Asklemmy

for a lot of LGBT people it's a matter of safety. we don't leave by choice. I've known outright internally displaced refugees

I have lived here all my life and I've been sick of it for a long time now (for non-sexual orientation reasons). One of the reasons I never really left it, was my father. He passed away last year from dementia-related causes, and that kinda lined up with some personal desires. Atlanta is a gay mecca and I have considered going back to Atlanta, I really miss it so. But at the same time, I've visited Colorado and its beautiful out there. I know I should stay here and try to fix things, but I'm in a purple city, Nashville is increasingly expensive (Colorado more so, I am aware), and I don't like it here anymore for many reasons.

I failed to address the other point of the comment so here goes: There's a lot I could be doing to help LGBT people here, but my abilities are really limited outside of advocacy and financial support (which I do) by the makeup of the state assembly, and the politicization of the issue being used to gerrymander and twist the legislative. This is a problem all through the South, where purple cities are bastions of sanity. Tennessee isn't like Georgia, where the tide has pretty much shifted even in rural/suburban areas. It would be a long fight, and i'm not wanting to waste the second half of my life on it, its not guaranteed I can shift things. Anything I can do from the outside for the younger generation to fix it, I will do.

What kind of puritanical ass bullshit is this suffer yourself so other people can have it better mindset

What material support are you giving to LGBT+ people in the south? Because if you aren’t personally helping solve this then it just comes off as preachy. People don’t choose to uproot themselves from their family, friends, and community in the face of increasing violence and state oppression because it just sounds fun.

I get your sentiment, but as a New Yorker who had to come to florida temporarily due to an unavoidable life event: this place is fucked. I don’t feel safe here, and I’m hoping to gtfo asap. I’m in Orlando, and this is a city with a historic LGBTQ+ community I was once part of 27 years ago, but I saw the writing on the wall back then and left. Today it’s even more hostile and dangerous due to what the governor and state government have done and continue to do.

Staying here and “fighting the good fight” simply isn’t an option for most. It’s a serious risk. Look, mad respect to those who do— often those in positions of privilege who can afford to stand up and fight, but many of us are regular folk, struggling to get by as it is. That makes us targets.

In a way, that makes us civil rights refugees… an entire diaspora forced to flee from state-to-state for fear of persecution, imprisonment, and death.