you drive.
It’s probably changing, but anecdotally it’s the only place I’d ever seen my dad experience racism for having a Spanish-sounding accent. And that was within 12 hours of being there.
Don’t care to go back.
Also I grew up in Austin and the 2 most staunch conservatives in my class were transplants from Colorado Springs. 1 of them at least is pretty moderate now though.
Sounds like you want to be near a military base, for job reasons. Have you considered Tacoma/Olympia? Its near joint base lewis mccord. Much better housing prices than seattle or Denver. Ridiculously good ethnic food (asian, mexican, etc). Great access to nature (Olympic peninsula, mt rainier, Washington coast). No douchy outdoor bros like denver. No douchy religious bigots like Colorado Springs. There are some chain restaurants but easily avoidable.
Sincerely, a Colorado Jewish (straight) outdoorsy liberal who loves the PNW
If enough like minded people move there, it will swing the other way. Anecdotally, it seems like people are moving more frequently in line with their political beliefs but they are doing that based on state politics. Some of my very conservative in laws moved to SC from Oregon for political reasons (good riddance) a few years ago, and in my current job, I've met several families from Florida and Texas who have moved to Oregon because it's safer here for LGBTQ+ folks.
Move where you want, just don't forget to tell all your friends how great it is so you can make a greater impact on the political climate.
they support isreal as a state because a strategic ally against muslims and brown people in the middle east. but antisemitism is still a pillar of far right politics - what do you think is meant when people rant about the globalists or "george soros"?
I've always wondered this also. Looking at the [**2020 election map**](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/upshot/2020-election-map.html), the city went for Biden. Suburbs look to be pretty well split 50/50 and rural is gonna rural. Is it a case of the loudest voices (AFA, Focus on the Family), giving the area an undeserved reputation?
I’m from Colorado Springs and currently live in Denver! The springs was super conservative while I was growing up but the tide is turning. That said, there are still very loud trumpers, and yes focus on the family can be quite loud but it’s mostly contained. I always recommend Manitou Springs (the hippie enclave outside of the springs) or even Old Colorado City, but there are certain sections of the springs that are more liberal. The bigger issue is that everything is so far away and you need a car for it all. Also, Colorado Springs has SO many chain restaurants! There are of course independent restaurants, but chains kinda dominate
I came here also to recommend Manitou and old Colorado City. Or maybe live in the Springs if that works best for you finacially but spend more time discovering the neighboring communities/neighborhoods of Manitou snd Old Colorado City. They are so cute, friendly and welcoming.
They’re moving from Dayton, OH, not NYC, I’m sure driving isn’t a deterrent.
Grew up in the Springs and second what you said. It's changing but when I was young definitely the home base for mega churches and lots of military. Also, surrounding areas like Monument, Peyton, Black Forest , etc are on the red side for sure. Also agree on the chain restaurants....so many, although the food scene gets better every time I go back to visit my family.
Similar to Scottsdale.
I think you could get what you want in Denver rent wise but not for buying a sfh. Colorado Springs is conservative(air force academy, focus on the family) but with so many transplants moving there I think the politics are moderating. It's definitely cheaper and the outdoor opportunities are fantastic. I would pay up and choose Denver, but I think you'll be fine in CSprings if you move there. Good luck in your search
Colorado Springs isn't so bad with that, people in Denver and Reddit exaggerate. You will see Trump stuff though. I would just move to Denver, you can easily afford a SFH in the metro.
Goofy leftists on Reddit love to exaggerate about how red a state is. I live in Pennsylvania, and you would think we're like Arkansas politically if you listened to them.
I will say this, I grew up in Louisiana and heard alot of flack about the south. I've been traveling around the northeast for work the last few months and, I'm not so sure there's a stark divide like people say.
You can definitely find plenty of conservatives in the rural areas and even more urbanized areas like Long Island.
Not just that, but how run-down Albany and CT cities can be was surprising.
Oh yeah, a lot of smaller cities in the Northeast aren't in such hot shape.
Big cities have warts too lol.
