Don't know if it were true when you were up there, but NYC seems to attract many liberal and/or gay Southerners. I worked with a guy from Georgia and a guy from Alabama who were "freinds of Dorothy." Interestingly enough, they spoke nothing but good things about their respective home states, aside from the generally monotony of life down there.
I come from Jackson Miss (as you probably already know) and when I had my domicile in Manhattan from 80-88, there were a number of expat Mississippians there from writers to models to Broadway folks and whatnot.
I remember offhand immediately 3 who were homosexual men from my old high school.
One was a jewelry designer (and Jewish..big surprise..lol)
Another was a "human relations" hire for Goldman Sachs.
And another was store manager of Armani's new flagship on Madison (1984?)
Most folks went up there for artsy stuff or finance related....I just went there for the helluva it.
I did know one former TriDelt who was drop dead gorgeous who went there to be mistress to a Forbes 400 old guy....he put her up in Trump Tower....and she had "sidemen"...lol
anyhoo....I'm off to deer camp (Port Gibson Miss) with the whole klan ...er...family ... tommorow. I shall keep a keen eye open for all those dastardly racists down there that keep Aggie's britches in a perpetual knot.
PS....we used to fly the Stars and Bars in Central Park back then for Mississippi Day and such lefty luminaries as Hodding Carter, Tom Wicker, and Willie Morris and others including darker hued folk would drop by and no one thought a thing of it. This kettle of koolaid about Southern chauvinism from which Aggie so lustfully imbibes is a relatively new invention wedge devised by our common foes....the Left.