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It’s official: Salt Lake City is the gayest of the gay

David Martosko Executive Editor
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Salt Lake City, the church home of presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, is the gayest city in America.

The Advocate, a gay culture magazine, has released its third annual list of the 15 “gayest cities in America,” chosen by its editors according to a decidedly unorthodox set of criteria.

“[D]o we really need another article telling us that the homos gather in West Hollywood and Hell’s Kitchen?” the magazine asked, rhetorically. “That Northampton, Mass., is still Lesbianville, USA?”

Instead, each U.S. city was evaluated on the basis of whether or not the city has a WNBA team, a gay-themed bookstore, a place to practice nude yoga, and a chapter of the International Court — a charity fundraising organization that hosts drag-queen shows and costume balls.

Other criteria included how many gay, bisexual or transgendered city officials hold office, and the number of International Mr. Leather competition semifinalists who live there.

Overall scores were adjusted according to the size of each city’s resident population.

The 15 gayest cities in America, according to The Advocate, are:

  1. Salt Lake City, Utah
  2. Orlando, Fla.
  3. Cambridge, Mass.
  4. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
  5. Seattle, Wash.
  6. Ann Arbor, Mich.
  7. Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn.
  8. Knoxville, Tenn.
  9. Atlanta, Ga.
  10. Grand Rapids, Mich.
  11. Little Rock, Ark.
  12. Portland, Ore.
  13. Austin, Texas
  14. Long Beach, Calif.
  15. Denver, Colo.

Praising the winner, the magazine said the “far-less-oppressive-than-it-used-to-be Salt Lake City has earned its queer cred.” Second-place Orlando, it added, “has more gay softball teams than you can shake a Louisville Slugger at.”

Atlanta, with 29 gar bars, was the inaugural winner in 2010. Last year, Minneapolis took the top spot by featuring something called “a thriving bear community.”

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

David is The Daily Caller’s executive editor. Follow him on Twitter

David Martosko