It's "weird" because it's a small city with a TON of colleges in very close proximity. Most cities have one, Austin had three in city limits & several others in bordering towns. Colleges = young people. Young people = free thinkers. Plus there's a pretty healthy population of burn out hippies. I love it.
Don't know why people get so bent out of shape about a city's politics...it's not contagious. I don't cross Utah off my list of places to go just because I have no interest in converting to Mormonism. 4951