When I was living in Detroit 10 years ago, I was interested in maintaining my spoken French, so I joined a meetup.com group of French speakers, made up of both Americans and expats from France and Canada, but mostly expats. Had a great time! I would go to meetups two or three times a month, and I made some really great friends. A couple of them were even gay!

Your plan sounds excellent to me. Meet people you share common interests with, what could go wrong? Right?