From experience, there isn't a real LGTBQ community besides the small pockets in Burlington and Montpelier, and there's only 1 or two "unofficial" gay bars in the state. There are no " rural gayborhoods" here, and the closest you'll find in the cities won't line up with your desire to be a gun-friendly prepper.

If you're looking to find a partner, know that the people you see on whatever app you use will be the same people you see in every app in perpetuity without much variety.

There are no gayborhoods, there are barely neighborhoods.

Not LGBT, but Vermont has pretty relaxed gun laws by and large. Also, if you’re looking for a gayborhood you may not necessarily find one in Vermont (minute overall population). However, if you’re content with semi-rural with a nearby wonderful LGBT space maybe check out East Montpelier. Close to the capitol, but definitely on the more rural end of the spectrum. Also Fox Market is close (one of Vermont’s few actively LGBT spaces). They host queer speed dating, dance parties, have a wine bar, do coffee and breakfast, and sell local produce and more.

Edit: spelling, punctuation

Well if you're looking for a beautiful gun friendly state, you've found it. Good luck affording a house though. There's not a lot of inventory and the houses that are available are still outrageously overpriced.

You’ll be judged more on your choice of snow tire than your sexual orientation.

This is long but I’m pretty deep into collecting and shooting firearms.

Assuming you are not a privileged person buying a gun in Vermont is as simple as going to the gun store, telling them what you want and filling out paperwork. The background check process is usually quite quick, mine go through in about 10 minutes. Parro’s is the best gun store in the state, they have a really nice 25 yard indoor range and all the handguns, shotguns and rifles are out on display so you can handle them without having to ask. Obviously do not point them at anyone because they may respond badly to that.

The most popular option for home defense these days is an AR15 chambered in 5.56. It’s much easier to shoot a rifle with proficiency that handgun, you’ll be surprised how difficult it is to hit a target at 7-10 yards with a handgun when you’re new by hitting targets at 100 yards with a rifle is something I can teach someone in a half hour. 5.56 is extremely effective at stopping human threats and the ammo isn’t that expensive. Get a S&W M&P Sport II or Ruger AR556, they are both trustworthy budget options. Aero, Windham and Del-Ton are also trustworthy budget options.

If you want to hunt deer something like a savage axis I.O.I or Ruger American would be a good budget option. .308 Winchester Is the ideal cartridge because it is the least expensive full power cartridge that will take anything from small deer to big moose pending on bullet construction.

If you want to hunt turkeys 12 gauge pump with a 28” barrel will do the trick. Türkiye loads cost more than what you use for dove or squirrels but they are worth it. I recommend a Mossberg 500, if you can get one that comes with both of 18.5” and 28” barrel it’s even better because you can switch between two in seconds. Longer barrel is for hunting birds, the shorter barrel is effective for self defense with buckshot or hunting out to about 75 yards with rifled slugs. A full power rifled slug throws 1 oz of lead at 1,600 fps, that will take any game animal in North America especially if you purchase loads meant for large and dangerous game. Please never use birdshot for self defense or hunting anything bigger than burdens, it will not get the job done.

If you plan on carrying you have tons of options these days. I tend to carry full size pistols, namely Berettas and CZ’s. That said they’re big and heavy, pretty much the best subcompact carry option these days is a G43x or Smith and Wesson Shield Plus. I’m old fashioned and prefer a safety on my carry pistol because I’m going to carry it for decades and probably never have to draw so I like the peace of mind but if you have a good retention holster you really don’t need a safety. Don’t buy a crappy generic holster, avoid leather go with Kydex.

If you plan on shooting please always wear hearing protection, for some reason a lot of people seem to think they don’t need to when they’re shooting outside and they do permanent catastrophic damage to their hearing. It’s best to use both properly inserted ear plugs and earmuffs at the same time, from an old man with tinnitus I can promise you you do not want tinnitus.

We don't really have gayborhoods here, no town or city is big enough for that.

TL;DR: there is literally no available housing here unless you have a shit ton of cash and even then it's iffy. Renting... Forget it.

I moved to Southern Vermont in 2019. Here's my take as a queer but not 'traditionally gay' man while here the last four years:

If there are such things as gayborhoods, they are older gay and lesbian couples that came out or settled here two or three decades ago. The younger, more varied queer folk are spread more thin and those native to Vermont seem to want to leave as quickly as they can for places with larger and more.doverse queer communities.

Personally the communities I connect with now are located in Albany, NY and Springfield and Boston, Mass. So it's not really local at all. Living in Burlington would be different but even then the community there is smaller than the three I listed in larger cities further south.

On the other topic, I come from a family of outdoors people from the Midwest, so I too am a gun owner. Vermont is fairly straight forward, what you have to watch out for is the neighboring states, some are VERY strict. Without knowing any better I stopped in a Cabela's in Mass on my way home from Boston thinking I'd pick up some rimfire rounds and when I tried to check out without a Mass license or whatever you'd have thought by their reaction that I was a terrorist trying to buy bombmaking materials.

I got a drivers license in 15 min at the dmv, drove to a gun store and told them which gun I wanted. I did the background check and by the time I walked to the other side of the store to get two ammo boxes I had passed. whole thing took about hour and a half and most of that was driving and choosing which I want.

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Vermont where gays and guns go together 💪 you’re all good 😊

Normally I downvote anyone coming here, normally people are wanting to change things, but if you want to come and are not trying to take our guns, then come on in. Help displace some other out of stater who hates guns. Maybe move to Burlington get a place next to Phil Baruth and open a small backyard firing range up. Fuck the gun grabbers!

Montana or Idaho sound like a better fit.