California/West Coast Feedback

[SandraB]

Can anyone give me some feedback on living in California, Washington or Oregon. One of my kids is pushing me to move there for a better quality of life. I used to live in Ohio and am currently in Louisiana, perhaps the most oppressive state in the nation. Right now, fear is my best friend.

[captains]

Portland, Oregon is a very trans friendly area, imo, with a lot of support groups and informed consent clinics. I felt safe living there -- although other parts of Oregon are quite rural, and a lot more conservative than the city. Can't speak for anywhere else, I'm afraid!

Edit:  this post is fairly old, and I'm not sure why the app is pulled it to the top of the timeline. Sorry! Hope my answer is still somewhat useful.

[JustASeq]

I live in San Francisco bay area. Definitely the reason I moved here was to transition more comfortably. Although there are downsides. More people here are familiar with trans people so you might get outed more. I think if  I lived in a place that was less familiar with trans people I'd actually "pass" more. Anyways, love it here, yay pacific northwest!

[clearleeraines]

I so feel you sandra. I grew up in south central Alaska,Anch/Mat-su Valley. About as Manly Man as ur gonna get,lol.
Then to Nashville,TN. Same thing. However I do love both Alaska and Tennessee. I now live in Palm Spring CA. About as Gray and Gay as ur gonna get. I don't care for it here! way too hot! But alas, I get to be me 24/7/365 A happy lil Androgyne/genderbender/genderqueer. Nobody even notices you or cares, Once in awhile someone will ask where I got my jeweleries or clothes shoes etc. Yesterday a kid came up to me and asked if my boobs were real ? Kids! I told him yeah there real, where are yours! I asked and he stated I am on blockers I was born a female! That one rocked me "HE" looked great like dennis the menace, chunky and tough looking. Me I don't care to pass or not, I just look like a 80's glam rocker. But that one got me. So yeah its true here in the desperate desert and if you golf thats a big plus, Me I am bored. The so-cal scene IS smoked out for sure, personally I am going to Seattle or BC soon, cuz my boy's are still in Alaska I wanna be closer and I lived in Bellingham,WA before I liked it a lot the folks around there are like TN very friendly and Kewl. Theres my 2 cents
Good luck. Mx Clear Raines     

[Khalysta]

I grew up in ohio and went to ohio state.  I thought columbus was kind of liberating with the university and the lgbt community being pretty big there.  It's amazing the capitol is a stones throw away from all that yet they have backwards policies and no protections.

Anyways, I am in San Diego now.  You get what you pay for out here though.  It's mostly year round sunshine, cold is a high in the 60s and then there is the beaches.  Plus you have a vibrant lgbt community in hillcrest and pretty much all over San Diego.  Nobody really cares though about what you do or how you choose to live your life. I would say you are fine in san diego, LA/orange county or the bay area.

I don't think you have to do west coast though.  I love being out here but its a lot because of the climate which you end up paying for.  Any semi progressive city will do especially the states with protections which is either coast.

[Harley Quinn]

Seattle, Olympia, and Vancouver, WA are good areas. Very open minded in my opinion. I would stay out of rural areas, as they tend to get closed minded at an exponential rate the further you get from those 3 cities.