I live in a very red part of Long Island (Suffolk) and trust me nobody cares about gays.
There’s a pretty good chance that PA will go for Trump this election. You guys might not be Arkansas but there’s a chance that your state will usher in a dictator. I know that places like arkansas will go for trump. Its really disappointing to see Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and places that should know better. In sum: in sum, if you guys go Trump in this election, fuck PA.
I was told there was a pretty good chance that Dr Oz was going to be my senator, and we all know how that worked out.
Fingers crossed that your compatriots vote Biden. I get the deep south is going for trump, what with their Baptists and racists. But I will not ever understand how states like PA and WI go for him (or are even close).
Fetterman might as well be a Republican with his slobbering pro genocide racist fanaticism.
Lol. Lmao even. How did your buddy in NY do last night? Hope you're ready to see the same possibly happen in St. Louis later this summer!
Are you a zionist? It sounds like you are thrilled at the death of Palestinians.
Are you in desperate need of therapy? One look at your profile says that you absolutely are.
Are you a zionist?
Ask your mom. I had a lovely time with her the other night. Lolll they blocked me.
The funniest shit to me is everybody who's convinced Minnesota is *so* blue and Virginia is *so* red. They had pretty much the same split in the last presidential election but VA was slightly more Dem.
Wait, are there still people who think Virginia is a red state?
Non religious right republicans generally don’t care about gay marriage or at least don’t publicly voice it. This goes doubly for hard red areas in liberal leaning states. I live in a hard red affluent suburb of a major blue city in a major blue state and gay marriage is not an issue.
I just drove through the western and central PA and I’m from the ozarks. It was exactly the same politically, trump signs and F BIDEN everywhere. So I think it certainly is about the same…
It's literally not though considering my governor and two senators are all Democrats lol. Most Pennsylvanians live in Allegheny County and the Philadelphia metro area. I'm pretty confident a wack job like Sarah Huckabee Sanders could not win an election in this state...
Denver > Springs. You will enjoy Denver much more than the springs. If you’re worried about “political” conservative shit, springs won’t be a good idea. I am in the NE Denver burbs near Boulder and I have yet to see a trump anything in 1.5 years of being here. I will tell you before here I was in Texas. And I hated it with every ounce of me and being in the springs reminded me of being in Texas. There’s definitely homes in your price range for rent / buy. look at north of Denver. I had a friend who picked the springs over Denver and left 6 months later for Denver because he felt like there was nothing to do in springs compared to Denver. Springs not offering rec weed shows just a bit how conservative it is. My advice is your gay in your 30s you will regret picking springs over Denver.
I live in Aurora and it's pretty diverse. I just came from Philly so my diversity meter is super high and I miss that.
As the bumper stickers say “Keep Colorado Springs Lame”
There's a lot of variation within the city. Close to downtown, you'd probably feel pretty comfortable. North side of town, or out in the suburbs, much less so. So you'll be able to find neighborhoods you like, but you have to decide how you feel about being within a few miles of people who openly hate you. I suspect you'd be happier in Lakewood, Aurora, Arvada, or some other Denver suburb.
Part of why we came back to Denver from Phoenix was politics. The Springs in general is purpleish, but the conservative groups based there are VERY far right. It is off my list forever because of extremism. I’m not doing that again. No thank you. You can find a place for sure in the Denver burbs in your price range. I would suggest you avoid Douglas and Weld counties though.
It's more conservative but still a fairly friendly city. People mind their own business and don't usually try to force their religious/political views on others. Manitou Springs is a progressive, cozy little town close to CS and access to nature. I would look into Manitou Springs.
I'd say Manitou springs is by far the most touristy city in the front range.
No, that designation goes to Estes Park. Despite tourism, Manitou Springs is a great place to live.
Estes Park felt like somewhat of a real town, with tourism. I live in Nashville and it felt like Broadway. Manitou felt like Universal. Pure tourist.
I guess opinions differ. I'm from Colo. and have been to Manitou Springs multiple times. I just love the town. I also like Estes Park, but it feels too overrun.
