Gayest Cities in America, 2013

15. St. Louis (pop. 318,069) What was founded in 1764 as a fur-trading outpost has become an LGBT beacon in the Midwest. The city proudly proclaims a ton of neighborhoods as gay-friendly, including the queer epicenter along Manchester Avenue in the Grove, site of leather bars, the LGBT center, and the trendy Just John (JustJohnClub.com) bar; Tennessee Williams’s old haunt, the Central West End, with its architectural sights, hotels, and galleries; the South Grand hood, site of PrideFest and MoKaBe’s (MoKaBes.com) coffeehouse; Soulard and Cherokee Street, home to Clementine’s, St. Louis’s oldest gay bar, founded in 1978; and the stately Lafayette Square, for wine bars and B&Bs.