It’s a cute, quiet neighborhood with plenty of things to do, and cafes, gay bars, great restaurants and places to get brunch. Montrose has always been the center of LGBTQ life in Houston. You can be a queer person in Houston and live a happy, fulfilling life. Most importantly, Houston may be in the South, but we’re a big city and most of the people who live here are open-minded. Our food is amazing! There’s always something to do! We have good jobs here! The people are friendly! The cost of living is low! The weather is nice most of the time! (That is, when we don’t get hit by devastating hurricanes.) You never have to spend an hour digging your car out of several feet of snow, only to realize that your car doors are frozen shut! Living here means having the amenities of living in a big city without (most) of the drawbacks. Second, I realized that I actually really love being from and living in Houston! Houston is an easy city to live in. (Or maybe it was cool all along and just became recognized as cool). Two things happened when I first left Houston: First, Houston became an actual cool city known for more than just the oil and gas industry, NASA and football. I wanted to go out of state for college and never return. To me, Houston was just a huge, humid, hot city with too many highways and not enough culture. Like many native Houstonians, I didn’t appreciate Houston when I was growing up here.