Map: The Geography Of Tolerance

By Richard Florida, via The Atlantic Cities:

Tolerance—the third of my 3Ts of economic development—provides a critical source of economic advantage that works alongside Technology and Talent. Places that are open to new ideas attract creative people from around the globe, broadening both their technology and talent capabilities, gaining a substantial economic edge.

The map above shows how metros across the U.S. score on the Tolerance Index, as updated forThe Rise of the Creative Class, Revisited. The chart below shows the top 20 metros. Developed by my Martin Prosperity Institute colleague Kevin Stolarick, it ranks U.S. metros according to three key variables—the share of immigrants or foreign-born residents, the Gay Index (the concentration of gays and lesbians), and the Integration Index, which tracks the level of segregation between ethnic and racial groups.

     Metro                                                 Tolerance Index Score

1. San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA            .751
2. Napa, CA                                                .747
3. Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA                          .739
4. Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA                       .738 
5. Santa Fe, NM                                          .726
6. Ithaca, NY                                              .723
7. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA            .708
8. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL                         .702
9. Boulder, CO                                             .701
10. Ann Arbor, MI                                          .693 
11. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach, FL        .692
12. Greeley, CO                                            .691
13. Trenton-Ewing, NJ                                   .690
14. Fresno, CA                                             .687
15. Las Vegas-Paradise, NV                            .686
16. Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR-WA       .684
17. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA           .683
18. Worcester, MA                                        .680 
19. Carson City, NV                                       .679
20. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH              .678

Even more than its natural resources and native ingenuity, what has stood at the heart and soul of U.S. prosperity historically has been its openness to hard working, ambitious, and talented immigrants of all stripes—doctors, engineers, and uneducated laborers alike. Roughly half of Silicon Valley start-ups have a foreign-born person among their founding team, according to several recent studies. Careful studies by the economist Giovanni Peri of the University of California at Davis have found that immigrants add rather than detract from American prosperity, for the simple reason that “the skill composition of immigrants is complementary to that of natives.” At the low-skill end of the spectrum, immigrants specialize in “manual intensive tasks such as cooking, driving, and building” that their American counterparts tend not to do. At the high-skill end of the spectrum, immigrants bring scientific, technical, and entrepreneurial skills that are in short supply and vital for America’s innovative and entrepreneurial engine. A “more multicultural urban environment,” Peri concludes, “makes U.S.-born citizens more productive.”

Openness to gays and lesbians similarly reflects an ecosystem that is open to new people and new ideas. It’s amazing how consistently people have misconstrued what my colleagues and I have had to say about the connection between gays and economic growth. They miss the point. A strong and vibrant gay community is a solid leading indicator of a place that is open to many different kinds of people. Ronald Inglehart, who has studied the relationship between culture and economic growth for some four decades, has noted that the lack of societal acceptance of gays is the most significant remaining bastion of intolerance and discrimination around the world. Accordingly, communities that have long been more accepting and open to gay people have an underlying ecosystem which is also more likely to be accepting of new ideas and different types of people, including the eggheads and eccentrics who invent new things and start new enterprises. As Bill Bishop put it, “where gay households abound, geeks follow.”

Tolerance affects economic growth by shaping the flow of technology and talent. Most economists tend to see technology and talent as fixed stocks, like raw materials or natural resources, but the reality is that they are flows. Unlike seams of coal or natural harbors, talented people are mobile factors—they can and do move around. Of course talented people come from different racial and ethnic backgrounds - a substantial share of Silicon Valley startups were founded by people who hail originally from outside the United States -  as well as different sexual orientations.The fact that some places are better attracting this flow of talent is associated with how open to different kinds of people they are.

Economists frequently note the importance of industries having low entry barriers, so that new firms can easily enter and keep the industry vital. Similarly, a place can benefit from low entry barriers for people—where newcomers from different backgrounds are accepted quickly into all sorts of social and economic arrangements. All else being equal, such communities have an advantage in attracting and retaining the diverse and different types of people who power innovation and growth.

Tolerance  -  and openness to diversity and inclusiveness - is not an afterthought or something that happens when communities get rich. It is a key element of the new economic development equation.

A Kid’s Reaction To A Gay Couple

I watched this video a while ago, way before I started blogging. I’ve had the interest of posting it, but until The Huffington Post brought up to the spotlight today was when I could find it. Calen’s reaction of meeting a gay couple for the very first time is priceless. I love his reaction, cause like everyone should, he got over it and went on to play Ping Pong. He’s words resume it all: “You’re much alike”.

In response to the vote in the New York legislature, the American Medical Association has issued a call for the marriage equality across the United States. Via press release from Freedom To Marry:

• With the New York State now the sixth – and largest – state to end the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage, the American Medical Association (AMA) adopted a policy position declaring that excluding same-sex couples from marriage is “discriminatory” and reaffirming existing AMA policy to support relationship recognition of gay and lesbian couples as a means of addressing health disparities faced by those couples and their families. “With this deliberate policy statement by the American Medical Association, the nation’s doctors diagnose the pain and injury that exclusion from marriage inflicts on lesbian and gay couples, their children, and loved ones – and make clear that ending marriage discrimination is the cure,” said Evan Wolfson, founder and President of Freedom to Marry. “The AMA now joins every other mainstream public health organization in America in making the case for providing the freedom to marry – and the critical safety-net that comes with marriage – to loving, committed same-sex couples.”

Dan Savage: Pro-Gay Christians Need To Stand Up To Christianist Bigots

Survey: Gays Gaining Global Acceptance

The Advocate reports:

An international study shows that most countries have become more accepting of LGBT people over the last two decades, but the reverse trend is evident in former socialist countries. 

The study finds that “overwhelmingly, societies have become more accepting of homosexual behavior.” In the study of 31 countries, most showed an increase in public opinion, with the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, and Belgium-Flanders the most accepting. Four countries — Russia, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, and Latvia — were the only nations to show a decrease in acceptance. 

According to the press release, the United States showed a bimodal distribution, indicating that many people have strong opinions about gay people. 

The study also shows more acceptance among younger adults, those with higher educations, those who attend religious services less often, and city dwellers. 

The report was conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, with support of the Williams Institute. 
 
Download the full report here.

ABC’s What Would You Do? Tackles Homophobia Towards Gay Families

Texas turned out to be more tolerant than New York. 

Miami RedHawks Promote Gay Acceptance

The Advocate reports:

NCAA scoring champ Andy Miele says the tragic death of Brendan Burke has enlightened his hockey team’s awareness of gay issues.
While homophobic slurs are kicked around as freely as a football on many sports teams across the country, Miele says there’s no place for such hatred on Miami University’s RedHawks, according to an article onOutSports.com. Having cherished and then lost their openly gay student manager, Brendan Burke, a year ago in a car accident, members of the Miami (Ohio) hockey program say they’re not afraid to hit the showers with a gay teammate or speak out against homophobia.
“One stereotype that people have about gay people is that they’re predators and they’re going to come on to straight guys,” said defenseman Chris Wideman. “But the one thing I learned from Brendan is that’s not how it is. The idea that a gay guy is going to force himself on you in a shower is totally unrealistic.”
Miele, who was named the 2011 Player of the Year for the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, was close friend of Burke’s and remembers nights out dancing with his gay friend at a local bar. An outspoken supporter of gay acceptance both on and off the field, Miele isn’t concerned about negative reactions from other athletes or fans.
“If someone wants to look down upon me because of my feelings on this issue, that’s their loss,” he said. “You play hockey because of the way you play it, not because of your outlook on certain issues.”
Read the full article here.

Wrestling Champion Hudson Taylor Speaks About His Anti-Homopobia Campaign