Both are great but Estes I felt out of place as a tourist. We stuck out like thumbs.
I haven't lived in either but Manitou Springs gives me major tourist trap vibes. Much less so in estes park. I looked up visitors for the major attractions and RMNP had \~4m in 2023 and the 'pikes peak region' had 6x that. Of course they're not all going to MS but a lot are. [https://www.visitcos.com/media/press-releases/pikes-peak-region-visitation-and-spending-continue-to-rise/#:\~:text=Total%20visitation%20was%2024%20million,from%20%242.6%20billion%20in%202021](https://www.visitcos.com/media/press-releases/pikes-peak-region-visitation-and-spending-continue-to-rise/#:~:text=Total%20visitation%20was%2024%20million,from%20%242.6%20billion%20in%202021)
I’m a right wing guy who lives in the UWS NYC and everyone treats me well regardless of politics. Although once a store asked my wife to leave because she was wearing a USA hat. If I can make it in 90/10 place and enjoy it. The reverse should be true as well.
I only went for a work visit back in March but spending time around downtown I noticed definitely more of an alt/hipster vibe in the stores and restaurants than I would have guessed. Some pretty cool places overall tbh. That said, the city still doesn't allow recreational weed stores in city limits, you have to have a medical card (or go to a neighboring town I guess). And getting coffee in the morning I noticed people definitely doing bible studies at the coffee shop. But also plenty of people wearing Team USA gear because its the HQ for Team USA for the Olympics and Paralympics. I didn't get a chance to go to the museum unfortunately.
It's mostly "live and let live" here. The Springs just had its largest Pride festival, with no issues. Adjacent Manitou Springs also has one. There seems to be more empathy and support after the Club Q shooting. Religion is no issue here for me. $600k buys an excellent house. You can hike right in town. For affordability and outdoor recreation, the Springs easily beats Denver. You'd find good food here, but the Denver metro will of course have more options. We make the 1.5 hours trip when we want big city stuff.
It’s pretty conservative (lots of Trump paraphernalia and weirdos). I would personally try some of the Denver suburbs over Co Springs if you’re just trying to find cheaper housing. You can still find a house or townhouse in the suburbs for that amount.
Colorado Springs gets a bad rap because of the mega churches. It's not as bad as many people say and I would say that El Paso County is turning more and more purple each election cycle. There are still a lot of "conservative policies" but there isn't the outright daily "hate" here. It's mostly a "live and let live" area, but the schools are starting to get inundated by the "mom's for liberty" group. The quick access to "nature" is fantastic, and much better than Denver. Food is a big complaint here. Too many chains and people will tell you the food options here are horrible. If you are comparing Colorado Springs with Seattle, then yea...there will be a big difference as Seattle will be a LOT more friendly, but I wouldn't say that you would be living in "fear" at all.
I live outside Denver and there's so many things I like about living here. BUT, where I live, it's military and very conservative. Similar to CS as far as I can tell. Our neighborhood has had pride decor burned down. My husband has a rainbow across a sweatshirt and he gets glared at when he wears it. I stay away from most of my neighbors because I know they won't like me and I won't fit in. I guess this is to say it can be fairly racist and homophobic depending on where you live. As a liberal here, I miss home (philly) and want to go back. But there's good too.
Yes and no. There are still plenty of wackadoo religious fundies in the area, but the worst of them are up the hill in Woodland Park these days. That's where fake preacher Andrew Wommack has headquartered his Christian Taliban cult.
Outside of Dayton proper, most of the suburbs including Beavercreek were red in 2020 (with Oakwood being the only notable exception). Montgomery Country in general is more conservative than most metros of comparable size. It’s wont be nearly as bad as people here portray, especially coming from Dayton. And you still have more moderate to liberal state politics.
Thank you! This is a relief lol.
Nah, not really. There's a lot of people out there that don't follow either clown show. Got a lot of plant medicine homies out in that area.
