I moved to Durham pretty recently (also not from the south!) and just started volunteering at the LGBTQ Center, which has art nights and a once a month game night (but I imagine if there was more interest/turnout, they’d bump it up, a lot of the programs are driven by the amount of interest!) and art nights. They also do a lot of group discussions, events, etc – I expect in summer more casual get togethers could be a possibility too. it’s 100% volunteer run so the community is it’s driving force.

As for gayborhoods not that I know of, altho I feel in Brightleaf I see a lot of queer folks and couples? I don’t know if there’s a local autostraddle group on facebook that you could ask, but I’ll definitely keep an ear out. I would venture that UNC and Duke are pretty gay-friendly, and there’s lots of vocally supportive smaller businesses too.

Thanks, this will get me started in the right direction. I volunteered at the Center here too when I first moved, so it’s a good possibility that I will try to get involved there as well.