The University of Iowa is a Big Ten school located in Iowa City, IA. The U of I mascot is Herky the Hawkeye. The University Library is the largest library in the state of Iowa and among the largest in the United States. The college is quite liberal and was a pretty "happening" place back in the 60's-70's when the city was crawling with hippies and activists. Today the city is home to the 2nd largest (per capita) gay population.

Just one comment about the above writeup:

I've now lived in two cities where the locals claim to have the second largest gay population, per capita, in the country: Lincoln, Nebraska and Iowa City, Iowa. Now, does it strike anybody as just a little bit odd that these lil ol' Midwestern cities, of all places, would be such a gay Mecca?

Of course it sounds odd, which is why people who hear it think that it must be true. After all, there are actually visible same sex couples walking around in a Midwestern city! Good God, the place must be crawling with them!

Never mind, of course, that the idea of conducting an accurate study to determine the percentage of GLBTs in a given city is damn near impossible... never mind those in the closet or denial, how would you answer a random phone survey asking about your sexual preference?

Iowa City does indeed have a decently large and visible GLBT population, just like any number of other liberal college towns. It's honestly barely worth commenting on unless you're not used to that kind of thing, which is often the case with many students from rural areas who go to state schools. But this whole "We're #2!" obsession is just plain queer.

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