When you move into a new neighborhood, you’re gaining more than just a new house, new yard, and new location. You’re also gaining a brand new set of neighbors. If you’re not one to really talk to your neighbors, you may not plan to deal with them at all. However, most people at least acknowledge their neighbors and are friendly with them. That means you may have to come out to them, especially if they want to be on quite friendly terms.

Should You?

The first question you may ask yourself is if you even want to come out to your neighbors. If you’re single, it may not be worth it, even if you are currently dating someone. It’s unlikely that your neighbors will realize that the person who is coming over all the time is your significant other unless you’re engaging in any type of display of affection where they can see. On the other hand, there’s no real point in lying about who you are unless you have reason to believe that one of your neighbors may be homophobic. If you truly feel unsafe, you may have to determine whether remaining in the home is even the right decision.

How to Come Out

Coming out to a neighbor isn’t really the same as coming out to friends and family. It doesn’t have to be any sort of announcement. You could simply mention your spouse as either your husband or wife and leave it at that. If you don’t want to go that far, just mention you and your spouse or partner have just moved in. Your neighbors will see the two of you together and work things out themselves. If they ask questions or want to talk more about it, you’re free to be as open as you feel comfortable, but you’re under no obligation to tell your new neighbors your entire life story.

Dealing with Uncomfortable or Rude Neighbors

There’s always the risk that one or more of your neighbors are not accepting of the LGBTQ community. When that occurs, the best thing to do is to simply ignore them as long as they do nothing that threatens you or your property. There’s no reason to cause drama on the street, but you also have to make certain you’re safe and that no damage is done to your new home. If they’re willing to keep their distance and simply give you disapproving looks, you can take the high road and ignore them. If they verbally or physically attack you or damage your property, however, you have every right to contact the police.

Maybe you’ve just graduated from college, or perhaps you’ve decided it’s time for a change. You might be looking at retirement destinations or have just lost your job and have nothing anchoring you to your current location. Regardless of what’s driving your plans to move, you do need to take some time and carefully decide where the next phase of your life will occur. This decision shouldn’t be made on a lark or by throwing a dart at a map. But where can you find information that will help you? Here are a few places where LGBTQ people can learn about their potential new homes.

The HRC

The Human Rights Campaign works to advance LGBTQ rights across the U.S. They offer many different resources, but one of their best is the Municipal Equality Index. This annual report scores many of the country’s largest cities on how well they support the LGBTQ community. It awards points for having city ordinances that protect workers, the city’s history as an employer, whether city officials are supportive, and more. It’s a great way of getting an overall idea of how accepting the city is before you move there.

Go Online

The internet is perhaps the biggest resource out there. If you do a search for the city name plus LGBTQ support, you’re likely to find a number of websites, blogs, and message boards discussing how supportive or unsupportive the city tends to be. This is a good way to hear directly from people who live there now. You can get an idea of how the average person in the city is likely to view LGBTQ individuals and couples.

Your Friends and Family

It’s possible you know people who currently live in the city or have lived there in the past. They can give you insight into what you can expect and may even be able to suggest certain neighborhoods or parts of the city over other areas. Of course, if it’s been a number of years since someone lived there, do keep in mind that the city may have changed since then.

GayRealEstate.com

Finally, this very website can help you learn more about other cities. We offer much more than just a way of finding a great gay or lesbian real estate professional. We’ve published a number of articles that provide useful information about cities across the U.S., including the average housing cost. Be sure to check them out so you can make an informed decision about your future.