Poly-Friendly Cities

I remember hearing something about Minneapolis - there were a few articles Alan posted on his site about poly peeps there, IIRC. Unless it was about what an anomaly poly is there - I don't know! Just thought I'd toss it out there for you or someone to look into!
 
Thanks guys.

For those just joining us: We are seeking to build a list of poly-friendly cities throughout the world. So far anecdote, reasonable guesswork, and word of mouth have had to suffice, but solid statistics based on polls and studies would be welcome too.

Here's the latest:

"The suburbs of Syracuse, NY have a good number of poly peeps."
-- BrigidsDaughter, http://www.polyamory.com/forum/showthread.php?p=263159#post263159

And nycindie suggested looking into Minneapolis. I did so briefly, and it sounds like it (the Twin Cities in fact) could go on the list.

http://polyinthemedia.blogspot.com/search?q=Minneapolis
http://mnpoly.spruz.com/

"City Pages, a Minneapolis/St. Paul alternative paper, not only wrote about polyamory -- they made it the cover story."
-- http://openingup.net/2012/11/01/polyamory-in-the-twin-cities/

And several cities mentioned in reddit sound promising:
"Minneapolis/St.Paul MN is a great area for poly and for lgbt acceptance."
"Melbourne definitely wins best poly scene in Australia."
"London (UK) is pretty well catered for in terms of the poly scene."
"St. Louis, MO has a variety of different groups that are poly friendly."
"'Seattle is generally considered to be the poly capital of the world.' Discuss."
-- http://www.reddit.com/r/polyamory/comments/1ackfu/which_cities_have_the_best_poly_scenes/

Given all that, I suggest the list now be:

  • Amsterdam, the Netherlands
  • Austin, Texas
  • Baltimore, Maryland
  • Boston, Massachusetts
  • Dallas, Texas
  • Kansas City, Kansas/Missouri
  • London, England
  • Los Angeles, California
  • Melbourne, Australia
  • Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota
  • Portland, Oregon
  • San Francisco, California
  • Seattle, Washington
  • St. Louis, Missouri
  • Syracuse, New York (suburbs)
  • Tampa, Florida
  • Vancouver, B.C.
  • Victoria, B.C.
  • Washington, D.C.
Do you agree? Any cities I should add to (or remove from) the list? What have you heard/experienced? Sound off.
 
Last edited:
Thanks guys.

For those just joining us: We are seeking to build a list of poly-friendly cities throughout the world. So far anecdote, reasonable guesswork, and word of mouth have had to suffice, but solid statistics based on polls and studies would be welcome too.

Here's the latest:



And nycindie suggested looking into Minneapolis. I did so briefly, and it sounds like it (the Twin Cities in fact) could go on the list.

http://polyinthemedia.blogspot.com/search?q=Minneapolis
http://mnpoly.spruz.com/



And several cities mentioned in reddit sound promising:


Given all that, I suggest the list now be:

  • Amsterdam, the Netherlands
  • Austin, Texas
  • Baltimore, Maryland
  • Boston, Massachusetts
  • Dallas, Texas
  • Kansas City, Kansas/Missouri
  • London, England
  • Los Angeles, California
  • Melbourne, Australia
  • Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota
  • Portland, Oregon
  • San Francisco, California
  • Seattle, Washington
  • St. Louis, Missouri
  • Syracuse, New York (suburbs)
  • Tampa, Florida
  • Vancouver, B.C.
  • Victoria, B.C.
  • Washington, D.C.
Do you agree? Any cities I should add to (or remove from) the list? What have you heard/experienced? Sound off.

From inquiring from people on the larger poly groups on facebook, I have heard that Portland is a thriving poly community. I do not have any personal experience, but everyone seems to say it is a quality poly community.
 
Yeah I have met some poly folks from Portland, and heard it is quite a poly haven.
 
The first time I went to a poly meetup in Portland, I was told that there's another poly person within a stone's throw at any given time no matter where you are in the city. From my experience, this is true. People will overhear poly conversations and stop to say hello or will recognize me from some work organizing poly events that I used to do and come introduce themselves. It's wonderful. :)
 
Thanks RiverRose and AlwaysGrowing. I will be adding Bristol and Manchester to the master list.
 
Thanks RiverRose and AlwaysGrowing. I will be adding Bristol and Manchester to the master list.

Question for you, since you seem very well-connected and in-tune with the poly world, what are the best places, online or in-person, to meet/chat/connect with poly people from the cities/places that in your top poly list?

Thanks.

Ryan
 
Well, ahem, haha, I wish I was well-connected and in-tune, however I think I mostly just got lucky in starting up a thread that got people talking. That and my penchant for obsessively saving whatever I think could be useful information.

The one thing I can say, and I don't know if this'll answer your question, is that Portland and Seattle seem to have a way of standing out as "The Powerhouses" in "the world of poly cities." As mentioned earlier here, Seattle has been called (by whom?) "the poly capital of the world." At the same time, I've heard tons of rave reviews about Portland's poly scene, and so far no bets on which of the two cities would "win that contest."

But if you have the freedom to be sufficiently picky about what city you move to, and you really want to be in the center of a hotbed of poly activity, then I would suggest try Portland or Seattle, whichever of the two you think you'd like best.

Now, that's based on bits and snatches of info and I'm sure argument could be made for this or that other city being an equal contender with Portland and Seattle. (Some might say Victoria for example?) I'm just giving expression to the overall vibe I've gotten so far.

I want to add that I'm repeatedly thinking about adding Columbus (Ohio) and Santa Fe (New Mexico) to the list. I kind of want to hear some kind of testimonial from someone else before I do though; I can't decide if I've heard enough yet about those two cities to add them to the list.

