“Which U.S. City Did Travel+Leisure Name the Best for Gay Travelers?” asked OutTraveler.com on Wednesday. “It’s not what you’d expect.” Unless you know Minneapolis-St. Paul like we do.
According to Travel and Leisure Magazine, a division of TIME Inc., Minneapolis-St. Paul is the nation’s number one destination for gay-friendly vacations.
The ranking is based on a reader poll done by the magazine this summer. Here’s the magazine’s methodology:
The America’s Favorite Places survey, developed by the editors of Travel + Leisure, launched online on June 2, 2014. Respondents rated their choice of 1,209 destinations in up to 67 categories, using a scale of one to five (with five being the highest score). The final results reflect a subset of the survey data for 38 cities, based on votes cast through July 21, 2014. Surveyed cities are selected by Travel + Leisure editors based on reader feedback and tourism statistics.
Providence, San Francisco, New Orleans, and Atlanta rounded out the top five.
Readers also picked Minneapolis as the nation’s best city for public parks and gardens, for the most active and athletic people, and for the most intelligent people.
Minneapolitans aren’t surprised, of course. Advocate named Minneapolis the gayest city in the nation in 2011. The area’s college’s and universities often top the list of the most LGBT-inclusive. Many other lists have noted the Twin Cities’ inclusion of LGBT residents and hospitality to LGBT visitors.