My City is the 15th Gayest City in America

.. and I'm actually a little stunned.

The Advocate's list of 2013's "15 Gayest US Cities" has my hometown, St. Louis, barely squeaking in at number 15.

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.

National recognition for something other than STDs or crap Todd Akin says is great, but the fact remains that the state as a whole fails when it comes to LGBT rights. Missouri still doesn't recognize same sex marriage. In a 2012 public opinion poll, only 36% of Missouri voters supported the legalization of same-sex marriage, while just over half opposed it. (source ) And gender identity and sexual orientation has yet to be addressed under the state's non-discrimination laws. (source)

I think I understand what the Advocate is doing by recognizing a handful of medium-sized, and smaller towns. St. Louis itself has a great LGBT community, but coffeehouses and Pottery Barn don't make up for the larger issue of civil rights.