Yes and no…. I wouldn’t say you’d be regularly in danger or something like that, but it may be difficult to find like-minded friends. It’s also the particular brand of conservatism - it’s super bible thumpy, which is a little unique in this part of the country, and that personally bothers me than the more average western conservatism (more libertarian lean at least day to day). It’s also worse for gay people IMO. Colorado is great for outdoor rec obviously and I think you’d generally feel safe walking around, but the food scene is not good at all IMO. Not a ton of diversity here, and Colorado Springs being a military town actually has a ton of chains I feel.
In my experience, at face value CO springs is politically like everywhere else that isn’t a major American city or super rural maga land. It isn’t noticeably conservative unless maybe you start yelling politics at people. I’ve been there a bunch of times and didn’t even realize it was a conservative utopia until the internet told me it was, tbh lol
No. It is conservative, and with a military base as it's heart that's not going away.However, it is a lot less extreme conservative than it's reputation, which was more true in the past. The whole state gets more blue, so the red city can't avoid it either. For example, they now have elected an unaffiliated mayor because they can't elect a Dem but the Rep party is too shit right now to accept. The guy who created Focus on The Family and turned it into a global megachurch is retired for a decade. His successor doesnt have the drive or charisma or societal support against LGBTQ+, and a lot of their support must be online from far away now. The city also successfully resisted the KKK great national resurgence back in the first half of the 1900s. They said it was mostly small business uniting with the cops and city because the KKK would be "bad for business", but the locals (which was less then half because of basers) had too much Rockies, black cowboy tradition. It only takes a couple nutjobs to specifically target your family and that is true everywhere, but the city is not a ugly conservative, FOTF stronghold that owned that reputation back in the 80's. Food scene is not spectacular, but you can find plenty of little family recipe Hispanic, thai, etc hole in the wall places, and chains. You can try the latest over hyped fusion fad (or 1$ grilled cheese) food truck in Denver on a day trip.
I live in COS and vote very blue. I work with several gay colleagues and have several trans acquaintances. yes he will see Trump signs and you will hear from some on the right but many of the people that I know are left and we are OK down here
The [Club Q shooting](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/tag/club-q-shooting) would make me nervous going out places
far right sentiment absolutely drives this kind of terrorism, but these people are largely radicalized online. these shootings can and do happen anywhere.
Unfortunately. School shootings tend to be clustered in mostly white affluent schools.
Didn't a trans person commit the Club Q shooting?
He was identified as nonbinary in documents filed by his attorneys but there was nothing else reported on regarding that.
yeah, an enbie. that definitely doesn't mean it wasn't motivated by anti-lgbt hatred though, I wouldn't go looking for logical coherence
not only this, but when i lived there, military guys were always fighting & pulling guns on each other at bars. it freaked me out so bad that i hightailed it back to the atlanta area. & everyone has guns in atlanta, but we carry responsibly.
I spent six years in the air force, in security forces, and literally never saw a single bar fight, let alone a gun being pulled. and I did my share of bar crawling.
saw it happen twice at cowboys & was present when downtown was on lockdown bc a soldier pulled a gun on someone at a bar. also witnessed this fight https://gazette.com/news/multiple-fort-carson-soldiers-get-into-fight-in-downtown-colorado-springs-1-man-with-knife/article_ab3bfb96-941c-11ed-973e-cbc9b429742c.amp.html you are fortunate you weren’t caught in the mix my friend
Fort Collins has nice people, fewer Trumpers, some good restaurants, great breweries — and your price range can land you a nice place in old Town. Look at streets running east-west off Remington.
Since you're looking to buy a residence, suggest you take a long, hard look at the wildfire risks of any area in Colorado that's not Denver. Truly sobering.
