Going to school in Georgia...

I've never been to Savannah, but from what friends have told me, I'm surprised it's being referenced as liberal. As for my time spent in Atlanta, I would not call it a liberal pocket. Actually, I should ask - how do you define liberal? Anyway, I was pretty unaware that I wasn't straight when I lived there, but my lack of interest in dealing with the men there often drew suspicions about my sexual orientation. Basically I spent my time there being told I was gay or endlessly teased about being gay. I did not spend any time around the lgbt scene, so this is my experience from outside looking in.

I would say that gay men (or LGBT individuals who present as male) are in good shape there. There are probably as many openly gay men as there are on the down low. Most of the LGBT clubs and bars cater to gay men. I don't recall ever encountering a gay man who didn't like living there. Actually, every man I encountered loved living there (women outnumber men).

For gay women, I noticed a different trend. There seemed to be a strongly held belief by some straight men that gay women were just women who were unattractive and therefore couldn't snag a man or had difficulties getting over painful dealings with men. Basically, they didn't believe that a woman could actually prefer women. Like, they aren't gay, they just haven't met the right man yet. Whenever I saw femmes holding hands or kissing in public, the men observing this would flip out in disgust and/or confusion. They could not understand why women they viewed as attractive were not dating men and were fairly vocal about that. Also, for a city with a surrounding area of almost 6 million people, I heard there was only one lesbian bar.

As far as transgenders go, I saw and heard them being mocked and ridiculed. I once witnessed one getting thrown out of a diner the minute they stepped inside. From my viewpoint, they were poorly treated and it was heartbreaking to watch.

Are you able to fly to either of these places for a weekend and just see for yourself?

 

Err, I always stay inside since I feel like I'm going to be attacked any time I leave the house. The state's pretty bad, but there are worse.

I've never had the luxury of escaping the Georgia/Florida area, so I suppose I'm just used to the harassment, but I'd agree that Atlanta and Savannah are the closet places to safety you'll get in this crater. I wouldn't exactly call them liberal though, but much more liberal than the rest; they still harbor many less than sane individuals who wander in from the surrounding areas. If you have the option of long distance travel I would not recommend staying, but I have not been in the areas for longer than a month so another member may be more educated on the manner.

Everyone keeps telling me I should go to the art college in Savannah, that it's great and full of my kind of people, and that might just be true... but I really don't want to spend any more time in this state than I have to, you know?

Well uh, hope something in my mess of rambling helped..?

 

I know the college you're talking about, my art teacher and mother are trying to convince me to go there, but I'm very skeptical about going to college there. It's an amazing school, and if it were farther north I wouldnt hesitate to apply, but Georgia..... The thing is, college will me my chance to start over as myself, But Since I'm not on T and I pass about as well as an elephant claiming it's a mouse, I doubt Georgia would be the right place to college.

 

Not to side track the discussion, but I had to respond to this statement. I felt the same way when I was living there. However, their reaction to people does not appear to have anything to do with their perception of one's sexual orientation, but whether or not you appear to have originated from two X chromosomes. Walking around Atlanta as a woman was like that scene in Silence of the Lambs, where Jodi Foster goes to the prison to visit Hannibal Lector for the first time. When he creeps her out and she dashes out of there, every male prisoner was grabbing and pounding on their cell bars, hooting and hollering at her, along with the sick individual who threw stuff in her face. There are so many sad and disturbing tales and encounters I could go on about, but I digress.

 

It depends how much time you'll be on campus and where in the city the campus is. The more time you spend on campus, the better your experience will likely be. The more open-minded the neighborhood around campus, the better.

Kentucky as a whole is not a great place to be LGBT, but the city I live in is, and the neighborhood where I live is one of the best in the city for LGBT.

 

I'll give some thoughts, but I think in some ways the only answer to give to your question here is one's personal viewpoint - take it for what it's worth. So, that said, Savannah strikes me (having visited there) as the kind of place that is very artsy and creative, but also very traditional and invested in a historical sense of itself. Could work well for LGBT folks, could backfire, probably depending on who you know. Atlanta (having also visited there several times) is pretty unambiguously LGBT-friendly, or at least has a large LGBT community that is very active and visible, and the city's very culturally active in general, so I really wouldn't worry about being LGBT there. Beyond both of these, if the college is very LGBT friendly and invested in LGBT issues, that will count for a lot on its own, regardless of location.

The thing about both these places, from what I can tell, and about the southeast US in general even more so, is that it matters very much where you are. Even in the same state there will be places that feel incredibly LGBT welcoming and friendly, whereas an hour east or west or whatever, and you'd think you were in a different world. In Georgia, Atlanta and Savannah are probably your two best bets, and I wouldn't personally hesitate in either case.

Otherwise, if you want to talk more specifically about the university in question, feel free to get in touch over PM - happy to go over some details with you.