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Our Hometowns

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GLBT-friendly small cities and towns in America Yearning for a gay-friendly home with a backyard and neighbors who won't mind your rainbow flag wind socks? Looking for a place where you can be out, keep your job, and raise your kids? These days, you don't have to move to New York or San Francisco to find a safe, supportive community.

When PlanetOut wanted to find the gay-friendliest small towns across America, we went straight to the experts: you!

We asked our members to tell us why their hometowns were great places for gay folks -- and their families -- to call home. We wanted as much detail as possible: everything from the number of gay organizations and businesses to the cost of living and the quality of the public schools.

Based on your responses and our own research, and keeping an eye on geographic diversity, we came up with two lists: truly small towns (with populations below 30,000) and relatively small cities (with under 200,000 inhabitants each).

The winning towns are a varied and far-flung collection, from the tiny rural hamlet of New Hope, Pennsylvania to the island community of Pahoa, Hawaii. Several of the cities -- like Boulder, Colorado and Asheville, North Carolina -- bravely stand up for the rights of their gay residents against the conservative regions surrounding them. Many folks proudly defended their small towns for their open-mindedness, proving that diversity thrives in even the most remote corners of the United States.

So if you're ready to settle down and start a family, or you're simply getting tired of big city life, start packing -- you've got plenty of options!

Click here to see a list of all the nominated towns.

Small Cities