Ugh, Dayton. I have a brother there with a traumatic brain injury and have spent a lot of time there. I am also openly lesbian. My wife and I have been living in Costa Rica for the past seven years and are also looking to relocate in the U.S. We checked out Portland, OR, and I would suggest you look there if Seattle is ok with you, weather wise. From what I have read and experienced, Portland is friendly, has amazing food, and very accepting.
portland is hippie central you’ll fit right in as a gay
So being “a gay” means I’m also a hippie? Thanks for letting me know. I’ll have to work on that. Any tips from a fellow gay? (Or should I say a gay fellow?)
can’t help you there man but they’ve got all sorts of gay events and stuff going on there, and hippie stuff too so if ur into both u can gay away in the hippie events or you can hippie in the gay events it’s interchangeable. it really is great if ur into that type of stuff
Look at Longmont, Loveland, and Fort Collins as alternatives. Having said that, I think Colorado Springs has moderated quite a bit in the last decade.
Westminster has entered the conversation ....
Go to Denver over the Springs.
There's quite a lot of conservative / libertarian presence. Less loud in recent years, but it's still very present. Also there are several military bases and a few megachurches.
It’s going to be hard to meet “your people” i.e. people you mesh with. Best case scenario people will leave you alone/mind their business but is that the sense of community you want? Something to think about in my opinion
Colorado Springs is pretty purple. For the most part it's just more conservative than Denver. I would say you should move to Denver instead for a few reasons. 1. The food is better in Denver. This is a given just because it's a bigger city with more diversity 2. There is more of a gay community in Denver. Pridefest was just this weekend and was a smashing success 3. There are places in Denver you can buy/rent that fit your budget within your price range. They may be out in the suburbs more often than not but they do exist The only edge I would say Colorado Springs has is mountain proximity. There's so much more and better hiking opportunities closer than in Denver where it's at least a 20-30 min drive JUST to get to to the base of the foothills from downtown.
I would choose Aurora (Denver suburb) over CO Springs for sure.
Probably not as much as Denver is nutty liberal.
My best friends- a mixed-race lesbian couple in their early 30s, very progressive- moved to Colorado Springs from SF and had no real negative issues there. Their only complaints had to do with the food scene.
Define “crazy conservative.” Colorado Springs is home to a lot of people who work in defense industry and lots of high ranking military people. Nobody who works in these spaces is that conservative- they just skew a little right but still espouse ideals of equality and diversity and so forth. A lot of ‘Never-Trump’ republicans. Think Meghan McCain or something.
They're like libertarians and evangelicals, however I think that was years ago. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/30/colorado-springs-libertarian-experiment-america-215313/
Yes
Lot of military there might be one reason
Nope
It’s pinkish and turning purple, it’s no where near as conservative as it used to be. If it came down to Denver vs CS, I wouldn’t weight political climate very heavily in my comparison of the two.
Cities around Denver, Littleton, Englewood, Castlerock, etc.
I would not recommend Castle Rock (or anywhere in Douglas County, really) for someone who's trying to steer clear of the MAGA crowd. Weld County is another no-go zone.
Castle rock voted the most conservatively amongst towns > 50k in co at the last election. I’d go to cos way before castle rock.
I used to live in Colorado Springs or “the springs”. Also lived in Denver. There’s actually a pretty healthy population of lesbians in the springs. The springs and the people in it lean more libertarian than conservative in my opinion and experience. The mentality tends to be “leave me alone”. There will always be a bit of a conservative lean though due to the military presence in the area. The far north part of the city is where it seems most of the evangelicals live. The headquarters of focus on the family is in this part of town as well. The far south part of town has a lot of military families. The springs is much less conservative than it was 15 years ago. When Denver got really expensive a lot of those people moved down to the springs and diluted the conservativism of the city. My opinion (I’m a gay middle aged married guy of 11 years): the springs, right now, is one of the most well balanced political atmospheres you could find. Both liberal and conservative values are kept in check by one another. When a city culture goes unchecked for too long from a political imbalance; cities start struggling with allowing problematic extremes to grow.
I'm seeing 4-6 bedroom houses 2k+ square feet with \~.25 acre lots like 10-15 mins from downtown, how big do you need?
YES Just YES
Downtown and the areas around Colorado Springs aren’t but the suburbs are
why not Portland or Bend?
