Source: Houston Chronicle, KHOU TV, News 8 Austin
GALVESTON, Texas -- With its laid-back lifestyle and low cost of living, Galveston promises to become the gay tourist mecca and residential center of the South, said activist-publisher Laura Villagran, who earlier this month opened the city's first gay and lesbian visitor's center.

Long known for its vibrant bar scene and raucous Splash Day celebrations, Galveston in recent years has become home to a growing gay and lesbian professional class. Now, real estate agents say, the city is poised to become a retirement haven for graying gays who, like their heterosexual counterparts, succumb to the lure of sun and surf.

In recent years, signs of a growing gay presence have appeared in Galveston, a city of 57,000 that boosters boast couples tolerance with a quirky small-town charm.

The opening of the visitor center is the latest indication that this historic Texas island city could become a tourism and residential hotspot for gays, observers said.

Last year, the Harbor Metropolitan Community Church opened with a focus on gay worshippers. And this October, organizers held the city's first gay pride festival.

Real estate agents say an increasing number of gays are buying houses in the historic Texas island city.

A recent survey by a Rice University pollster Stephen Klineberg found the city of 57,000 to be the most liberal in the Houston region on the issue of gay marriage.

Tim Brookover, a Galveston native and editor of OutSmart magazine, said the city has long had a gay presence, “but people didn’t recognize it or talk openly about it.”

Villagran said people increasingly “are coming out of the closet, so to speak, and choosing to live openly as gays.”

Real estate agents said more gays are learning about the Galveston’s laid-back culture and large supply of older homes, resulting in more gay home ownership in the past few years.

Gay real estate agent Eldredge Langlinais, a former Houston resident who also owns the Pink Dolphin Bar and heads the gay Krewe of Banner Mardi Gras group, said  that because many of the new homeowners are childless, they have the financial resources to restore more derelict properties.

"I first bought a weekend cottage in 1978," he said. "When I crossed the causeway -- the ambience, the different look, the palm trees, the older houses and, of course, the water -- I'd know immediately that I was somewhere else."

Trey Click, editor and publisher of The Parrot, a local entertainment magazine, said there’s less stigma associated with gays than there used to be.

“People have recognized that it’s not -- oh my God! -- the gays have come to ruin the world.”

Anti-gay sentiment is not unheard of on the island. In 1998, someone bought a newspaper advertisement denouncing a city council candidate as a homosexual. And in 1999 a Houston minister led a protest in front of a new gay motel.

But lawyer-real estate agent David Bowers -- the ad's target during his bid for a third term on City Council in 1998 -- finds in the incident a more revealing glimpse of the city's character.

"It was amazing," said Bowers, who later made an unsuccessful bid for mayor. "What was heartening about the whole experience was that many straight families called me in support. They were very concerned that someone in Galveston would run that ad. The whole community was embarrassed."

Political observer Curtiss Brown, a Galveston resident for more than 30 years, said the city’s tolerance stretches beyond gays.  Galveston’s history as an immigration port and the devastating 1900 hurricane contributed to the city’s accepting attitude, he said.

“We learned that we just couldn’t afford prejudice,” he said.

Full article: More gays pick Galveston as spot to live and relax | Houston Chronicle
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