And the 'Gayest City in America' Is ... Atlanta?

Apparently, it turns out that not all of those men in Navy uniforms strolling through San Diego may actually be in the Navy. The SoCal city received its auspicious ranking in an article titled the "Gayest Cites in America" printed in the February edition of The Advocate, naming the nation's 15 gay-friendliest burgs. San Francisco, incidentally, did not make the cut, and the No. 1 ranking went to Atlanta -- a city with a more prominent history of burning than flaming. 

Of course, the metric used by author Mike Albo put any California city in the hole; only No. 14 San Diego made the list. "Statewide Marriage Equality" was one of his major factors, as was "recognition of out-of-state marriage." San Francisco has proven that the former cannot be achieved on a citywide basis. A Mark Leno-penned state bill that accomplished the latter became law late in 2009, but it's unclear if that was factored in. California cities also lost points because of a statewide same-sex marriage ban. Here are the other criteria:

Same-sex couple households per-capita; Gay elected officials; Gay dating and hookup profiles per single male population; Gay bars per capita; Cruising spots per capita; Gay films in Netflix favorites.

Using this methodology, cities like Albuquerque, the aforementioned San Diego, Asheville, N.C., and Portland, Maine made the list. The city whose Assemblyman shouted at the state governor, "Kiss my gay ass" did not.

Well, fair enough. Also left off the list were New York City, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Miami, and virtually every large city. In fact, the article's thesis was that "Secondary cities are becoming gay epicenters." So San Franciscans can still cheer themselves that we are not yet a "secondary city."

Photo   |   Phillytim