I understand there are other places that work well for that nowadays as well; NYC, Atlanta, Toronto (or was it Vancouver..)...
NYC is no cheaper, though I am looking there more than anywhere else. Atlanta itself sounds nice, but my worry is the level of acceptance I'd find down there... I understand Atlanta is a very progressive, rainbow friendly city, it's the area surrounding it and the state it lies in that worries me....same for Austin and Dallas(Texas), and Miami.
Toronto would be amazing, the issue is emigrating there is not easy.... they Canadians are picky about who gets in, from what I understand. I'd have to prove I have a valuable skill, or already have a job in a field of choice before even being considered. BC has the same issues, obviously.
New York's big advantage is transportation. It's very easy to navigate and get where you need to go without a car. My buddy pays $121 per month for a metro pass, and that gets him unlimited rides on the subway or any regular city bus. That's a huge cut in costs when you consider most cars will have a monthly payment and insurance cost of about twice that plus gas, maintenance, fees, etc. It's much easier for one to budget a metro pass in, versus "crap, my car needs X fixed when I was going to put this money I saved towards tires..which I still need."