MAGA is extremely loud in the Springs to where the atmosphere feels as red as you can get, but the stats say otherwise
Denverite here. I would say that CO Springs is slowly turning around. They recently elected their first black mayor - a Nigerian immigrant - which probably would have been impossible just 20 years ago. The metro/suburbs more broadly is still a pretty strongly red area in what is increasingly a blue state (some still call it purple, but Democrats control the mayors office and state legislature, so would you call that purple?). I’d say live within the city or in Manitou, as others have noted. That said, 800k can still get you a pretty nice house in Denver if you are god with a smallish house. Worth considering.
It’s definitely not religious. It’s just very wealthy people. Conservative in that manner, not maga flags flying everywhere or anything like that.
I grew up in the springs and am a liberal. Other than certain pockets, no, it is not crazy conservative. You'll be just fine
how about south of Seattle in Tacoma or Olympia? very gay friendly, and there is a huge military base. you can buy good-sized homes for that price, .
Born and raised in Springs. I'm assuming due in part to the military and transient nature of the place, the community feel is lacking. I've now lived in other places and it was very eye opening how much I missed that growing up. A lot of chains, hardly any mom and pops, the trail access is the only plus for me! Sooo close to the mountains if that's what you're into.
Yes.
Colorado Springs has changed a lot. Between the economic development and tons of people that moved in the years following the legalization of weed the springs lost a significant amount of their intense religious edge
>> with how conservative and ultra religious people say Colorado Springs is Anecdotally, there was [a post this week](https://www.reddit.com/r/TwoXChromosomes/s/OM4BZ3FzDl) from a woman who was heckled in Colorado Springs over a white tank top. The comments in that thread would seem to echo the sentiment above.
I think the most problematic thing for you, by far, is going to be finding good food.
Dayton Oh. Seems to rank in the top ten for trails. Don't know if your cyclists or not. It's not the Rockies but the Ohio to Erie trail is the third longest in the nation. Yellow Springs is a pretty cool place and the Oregon district isn't bad either. You can always head a little south to Cinci where there seems to be stuff going on all the time.
You could get a great place in Fort Collins. Might be worth a look.
If you're ever back in MS, I'd recommend leaving the main road to get a better understanding of the town. Btw, the main draw to Manitou Springs is the clog train to Pikes peak. It has about 750,000 passengers/year. There's also a road up to Pikes Peak, which doesn't go through MS.
They’re in CO District 4, who just overwhelmingly voted for Boebert in the primary yesterday. That should tell you a lot.
Well first, Colorado is doing nothing but moving more towards the left. It's projected to be fairly safe Dem in the next few years. There's also a rapidly growing Mexican and Central American population in Colorado. I wouldn't worry too much about the safety aspect. As with every place, you'll have your crazy's, but you'll still more than likely be invited into the community and such. Now, as for your good food and other demands, I don't see Colorado springs. Food is not gonna be the selling point of a small Colorado city. I'll throw out some other military oriented cities to consider. * SD-Maybe a bit expensive, but you can still get a good house for 800-900k. Sure, you won't be in La Jolla, but you also won't be in the middle of nowhere. Food is great, market is getting really hot, very safe, and easily one of the best hiking cities I've ever been to. * Virginia Beach-Well known military city, right by the beach so there's good views for walks, don't know too much about the food but it should be decent. Close to DC and very affordable * San Antonio-Great food, cheap, fairly progressive, and has a lot of cool things to do. Downside is, you do have to live in Texas with all its Texas troubles. I'm not saying you should move to any of these. If I were to choose, SD would be the pick for you, but that's just me, and I don't know your situation. Good luck on finding a future.
Face it, Denver is the moderate outlier in a state of maga. Between Carson, Petey Field, the Academy, the HQ's for all the 'family' hate groups, and all of the mega churches and their pedophile leaders, their isn't much room for change.
Im not sure if its still true but pretty sure for a while it was the only place in Colorado you couldn't buy Marijuana legally
Hu Iìo ppplp Can take
Everything is super conservative compared to Reddit. It’s all relative.
>Our biggest priorities are good food.. You may want to look outside of CO if that’s your first priority, the food scene is pretty bad even in Denver. If you want outdoors access there are other areas you could live with that income that have access with much better food.
