Steve Smith and Andy Sims

Connect With Steve and Andy

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Pronouns: They/Them/Their

What makes Richmond a great place to be out?: Since we moved here nearly 10 years ago, we have always felt very comfortable and welcome in Richmond. We spend most of our time in the city and we love it's energy and being able to see it's resurgence. We love that Richmond has a strong progressive community that advocates for the gay community and other groups that have been historically marginalized.

What’s your favorite thing to do in the Richmond Region?: We love so many things about being here. The location affords many options whether one wants beach, mountains, river, or urban activities. We have gotten to witness the explosion of the brewery and restaurant scene and we really enjoy exploring new dining and drinking options paired with an outdoor activity like a nice long walk or bike ride through the city. We find ourselves venturing towards towards the mountains and doing hiking and winery exploration quite a bit.

What do you do here?: Steve works as an Ultrasound Technologist at a local hospital and Andy is a Project Manager for a local contractor.

What’s your favorite restaurant?: There are so many wonderful options...but it's an easy choice for us. We absolutely love L'Opossum.

What would you tell somebody who has never been to Richmond before?: We are always singing the praises of this city. Everyone that we bring here falls in love. For those that haven't been here, we like to point out the quirks and legends that make Richmond unique and of course the history. While most people know of the Civil War history, we try to point out lesser known associations and curiosities like the Church Hill Tunnel, Edgar Alan Poe, Patrick Henry, the VMFA, and especially Monument Avenue now that it has taken on a whole new persona and meaning.

What's your favorite store?: Neither of us are huge shoppers, (unless you count the ABC) but we really enjoy Mongrel and Bygones. We have made several purchases at both and enjoy bringing our out of town guests.

How do you spend your free time?: A large portion of our free time is spent walking the city and stopping in at various places for bites to eat and something to drink. It's not unusual for us to start in our neighborhood in Forest Hill and walk to Rocketts and back during an afternoon.

What's your favorite neighborhood?: Forest Hill / Westover Hills. We have lived in this neighborhood for nearly 8 years and just can't see ourselves anywhere else. We love our neighbors and felt welcomed and embraced from the day we moved in. In addition, being close to the river and Forest Hill Park is a huge attraction.

How do you describe our LGBTQ community?: Admittedly, we aren't as involved in the community as we should be. Our work schedules can be pretty demanding and we have probably used that as an excuse to not be as involved. Also, both of us are pretty shy and sometimes it takes a push to get us to be more civically active. Steve did a fair amount of volunteer work when we lived in Atlanta for The Democratic Party and Hands on Atlanta. That said, we feel like RVA has a fairly large LGBTQ community and we have witnessed this at our Pride events. We sometimes feel like the community is a bit fractured. There doesn't seem to be a focal spot or neighborhood like some other cities have, but in a way we see that as a positive because we see ourselves represented throughout the city.

Anything else you would like to add?: Just want to say how much we love our city. Neither of us had even been to Richmond, before we knew we were moving here. We moved from Atlanta 10 years ago, and have not really missed it at all. We feel like Richmond is a better fit for us and don't see ourselves leaving anytime soon!