05-25-2007, 04:22 AM
Aloha, Thornpicker. My partner of 17 years, Bear, and I have made the wonderful life journey of moving to Puna, and we love it here. I can honestly say that we have felt accepted by neighbors of all ethnic types and mixes, straight and gay. We live in central HPP (Railroad) and know almost everyone within a mile of our house. Sexual orientation has simply not been an issue for us, other than the fact that there have been a number of other gay people who have made a special effort to befriend us.
We know other gays who have had happy experiences with both the realtors who post regularly on Punaweb, Mssrs. Dirgo and Rabi. I am sure there are others out there, too, but these guys are part of our on-line community and are respected.
Of course there are downsides to living in Puna, but I can only think of one that specially relates to being gay. Some single folks complain about a lack of dating venues that are not just pick-up scenes. I have heard many times something like, "I love it here, but all the nice guys are partnered." Of course, we sometimes heard that in Atlanta (pop. 5 million,) but it does seem to be a common complaint here.
Of course there are downsides to living in Puna that don't have anything to do with sexual orientation, and you can check out all those by looking at threads on this forum. I should note that Bear and I are retired and have not had to deal with employment issues.
There is a gay website for Hawaii with a section for the Big Island. The address is http://www.outinhawaii.com . They have want ads, community service listings, a personals forum, a general forum, and a lot of other stuff.
I hope this helps!
Cheers,
Jerry
We know other gays who have had happy experiences with both the realtors who post regularly on Punaweb, Mssrs. Dirgo and Rabi. I am sure there are others out there, too, but these guys are part of our on-line community and are respected.
Of course there are downsides to living in Puna, but I can only think of one that specially relates to being gay. Some single folks complain about a lack of dating venues that are not just pick-up scenes. I have heard many times something like, "I love it here, but all the nice guys are partnered." Of course, we sometimes heard that in Atlanta (pop. 5 million,) but it does seem to be a common complaint here.
Of course there are downsides to living in Puna that don't have anything to do with sexual orientation, and you can check out all those by looking at threads on this forum. I should note that Bear and I are retired and have not had to deal with employment issues.
There is a gay website for Hawaii with a section for the Big Island. The address is http://www.outinhawaii.com . They have want ads, community service listings, a personals forum, a general forum, and a lot of other stuff.
I hope this helps!
Cheers,
Jerry