What I do, with the caveat that while I am doing this I've had mediocre results from it so far, is find where the people you'd like to meet tend to hang out, go

What I do, with the caveat that while I am doing this I've had mediocre results from it so far, is find where the people you'd like to meet tend to hang out, go there, and start building positive relationships. You can politely express romantic interest, so long you respect the other person's space/right to not be interested you're generally doing a positive thing, I think. To illustrate that last point, I am hetero male. I've had gay guys tell me they thought I was cute, I told them politely I wasn't interested, but appreciated the compliment. I believe this generalizes. As an example of the first point, I tend to like fit girls, so I go train Olympic weightlifting and do acroyoga. I also like artsy girls, so I go party at places where they tend to congregate (certain 'alternative/queer' or 'techno/EDM' nightlife venues, generally). Also, I've gotten laid off random outfit compliments - e.g. "I like your blouse" when the girl was wearing a nice blouse and I walked by her on the street.