Personally surprised to see Minnesota, but hey good to know now!
As a trans woman who moved from California to Washington, can confirm. There are plenty of conservative types, but they mainly congregate in the eastern, deserty- part of the state. The warehouse I work in has pride flags hanging up on the walls, which even surprised me.
I am, unfortunately, too broke for this...
Sorry :/ Hopefully it's not too bad where you're at?
hugs
Thanks! Luckily I'm in the mid Atlantic and my state is mid on LGBT protection laws... Though it is a purple state. I also have a partner and a job (which I didn't always have), so I don't consider myself high risk right now. I would like to be somewhere with stronger protections one day, though.
Shocked Massachusetts isn't on that list but California is. Hated being queer in CA
Oh thank god my home state of MN is on that list!
Honestly, Minnesota (at least in the cities) is super queer-friendly from my experience. The latest legislative session has put some pretty positive things in the books and have enshrined the state as a trans refuge.
In the last year I've been in the process of transitioning and my coming out couldn't have gone smoother. No one's given me anything more than a passing glance as, I assume, they try to figure out my gender. But even that's been kept to themselves and I've heard nothing but respect for my name and pronouns when I've been out and about.
WA resident here, raised in AK. The healthcare here is pretty a.azing. my medicaid pays for all surgeries, procedures, even hair removal!
We also have some good laws like how demanding to know what kind of genitals a trans person has is something that you can call the cops about.
Thanks, that sounds wonderful! It's good just to read about a real alternative place where things are so much better for people! I'm happy for you!
I'm a cis male, so I can't speak from the perspective of an LGBTQ+ person, just an ally. I definitely want to echo that Eastern WA (east of the Cascades) is much more conservative than western WA. As someone who lives in Spokane and moved from the west side of the state, I hear can be a better place, but frankly it's relative to eastern WA and Idaho. Spokane is a short drive (~30 minutes or so) to Idaho, and even less-so to its counterpart Spokane Valley. Even then, it's a stark contrast between north Spokane city and south Spokane city.
Puget Sound, specifically King county, will be the best place in my opinion for Washington. The greater Seattle metro and i5 corridor is probably the right place to start looking. Keep in mind the further from Seattle and Capitol Hill you go, the more pockets of right-wing you find.
I left Texas for Washington over 10 years ago now partly because even then it was known as a trans haven in the community - it has plenty of its own problems (especially cost of living and the continued effects of redlining) but I've only rarely felt unsafe here and the parts of my physical and legal transition that I've done here have been relatively straightforward and uncomplicated even navigating insurance. I've also not had many outright discrimination issues with employers, if anything I deal with more tokenism issues. I don't dislike Texas entirely and even miss some of my family and some things about it, but getting to live my life fully is worth the trade off; that's a determination everyone needs to make for themselves though!
It's good to hear that you've found a safer place and things are uncomplicated there! Missing some aspects of the culture you grew up around, the landscapes, friends and some family is definitely something I can relate to but it seems a small sacrifice for a better future. Thank you for sharing your perspective!
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