Berwyn 3rd in gay marriage licenses

[Ted]

  The Cook County Clerk's office has released statistics on same sex marriage licenses issued in Cook County after 12 months of issuing licenses.

   Berwyn ranked 3rd among the Cook County suburbs in terms of number of same sex marriage licenses issued, with Evanston being first and Oak Park being second. 59 same sex marriage licenses have been issued to residents of Berwyn.

http://www.cookcountyclerk.com/newsroom/newsfromclerk/Pages/ReportOneYearofMarriageEqualityinCookCounty.aspx

[markberwyn]

Nice to see. I wonder how much those numbers have to do with the city itself actively courting gay couples:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/30/gay-neighborhoods-diminishing/14681713/

It's fascinating to me, because I think for a long time Berwyn would be one of the last suburbs to embrace that kind of diversity; it wasn't so long ago that there were a good number of right-wing bigots on this board who took issue with LGBT equality.

[Ted]

Nice to see. I wonder how much those numbers have to do with the city itself actively courting gay couples:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/30/gay-neighborhoods-diminishing/14681713/

It's fascinating to me, because I think for a long time Berwyn would be one of the last suburbs to embrace that kind of diversity; it wasn't so long ago that there were a good number of right-wing bigots on this board who took issue with LGBT equality.

  Berwyn has always had a denser than average gay population (along with Forest Park and Oak Park), even before Berwyn started courting gays to move to Berwyn.  In both the 2000 census and the 2010 census, Oak Park, Forest Park and Berwyn were 3 of the 4 densest cities in terms of same sex couples as a ratio to the total population.

  I would attribute that, in large part, to 2 long running gay bars in Forest Park - the Hideaway and the Nutbush.  When I looked at the 2000 census, there seemed to be a correlation between location of gay bars and the density of same sex couples.  I think a lot of gays moved to Oak Park and Forest Park (and to a lesser extent Berwyn) because of the Hideaway and the Nutbush.

  That led to Oak Park becoming gay friendly which led to even more gays moving to this area.

The only difference was gays in Berwyn kept quiet about living here while gays in Oak Park were more open.  But, I think Berwyn has had a pretty large gay population for a long time.

[dukesdad]

Ted, I never thought you were dense.

[Ted]

Ted, I never thought you were dense.

  Yeah, I am pretty dense... at least in the way that sentence was written... LOL

[MRS. NORTHSIDER]

Ted, I never thought you were dense.

  Yeah, I am pretty dense... at least in the way that sentence was written... LOL

Ted, you are so not dense.  I am proud to live in a suburb where same sex couples obviously feel comfortable to call home.  I was at a party yesterday with extended family who live in a multitude of suburbs in the Chicagoland area and I sincerely doubt any of their kids or grandkids have had the experience of families my children have.  Straight, gay, white, black, hispanic and everything in between.  My kids just look at them as neighbors.  I am really proud of that fact.