A US history book I was reading said that the California gold rush affected New England's gender ratio for years because so many men left and this led to an increase in "Boston marriages" or same-sex life partnerships between women !!!

I thought if gender ratios have that much of an effect on social attitudes toward same-sex partnerships then logically the increase of female same-sex relationships in the Northeast would also mean an increase of male same-sex relationships in the Southwest and I was RIGHT

I read the most fascinating thesis that discussed how the California gold rush and other gold rushes in the American west led to more positive social attitudes toward LGBTQ+ people in those regions

Some research even found that the current geographic distribution of the LGBT population in the US is positively related to the gold rushes during the mid-to-late 19th
century

One study found that CURRENTLY there are 10-15% more same-sex couples in gold rush counties than non-gold rush counties. This is fascinating to me

In conclusion, gold rush by Taylor Swift is a gay anthem. Thank you for your time