I was just in Knoxville last week. (I was born there, but didn't grow up there, but live there from 1988 to 1998 and attended UT from 1988-1994.) Anyway I've heard of knoxboyz, but that's about all. As far as Knoxville being LGBT friendly, downtown (the Old City), the UT area and West Knoxville (the transient side of town) is LGBT friendly (until you get to about Farragut.) We were visiting my wife's parent who live 20 miles west in Kingston, TN (Roane County) which isn't as friendly but the closer to Oak Ridge (Anderson County) and Knoxville you get, the more friendly it becomes. The worst area for LGBT is the Strawberry Plains/Jefferson County Area East of Knox County. That area also tends to be more racist as well.
Last week we went to the Apple Store at West Towne Mall to upgrade her mom's phone to an iPhone that is on my account. (Shared Family plan.) I still have a male ID (till june) and didn't have any issued showing it to the Apple employee. (Of course Apple have great LGBT corporate policies.) I didn't have any issues at all in the area and blended in well despite being a 6'7" tall redhead.