But yeah, I'm pretty darn sure Portland and Seattle are particularly heavyweight poly powerhouses.
 
I suppose since it's been a few weeks it wouldn't hurt for me to show the updated list.

  • Amsterdam, the Netherlands
  • Austin, Texas
  • Baltimore, Maryland
  • Boston, Massachusetts
  • Bristol, England
  • Dallas, Texas
  • Kansas City, Kansas/Missouri
  • London, England
  • Los Angeles, California
  • Manchester, England
  • Melbourne, Australia
  • Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota
  • Portland, Oregon
  • San Diego, California
  • San Francisco (Bay Area), California
  • Seattle, Washington
  • St. Louis, Missouri
  • Syracuse (suburbs), New York
  • Tampa, Florida
  • Vancouver, B.C.
  • Victoria, B.C.
  • Washington, D.C.
I should add that a couple of cities were obtained from a few smaller forums: +Relationshapes+ and Polyamorous Percolations. Hope there's no objection to that cross-posting of this particular project.

So, how does it look so far? Any cities missing? Any cities wrongly included on the list? Share your personal observations/experiences about any particular city if you're willing.
 
Hey Kevin,
I wonder where you heard about San Diego being poly-friendly? I remember there being a thread here a while back, in which a bunch of people complained about the lack of poly awareness and very little going on with poly groups in San Diego. So I always thought of that city as not being very poly-friendly.
 
Hummm, interesting NYC.

The bit of info I was going on came from Polyamorous Percolations. Here it is:

"I'd say that San Diego is also pretty Poly friendly -- it is very laid back, and I know there are some different Poly groups/meetups/events."
-- Oreadne, http://polyamoryonline.org/smf/index.php?topic=5836.msg61633#msg61633

So at this point, San Diego has gotten both a good review and a not-so-good review. I figured I'd eventually need a "mixed-review list," and San Diego is now the first city on that list.

Review:

I am interested in building a list of cities (around the world) that have a high percentage of poly residents, a goodly number of local poly social/support groups, and/or otherwise constitute a friendly setting for poly life. So far it's based on anecdote, reasonable guesswork, and word of mouth, but solid statistics (from studies and polls) would help a lot (if you know of any). Many people have been contributing to this project, and here's what we've got so far:

  • Amsterdam, the Netherlands
  • Austin, Texas
  • Baltimore, Maryland
  • Boston, Massachusetts
  • Bristol, England
  • Dallas, Texas
  • Kansas City, Kansas/Missouri
  • London, England
  • Los Angeles, California
  • Manchester, England
  • Melbourne, Australia
  • Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota
  • Portland, Oregon
  • San Francisco (Bay Area), California
  • Seattle, Washington
  • St. Louis, Missouri
  • Syracuse (suburbs), New York
  • Tampa, Florida
  • Vancouver, B.C.
  • Victoria, B.C.
  • Washington, D.C.
Please look and see if the list contains any/all cities you know of that are poly-friendly. If it doesn't, let me know what cities are missing. Also let me know if any listed city doesn't belong on the list.

I appreciate your help,
Sincerely,
Kevin T.
 
Update: I decided to add Columbus (Ohio) to the list.

New York City could end up there too if it gets someone besides me to vouch for it. I heard a rumor it had some good solid poly organization -- but maybe NYC should be expected to have that just because of its sheer size. I'm on the fence about it.
 
Oh god yes, Columbus. I'm so glad I'm in the area and have such a great local community. Cinci and Dayton areas have good communities too, although not quite as prolific and fairly heavily tied to Columbus.

Columbus is great for LGBT and kink lifestyles as well.
 
Cool, we have a keeper. :)
 
F.Y.I. ... a guy on Poly Percs nominated Nelson, B.C., so, with Wikipedia's "approval," I decided to add it to the list. Votes yea or nay are welcome, and let me know if there's any additional cities you know of that could go on the list.

Apparently, I just didn't know. According to my buddy who is from the area, its where "all the victoria run offs go"... and or the opposite "its where everyone from victoria is from"..

So I would say I have 3 more yays for Nelson bc. Poly Pot smoking central apparently.
 
Yay, pot *and* polyamory! Woo-hoo! :D Kidding of course

The two P's, right? :)
 
No, that's cool. I mean sure I'll take numbers if anyone has them, but so far I think the list is based on anecdote and personal experience.

And so! The new list looks like this:

  • Amsterdam, the Netherlands
  • Austin, Texas
  • Baltimore, Maryland
  • Boston, Massachusetts
  • Boulder, Colorado
  • Bristol, England
  • Columbus, Ohio
  • Dallas, Texas
  • Kansas City, Kansas/Missouri
  • London, England
  • Los Angeles, California
  • Manchester, England
  • Melbourne, Australia
  • Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota
  • Nelson, B.C.
  • Portland, Oregon
  • San Francisco (Bay Area), California
  • Seattle, Washington
  • St. Louis, Missouri
  • Syracuse (suburbs), New York
  • Tampa, Florida
  • Vancouver, B.C.
  • Victoria, B.C.
  • Washington, D.C.
To review:

I am interested in building a list of cities (around the world) that have a high percentage of poly residents, a goodly number of local poly social/support groups, and/or otherwise constitute a friendly setting for poly life. Many people have been contributing to this project, and the list above is what we've got so far.

Please look and see if the list contains any/all cities you know of that are poly-friendly. If it doesn't, let me know what cities are missing. Also let me know if any listed city doesn't belong on the list.
 
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