About
No one should have to move somewhere and hope for the best.
Chosen Ground is a community-written map of how it actually feels to be LGBTQ+ in a place — the legal climate, the everyday welcome, affirming care and queer community, told by the people who live there.
Why this exists
Deciding where to live, work or spend an evening is harder when you are queer. The usual sources answer a different question: they count crime, not belonging. They say nothing about whether a town has an affirming clinic, whether the bar on the corner is safe to walk into alone, or whether neighbours look after each other (or look at you sideways).
That knowledge already exists — it lives in the community, passed along in group chats and quiet conversations. Chosen Ground gives it somewhere to live in the open, so the next person does not have to start from nothing.
It is written by LGBTQ+ people, for LGBTQ+ people. It's a starting point, not a promise.
What we hold to
These are the commitments behind every decision about what this map shows and what it asks of the people who write here.
Lived experience over statistics
Crime data cannot tell you whether it is safe to hold your partner's hand, be visibly queer, or out and proud. Every score here comes from a member who has actually lived somewhere, told in their own words.
Privacy is the default
Adding to the map needs an account, but that account stays private. Your real name is never shown here — every place and story appears under the pen name you choose, and reading the map needs no account at all.
The whole community
Trans, nonbinary, two-spirit, intersex, ace, lesbian, gay, bi and queer voices all belong here. Identity perspectives stay visible on every story, so you can read a place through people who share your life.
Calm, never alarmist
Fear is not the point. Even the hardest places are described with the care of someone who lives there, and we stay away from red lights and panic language.
Honest about what we do not know
A score is an average of the stories shared so far. Few stories means a shakier number, and we would rather say that than sound certain.
Written by the community, never scraped
Nothing here is collected from public records or sold on. Reading the map is free, and so is adding your own experience to it.
What is on the map
Members rate four things from lived experience, and the stories behind the numbers travel with them.
- Legal & political climateProtections, laws and the political tone that reaches daily life.
- Social acceptanceEveryday welcome in shops, schools, workplaces and on the street.
- Healthcare accessAffirming care, trans-friendly providers and how easy they are to reach.
- Queer communitySpaces, groups, events, chosen family and visible queer life.
Alongside the map, each state has a plain-language list of the laws that protect or harm LGBTQ+ people, so the legal picture is not left to rumour. Read the state laws
What this is not
If you know a place, someone else needs to hear it.
Tell us how it really is where you live, and read what others have shared before you decide.