Liberal Unfriendly Place: Indianapolis, IN

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I take issue with this: Boone County, directly northwest of Indianapolis, has got to be more Republican. Much of the county is rural, and resembles something out of deliverance. Out there, the racism and and homophobia can be cut with a knife. The town in the southeast corner of the county, Zionsville, features the Midwest's only Rolls Royce dealership. When I was in the Zionsville school system, there was not a single black student in grades K-12. The racism there, while being noticeable, takes on a mix of economic and social motivations. The only black inhabitants are likely to be Indianapolis Colts, and are grudgingly accepted because they have money. So the Indianapolis metropolitan area is strongly conservative. If you happen to be liberal and happen to be in the area, check out the Broad Ripple neighborhood. I'm sorry to say, that's as liberal as Indiana gets.

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Most of the affluent in Indianapolis fled to the outlying counties following the institution of busing and Unigov, to avoid higher taxes and a twisted school system. Some of the very rich live in their own enclaves in the city, send their kids to private schools, and have as little to do with the community as possible outside of their country clubs, but Hamilton, Hendricks, Johnson, and Morgan Counties have experienced serious booms since the early 1970s. Boone County has not grown as much, because the public school system has a really bad reputation and it is considered to put more emphasis on sports than on academics. There are no private schools there and individuality is viewed as a threat to everyone. Racism in central Indiana is still quite rampant, so bad that every county is alleged to be a Klan outpost at one time or another. Gays and lesbians are disliked in Indianapolis, and there isn't even a decent gay bar. Most flee to a few safe neighborhoods (for them) in Indy or move to Bloomington.

I lived in Broad Ripple for 6 years, and if that's as good as it gets, I'm glad I'm gone. Yes, a lot of kids hang out there and there are a lot of music clubs and art galleries, BUT the police harass everyone who doesn't look like they are in the neighborhood to spend lots of money. They hassle young people all the time. I used to walk to and from work, and one cop in particular assumed this meant that I was a prostitute. In my opinion, the neighborhood is just a playground for bored kids from outlying suburbs, frat boys from Butler University, and rich urbanites -- none of whom actually live in Broad Ripple or care about the community -- witness the tendency to drive over people's lawns and break bottles on the sidewalk at 4 AM. They simply go there to party, and there are so few intellectuals frequenting the place these days that the number of bookstores dwindles every year.

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If you are a sports fan, good ol' conservative, Republican, Christian, pro-business, anti-worker India-no place is the place for you! We have the loser professionals the Colts and the Pacers; we recently coughed-up $55 million to steal the NCAA headquarters from Kansas City, too! The NCAA HQ will bring us a whopping 150- 200 jobs at $7 an hour. WOW!

Agnostics and atheists---move to "Naptown" at your peril! The ratio of churches to other buildings here is about 1:2--no kidding. And of course, they all want to be tax-free!

Yes, Indianapolis---the place where free thinking is a foreign language!

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I am very intrigued by the comments that I read about Indianapolis being a liberal unfriendly place. Yes the Mayor is a Republican ( But in the last Gov. race failed to even carry the township he lives in and was well thrashed by Democrat Frank O'Bannon). Yet for the past 34 Years we have had a Democrat represent us in congress, Andy Jacobs 32 years and Julia Carson about to finish her inaugural session of congress ( By the way she is an Afro-American Woman, so the place can't be too conservative) and be re-elected to a second term. The Gov. of Indiana in general for the past 3 terms has been a Democrat. While I will admit that the Indianapolis Star is quite conservative, none with more than a high school education reads it for anything other than sports news ( GO Knicks).as a final comment Being a Liberal originally from New Jersey, who Thinks Bill Bradley, Mario Cuomo, JFK, and LBJ were some of the greatest politicians of our modern era, I have found Indy to be quite a nice place ( Oh by the way we have the greatest number of interracial marriages in America, and the 3rd highest gay population in the nation behind San Francisco and New York - so while their may be racism and homophobia it's not as rampart as you would be led to believe). As a final note anyone who thinks a place is liberal unfriendly needs to go there and get in the damn trenches and change things, cowering together as pockets of intelligencia while not make things better Its time to make Liberal a household compliment again.

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I'd like to know where this defender of Indianapolis gets the data posited. "3rd highest gay population"??? Is that percentage or just sheer numbers?? I think gays who live in a lot more viable metropolitan areas (LA, Seattle, South Beach) will take exception to this comment blithely tossed about with no supporting evidence. Well, at least this gay person from DC does.

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Well now, Being a transplanted New Yorker and a resident of Hamilton County for the last 9 years I've got a few things to say. 1. I'm a Democrat (one of 3 in the county well, Kidding there) 2: Christian? There are 5 Synagogues just in the North Side of Indy..(Yes..I can name them) our population is approx 15% Jewish. 3: Gay bashing? I'm not too sure. The gay community claims to have 70,000 gay voters in Marion (Indianapolis) county alone. Walled communities and enclaves? Yes! So what? We (my wife and I) have worked for a long time in 'wage earner' careers, invested our money carefully and chose to live in Hamilton county when we were transferred here. We work in Indy and although we were formerly librerals have become ultra conservative Democrats (remember 1 of 3 in the county) We have to work (and very hard) with 'Affirmative Action' and don't want to have to put up with the so-called "Multi-ethnic" culture in our neighborhoods. No boom boxes, no cars with blacked out windows and kickers. I remember when we first graduated from college and were flaming liberals. How times change. Don't hate us, we were victims and we'll never forget.

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Indianapolis .... 3rd largest gay population in US .... ha haaa get real... I used to live there .... very backward and conservative compared to Louisville, Ky. 110 miles south of Indy., where I now live .... It's still "IndianaNOplace" The 'cornfield' with lights...;)

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I have lived in Indy for over 20 years, and am a staunch intellectual conservative. I cannot express my joy at the fact that my home city is on the liberal-unfriendly list, but I have to disagree. Indiana has a Democratic governor, and now a Democratic senator. Indianapolis Representatives Andrew Jacobs and Julia Carson are about as disgustingly liberal as you can get; Carson herself is barely literate in standard English, and I have yet to figure out what motivates her decision-making process if not welfare perpetuation, affirmative action, and take-everything-you-can-from-those-who-work-for-it tax and spend liberalism. Indianapolis has a lot of money, and it has nowhere near the welfare problems some places do. We have about one murder every other day, almost all in the inner city, and there are plenty of places for gay men to meet (mostly in the suburbs).

Given the opportunities here, the cost of living (cigs are still around $2.00/pack!), the cleanliness, and the overall persona of this city, I would live no other place. I have been to every state but Alaska, and have traveled extensively throughout large cities and small towns. I know from where I speak. Indianapolis is wonderful!