do you have particular advice for building a sense of belonging when moving to a new big city as a queer person? maybe places to frequent? especially interested in your more unintuitive wisdom
This is the age old question. My half joking advice is to look for "places for homos" like the villain cop in To Wong Foo:
To put it another way, I recommend making your search interest-first and not necessarily identity-first. As in, while the above list is "for homos," none of it is technically gay-specific. If you find people with similar interests, not only will you relate to them, but a lot of them may well be queer! Here are some places that aren't queer-specific where I've had good results or known others who have:
-Anything to do with the arts, and check to see if they're hosting events (museums, bookstores, libraries, art classes, theater, independent cinemas)
-Specific music or party subcultures (punk, goth, raves, etc)
-Group bike rides (a lot of cities have a critical mass ride)
-Board game/role playing game circles
-Left wing orgs (including if not especially those that aren't queer specific)
-Surprisingly enough you can find friends around a common interest even if you just appreciate that interest from the outside (this is how I am with drag and pup circles despite doing neither myself)
The same advice also applies in queer-specific environments. Like within a gay bar, you can find a group who always goes out the same nights to play darts, do karaoke, network in leather, or whatever the interest may be. Honestly your golden ticket in a gay bar is a friend who says hi to everybody, which isn't hard to find. And because it's pride month, you'll find lots of queer events now. Anyway good luck in your move and your search!
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