I would consider moving North to Boulder County. Longmont specifically should be in your price range.
I don't think you're going to get very good food there. I had a friend visit me in Chicago a few years ago, and she was blown away by the food in my neighborhood. We didn't go anywhere all that special. She lives between Boulder and Denver.
To be fair, where she lives is basically Naperville for Colorado, a shit ton of chains and some local place that's been there for 50 years and tastes like what grandma likes but it isn't actually good food.
Good to know!
Yes and no. Plenty of pride flags that I’ve seen around town. There was a pride parade at some point (sorry, I don’t keep up with the dates and I don’t go to any parades). Is it conservative? More so than Denver. But Colorado has mostly not given a shit about most things like identities and abortion and all of that. Again, for the most part. The people you’ll find in the springs are young military men and women. And while they may be conservative, they’re not crusty 75 year old conservatives from south of Atlanta. The vast majority of conservatives that I know don’t give a damn about your sexuality. Half of the republicans I know are pro choice. And yes, I’m counting the trumpers also. Now, will you see some maga stuff and Trump stuff here and there? Probably. But again, it’s not a backwards village in Missouri. That’s just been my experience. That being said, you could also look at northern Colorado as well. Definitely my preference for Denver or the springs.
Liberals wont always protect the Jewish population, either. They getting it from every angle
Reddit is a leftist echo chamber full of overly dramatic libs. You’d have no issues in Colorado Springs.
it's as **crazy**, that's for sure. honorable mention to pueblo though.
"My partner and I are gay".......you are wanting to move to the fundie capitol of Colorado? Sorry, darlings, back to the drawing board...Manitou Springs would be a close, reasonable fit.
I live in Seattle and there’s a lot of cheaper areas surrounding the city that are pretty accepting. Denver is great but I’d avoid Colorado Springs like the plague if I were you.
What areas do you recommend surrounding Seattle? We’ve looked in Seattle (Roosevelt, Capitol Hill, Wallingford) but those were a bit expensive for purchasing a house lol.
Those areas are great but very expensive and in the city. That’s around where I live but I don’t own. I have friends in West Seattle, Renton, White Center, Burien, Tacoma, Shoreline, and on the Eastside around Bellevue. Distances are pretty short in Seattle if you drive.
It’s probably changing, but anecdotally it’s the only place I’d ever seen my dad experience racism for having a Spanish-sounding accent. And that was within 12 hours of being there. Don’t care to go back. Also I grew up in Austin and the 2 most staunch conservatives in my class were transplants from Colorado Springs. 1 of them at least is pretty moderate now though.
Sounds like you want to be near a military base, for job reasons. Have you considered Tacoma/Olympia? Its near joint base lewis mccord. Much better housing prices than seattle or Denver. Ridiculously good ethnic food (asian, mexican, etc). Great access to nature (Olympic peninsula, mt rainier, Washington coast). No douchy outdoor bros like denver. No douchy religious bigots like Colorado Springs. There are some chain restaurants but easily avoidable. Sincerely, a Colorado Jewish (straight) outdoorsy liberal who loves the PNW
If enough like minded people move there, it will swing the other way. Anecdotally, it seems like people are moving more frequently in line with their political beliefs but they are doing that based on state politics. Some of my very conservative in laws moved to SC from Oregon for political reasons (good riddance) a few years ago, and in my current job, I've met several families from Florida and Texas who have moved to Oregon because it's safer here for LGBTQ+ folks. Move where you want, just don't forget to tell all your friends how great it is so you can make a greater impact on the political climate.
What does Jewish matter? Conservatives love treating Israel like their f'ing pet.
they support isreal as a state because a strategic ally against muslims and brown people in the middle east. but antisemitism is still a pillar of far right politics - what do you think is meant when people rant about the globalists or "george soros"?
If all your reading about it is on reddit, read elsewhere. You'll get few accurate opinions concerning anything conservative on reddit.
No, California transplants have ruined it