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IOWA
ETA: Okay, so. I moved to Iowa (from Southern California) when I was 16. I spent my last year of high school there and went to college at one of the state universities. Iowa is where I figured out I was gay (sophomore year), where I fell in love for the first time, where I made really fantastic friends who have always loved me for who I am [hugs![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nepnthe and quamada].
There's been some shock going around the internet that Iowa, 'of all places,' would be the third state to legalize gay marriage. And folks, I understand where you're coming from (my teenage self was *not* a happy camper when she found out about the move), but y'all are operating under a misapprehension.
Iowa? Iowa is *great.* For me, anyway - the people have a live-and-let-live attitude that I haven't seen anywhere else. I was out, *out* out, on campus. There was a very active GLBT group that participated in all student organization events (come to the student org fair and see live gay acts! - hanging out, eating cookies, sitting at the table, we do it all!). Pride week had tons of scheduled events and sidewalk chalk advertisement. We had our standard-issue crazy religious folks speechify outside the Student Union, and the usual response was that whatever gay couple was handy made out in front of them. This wasn't Ames or Iowa City, either, but the little state university that could to the north.
My friends were uber-supportive when I came out - all of them (well,nepnthe laughed at me, but after that she was great), even the particularly religious. Our family pastor (Methodist, in a town that's as 'small town america' as you can get) was never anything but wonderful.
Which is the long way around to saying - I'm not surprised. Iowa is freaking *awesome,* and I am so, so proud of it.
ETA: Okay, so. I moved to Iowa (from Southern California) when I was 16. I spent my last year of high school there and went to college at one of the state universities. Iowa is where I figured out I was gay (sophomore year), where I fell in love for the first time, where I made really fantastic friends who have always loved me for who I am [hugs
nepnthe and quamada].There's been some shock going around the internet that Iowa, 'of all places,' would be the third state to legalize gay marriage. And folks, I understand where you're coming from (my teenage self was *not* a happy camper when she found out about the move), but y'all are operating under a misapprehension.
Iowa? Iowa is *great.* For me, anyway - the people have a live-and-let-live attitude that I haven't seen anywhere else. I was out, *out* out, on campus. There was a very active GLBT group that participated in all student organization events (come to the student org fair and see live gay acts! - hanging out, eating cookies, sitting at the table, we do it all!). Pride week had tons of scheduled events and sidewalk chalk advertisement. We had our standard-issue crazy religious folks speechify outside the Student Union, and the usual response was that whatever gay couple was handy made out in front of them. This wasn't Ames or Iowa City, either, but the little state university that could to the north.
My friends were uber-supportive when I came out - all of them (well,
nepnthe laughed at me, but after that she was great), even the particularly religious. Our family pastor (Methodist, in a town that's as 'small town america' as you can get) was never anything but wonderful.Which is the long way around to saying - I'm not surprised. Iowa is freaking *awesome,* and I am so, so proud of it.
