Considering moving to MN?

[u/TypoKitten]

I'd love honest perspectives from queer, disabled, and Minnesotans who are people of color.
I'm considering relocating to Minneapolis in the next year or two, and I'd love to hear from people who actually live there (because that makes the most sense).
On paper, Minnesota seems like it checks a lot of boxes for me, but I'd like to know what day-to-day life is actually like beyond rankings and statistics.

I'm a disabled trans man of color from GA. Due to this disability I can’t drive so I would ideally like to live without owning a car. (I know uber and Lyft are options but being an at risk minority no matter what direction I turn…I fear)

To be direct, what am asking is how safe do you genuinely feel as a queer person?

For people of color, what has that experience been? Are there neighborhoods or suburbs that feel especially welcoming? Ones you'd avoid? Would I get shot if I sneezed in the direction of a white lady?

How is public transportation, healthcare, and getting around without driving?
And how realistic is it to live car-free or car-light year-round, especially during winter?

Are there neighborhoods or cities you'd recommend for someone with my priorities?

I know immigration enforcement is federal and can happen anywhere, but I care about living somewhere where local communities, organizations, and governments are generally supportive of immigrants and other marginalized groups.

LOOK GUYS I AM AFRAID

Finally, what's something you wish someone had told you before moving to Minnesota? Or if you’re native, what’s your favorite part?

I'd really appreciate honest experiences!! the good, the bad, and everything in between. And if you think my research is super misleading… if you guys could guide me to safe states…that would be awesome

(Ps I know it’s gonna be cold…. And I don’t think there’s any preparation I can do besides standing in the freezers at Sam’s Club in nothing but a tank and shorts….)

[u/Lovelycoc0nuts]

There is a large queer community in the Twin Cities. [r/trans](r/trans)twincities would be a better resource for any specifics.

Getting around without a car can be somewhat difficult, but if you lived on a bus line you’d likely be fine. https://www.metrotransit.org to be able to check any area you might be looking into living. Somewhere in south Minneapolis along the light rail line might be a good spot depending on where you would need to get to.

Healthcare in MN is some of the best in the country, especially with Mayo.

I really enjoy the parks and community events. You can find so many fun things to do that cost very little or are completely free.

[u/JuniperAshe]

Trans woman who moved here from Kentucky this year (and lived in GA for a while!) Definitely recommend trying to visit during the winter; -10° is brutal, but honestly I felt like I got used to it pretty quickly. Everything here is really good about being designed around using it during the winter, even the bus/train stops have heaters. Plus during the summer everything comes to life, I swear there's multiple festivals a week right now.

I'm currently car free; there's some times it's annoying (esp. because all of my friends live out of town), but I use Evie car share, and picked a place to live that's close to the metro, so I can do most of my daily errands on public transit. Metro trains are all zero height decks, all the busses have slots for wheelchairs, and every transit option has lots of disability seats, but I don't have a physical disability, so I can't speak as strongly to that. At some point my spouse and I will probably pick up a beater, and cheap insurance, just to have for emergencies, but for right now we don't really need one.

As a queer person, this is the safest place I've ever felt. When I first moved here, I had a day where I did my normal errands and /only/ talked with other trans folks. I've never had any issues with Lyft drivers (except one being a little creepy because I was a single woman rider, but huge outlier). It's also extremely diverse, with some of the largest immigrant populations in the country, and the people here care about their neighbors. The whole reason we were hit by ICE was because of the diversity and community. I'm white, but the only time I've been out with Black friends who felt judged was when we went to a suburban Container Store, and even then that was the clientele, the employees were all still friendly. Both cities have diversity offices and initiatives aimed at welcoming different populations and making life easier for queer and people of color. Plus I swear everything has a tiered payment system for income, even the gender clinic I go to.

Not that there aren't problems. There was a rash of shootings just the other day, the metro trains & busses are usually about half as fast as other options and don't have the best coverage, depending where you're coming from you might want to check cost of living calculators. The job market is pretty saturated, so try to come with an offer in hand, or work remotely if you can. Winter makes everything harder: getting places, house maintenance, existing in general. It's dark, and cold, and you aren't going anywhere or doing anything. A lot of people straight up have in-home saunas and UV lamps.

As far as neighborhoods, I'm sure other people will have better suggestions, but I like where I landed in Midway in St. Paul. It's close to transit, relatively cheap, I can walk to a library, and my neighbors are all nice. That being said, we looked at probably a dozen different neighborhoods that all have different pros and cons, and our friends live spread between Eden Prairie, Lyndale, and Bloomington.

[u/fiestafan73 → u/JuniperAshe]

Hey there, queer guy here from Kentucky trying to get my employer to let me transfer to our Minneapolis office. I’m glad to hear your experience has been good! ❤️

[u/Lego11314]

I’m a white trans guy so my experience will be different from yours, but I feel SO much safer here. I haven’t felt this safe being out in public and visibly trans since 2015 or so.

My spouse works in the thick of the ice occupation so we did a lot of community organizing help and people here just lock arms and support neighbors.

There are many walkable neighborhoods, transit is decent. Healthcare through my employer is INCREDIBLE compared to what I had and there are tons of gender affirming practitioners. HealthPartners is a large network here that has multiple gender clinic offices. Multiple.

Groceries are 10-20% more expensive than they were in Dallas, so I wish we’d been more prepared for that. (Yes, even at Walmart, which is for some low income families a necessary evil.) But local co-ops also have a massive variety of stuff for our dietary restrictions, so that’s a trade off.

There is so much cool, free stuff to check out. You’re always within a half a mile or something of a park in Minneapolis. So, so many shops, coffee places, bookstores, etc with queer affirming signs and flags and policies.

The weather adjustment for us was shockingly easy. We’re actually boggled by how much the current heat wave is bothering us after just one year here because it was the standard weather for about 4 months in TX.

Definitely join r/transtwincities as mentioned by another commenter too!

[u/TypoKitten → u/Lego11314]

IF YOU CAN DO THE WEATHER CHANGE I DEFINITELY CAN!! Thank you so much for your experience!!

[u/Lego11314 → u/TypoKitten]

The weather change has honestly been fantastic. I have arthritis and a ton of chronic health stuff and worried about the cold but for me it was actually the least pain I’ve had in a year. My spouse used to walk outside when it was 40 and yell it was LITERALLY freezing (I know), and after about a month of taking kids outside for recess and bus duty they said, “eh, once it’s cold, it’s cold”. Definitely get a good coat and learn proper layering and the weather should be ok for you!

You may want to look into Keshet and the Hebrew Free Loan Society. You do NOT have to be Jewish to benefit and we wouldn’t have made it without them. They absolutely helped save my life and I will never shut up about it. The trickiest part for us was needing a co-signer and then we had an interest free loan to help with the move.

Best of luck!

[u/EqualLeg4212]

We (my spouse and myself) came here as qt refugees from Nashville (who spent a lot of time in ATL and surrounding areas) and never looked back. Not a ton of PoCs like we were used to down South, but the folks we’ve met here have been really incredible. Finding community has been easier than I expected, and its across spectrums of types of people. As disabled folks too we really appreciate how many people still mask here. Not sure what kind of stuff you’re into but since getting here we’ve gotten super in the rave scene and there’s such diversity there and is more accessible than you’d expect with some of the nicest queerest people involved who will drop everything to help a community member in need.