> This assumes that one's politics align with the politics and hostile culture in California. I intentionally avoid living in CA due to its culture/politics and have turned down multiple bona fide relocation offers to CA.This is certainly true! To each his own. My point was that the midwest probably isn't a great place to be if you're looking for "cheaper California".
Sounds like we agree on that.
> When I lived in the Midwest, we had not only multiple gay people, but multiple gay teachers living in our neighborhood... these teachers were able to go about their business just fine and spent many years teaching at the schools
1. "Not being fired for being gay" is literally the lowest bar I can think of other that "not being imprisoned for being gay".
2. A school I attended explicitly discriminated against trans people in hiring. And those are the public schools. So, YMMV. I'm sure things have gotten better across the entire country since then, including the midwest.
3. Even without "lose your job/house" levels of hate, the world can still be a nasty place. E.g. imagine driving by this billboard every day: http://www.medina-gazette.com/news/2013/02/22/Passers-by-on-...
And of course most of the people you interact with disagree with the sign, but attend churches that teach the exact same thing. Those "midwestern nice" interactions don't feel so "nice" anymore.
> If you live in a big city like NYC or SF, you probably get exposed to more "intolerance" from contrarians/extremists who also live in big cities than someone who lives in the Midwest.
Sure. The difference is who's in charge! And that's the difference that makes a difference.
> The Midwest is a great place to be. It's extremely unfair to cast such aspersions on it.
For you. I hated it.
This is certainly true! To each his own. My point was that the midwest probably isn't a great place to be if you're looking for "cheaper California".
Sounds like we agree on that.
> When I lived in the Midwest, we had not only multiple gay people, but multiple gay teachers living in our neighborhood... these teachers were able to go about their business just fine and spent many years teaching at the schools
1. "Not being fired for being gay" is literally the lowest bar I can think of other that "not being imprisoned for being gay".
2. A school I attended explicitly discriminated against trans people in hiring. And those are the public schools. So, YMMV. I'm sure things have gotten better across the entire country since then, including the midwest.
3. Even without "lose your job/house" levels of hate, the world can still be a nasty place. E.g. imagine driving by this billboard every day: http://www.medina-gazette.com/news/2013/02/22/Passers-by-on-...
And of course most of the people you interact with disagree with the sign, but attend churches that teach the exact same thing. Those "midwestern nice" interactions don't feel so "nice" anymore.
> If you live in a big city like NYC or SF, you probably get exposed to more "intolerance" from contrarians/extremists who also live in big cities than someone who lives in the Midwest.
Sure. The difference is who's in charge! And that's the difference that makes a difference.
> The Midwest is a great place to be. It's extremely unfair to cast such aspersions on it.
For you. I hated it.