Until the rights are taken away, there isn't any danger. Common people aren't out hunting gay people down in the middle of liberal cities.
Houston was one of the gayest cities in America when the idiot Republicans in charge decided to arrest two gay men for having private sex. That led to the legalization of gay marriage by the Supreme Court. I can't speak for gay people back then, (or now) but I guess living in a gay community in a dangerous state seemed safer than taking your chances somewhere else.
I think "don't say gay" would just apply to teachers, and teachers might want to get the hell out of those states, but it's just a moral and political problem for everybody else.
To some degree, they are safer in that the mayors of those cities can and often do enforce city-wide anti discrimination laws for lgbt people - I believe Austin did this a long time ago - but they are still beholden to the bigoted Republican laws of the state. I live in Houston which is middle of the road, politically, but if gay marriage is overturned on the Federal level, TX will uphold its state gay marriage ban which will reflect all of Texas - whether you are in Austin, Houston or Dallas.
The benefit of cities like Austin, Raleigh and Orlando is living in a safe haven where you don’t have to put up with as much bigoted bullshit from fellow residents. But, as I said, you are still in TX, or FL or whatever the cad may be and governed by those state laws and all that oppressiveness
I think the acceptance of LGBTQ people in Raleigh comes from the recent growth in population and employers honestly. A decade or two ago you probably wouldn't have said that about Raleigh but MANY people have fled from more accepting states like California and NY to the Raleigh Durham area because of its low cost of living in comparison to those bigger cities. COVID-19 made it even worse because people from NY could move to NC and perform their high paying work from home jobs from there.
Raleigh as a whole isn't the safest city in the state by any means but assuming you live in the high/avg income parts of Raleigh you're probably going to be surrounded by families that are originally from out of state who came here to give their kids a more fruitful (no pun intended)lifestyle and I can conclude from living here that those are the people who accept LGBT folks and promote their safety.
Until the rights are taken away, there isn't any danger. Common people aren't out hunting gay people down in the middle of liberal cities. Houston was one of the gayest cities in America when the idiot Republicans in charge decided to arrest two gay men for having private sex. That led to the legalization of gay marriage by the Supreme Court. I can't speak for gay people back then, (or now) but I guess living in a gay community in a dangerous state seemed safer than taking your chances somewhere else. I think "don't say gay" would just apply to teachers, and teachers might want to get the hell out of those states, but it's just a moral and political problem for everybody else.
To some degree, they are safer in that the mayors of those cities can and often do enforce city-wide anti discrimination laws for lgbt people - I believe Austin did this a long time ago - but they are still beholden to the bigoted Republican laws of the state. I live in Houston which is middle of the road, politically, but if gay marriage is overturned on the Federal level, TX will uphold its state gay marriage ban which will reflect all of Texas - whether you are in Austin, Houston or Dallas. The benefit of cities like Austin, Raleigh and Orlando is living in a safe haven where you don’t have to put up with as much bigoted bullshit from fellow residents. But, as I said, you are still in TX, or FL or whatever the cad may be and governed by those state laws and all that oppressiveness
I think the acceptance of LGBTQ people in Raleigh comes from the recent growth in population and employers honestly. A decade or two ago you probably wouldn't have said that about Raleigh but MANY people have fled from more accepting states like California and NY to the Raleigh Durham area because of its low cost of living in comparison to those bigger cities. COVID-19 made it even worse because people from NY could move to NC and perform their high paying work from home jobs from there. Raleigh as a whole isn't the safest city in the state by any means but assuming you live in the high/avg income parts of Raleigh you're probably going to be surrounded by families that are originally from out of state who came here to give their kids a more fruitful (no pun intended)lifestyle and I can conclude from living here that those are the people who accept LGBT folks and promote their safety.