Full bloom: a Hoosier returns to his home state of Indiana to explore the college town of Bloomington's newly publicized gay side.

What do James Dean, Michael Jackson, Florence Henderson, Hoagy Carmichael, Cole Porter, Abraham Lincoln, and Charles Manson have in common? They're all Hoosiers like myself, raised in Indiana. In April I flew from my home in New York City to Bloomington (45 minutes' drive south of the Indianapolis airport), a place I hadn't visited in over 20 years, to substantiate the small town's new claim as a Midwest gay mecca.

Spring was in the air as shiftless, beer-drinking boys watched Indiana University sorority girls paint the steps of their fraternity houses in preparation for the Little 500, an annum bicycle race to be held the following weekend (the League of American Bicyclists has named Bloomington one of only 44 bicycle-friendly communities in the nation). After attending the Miss Gay I.U. pageant, a drag queen competition attended by over 3,000 people in the school auditorium, I discovered that neither event is mutually exclusive because almost everything and everybody in this town says, "Welcome!"

One of the few cities in Indiana with coverage of sexual orientation in its human rights ordinance, Bloomington ranks fifth in the country for same-sex-couple house-holds per capita, behind San Francisco; Santa Fe, N.M.; Portland, Maine; and Miami. Both Indiana University (home of the Kinsey Institute, which maintains a sizable collection of homoerotic art) and the city of Bloomington extend health benefits to domestic partners.

To attract more non-Hoosier gays and lesbians, the Bloomington Convention and Visitors Bureau has helped develop events such as the Sexual Minority Youth in the Heartland conference, held in 2002 and 2004, and an annual Pride Film Festival, which debuted in January 2004. "We're planning to launch VisitGayBloomington.com by August 1 in tandem with a new brochure," says Rob DeCleene of the Bloomington CVB. "We're also developing partnerships with our gay-friendly hotels and B&Bs and will be doing sensitivity training with their staffs." Other small towns with progressive agendas, such as Durham, N.C., have contacted Bloomington for ideas on how to reach the gay market. (Not even Midwestern metropolis Chicago had a targeted gay and lesbian campaign until very recently.) Factor in the free publicity brought on by last fall's Kinsey biopic and Bloomington seems poised for a great gay awakening.

But Bloomington has always been a bastion of liberalism, attracting free-thinkers from surrounding states for nearly 200 years. Founded in 1823 as the first university in the Midwest, Indiana University is a champion of culture, beckoning artists, writers, and musicians to teach or perform there. I stayed on campus at the Indiana Memorial Union (rooms start at about $75 a night) in a beautiful suite filled with antiques. Quotable notables such as David Sedaris and Maya Angelou stay there when they come to speak on campus.

When the students leave for summer vacation the town becomes a little more laid-back. It's the time to take advantage of secret swimming holes or activities such as boating, fishing, or floating on Lake Monroe (you can rent a pontoon boat for less than $100 a day). If that's too strenuous, you can take in nearby vineyards and scenic wine trails.

What about nightlife? Bloomington is home to three gay bars. On the pulsating colored dance floor of Bullwinkle's, straight middle-aged couples dance beside half-naked college students, trans-sexuals, and local country boys. There's even a gay presence on the radio: Blooming Out on 98.1 FM is Indiana's only radio show dedicated to lesbians and gay men. The verdict: Whether you're gay, straight, or somewhere in between, Bloomington offers something rarely found in this country: a small town with a bold history of openness and acceptance.