The gaybourhood gave LGBTQ+ muni the space they urgently need to simply be themselv. But our ci should be built such a way that everyone feels at home
Contents:
ARE RURAL GAYS HAPPIER THAN CY GAYS?
Stereotypilly, gay, queer and trans kids flee small towns to fd acceptance big, diverse ci like New York or Chigo. But evince shows many will eventually return to ral areas. * urban gay *
Pop portrayals of LGBTQ Amerins tend to feature urban gay life, om Ru Pl’s “Drag Race” and “Queer Eye” and “Pose. But not all gay people live ci.
Sce 2015 I have nducted terviews wh 40 ral LGBTQ people and analyzed var survey data sets to unrstand the ral gay experience. My study found that many LGBTQ people ral areas view their sexual inty substantially differently om their urban unterparts – and qutn the mers of urban gay life. The standard narrative of ral gay life is that ’s tough for LGBTQ kids who flee their ral hometowns for inic urban “gayborhoods” like Chigo’s Boystown or the Castro San Francis – plac where they n fd love, feel “normal” and be surround by others like them.
AGAY
Posive social and legal shifts have led to chang “gayborhoods,” but we haven’t que evolved past the pot of needg them. * urban gay *
” The gay protagonists of the films are lonely, seldom able to exprs their sexual selv.
Those who returned home om urban gayborhoods also told me they found gay cy livg rarely livered on s promis of pannship and cln.
Rural LGBTQ Amerins are ls likely to participate inic gay rights events like the Pri para, terviews and survey data fd.
GAY
Hoton's LGBTQ nightlife is vibrant and diverse wh everythg om leather bars to neighborhood pubs. Wh so many thgs to do at night, we're here to help you get started to fdg the bt gay-iendly bars, dance clubs and live mic venu Hoton. * urban gay *
The ral LGBTQ people I terviewed seemed to place ls importance on beg gay than their urban muni had. They rejected an urban gay culture that they felt was shallow and overly foced on gayns as the fg feature of life. Such ments ll to qutn certa assumptns of the ntemporary gay rights movement, cludg that “gayborhoods” are the pnacle of gay life and that ral Ameri is no place for LGBTQ people.
California’s Goln State Gay Roo Associatn holds an annual roo for LGBTQ roo rirs. A rir rri a gay rabow flag durg the grand entry at the gay-oriented 16th Annual San Diego Roo, Sept. It’s only ci like New York, Seattle, Atlanta, or Chigo, Savage advis, that gay people n tly actualize themselv a safe(r) environment rich wh cultural support works, not to mentn potential romantic partners.
While many LGBT people (cludg me) would agree wh the general wisdom of that notn, a new paper out this month’s issue of the Journal of Homosexualy is phg back, producg headl somethg like “Country Queens May Be Happier than Cy Queens. Hill, draws on a set of self-reported measur of wellbeg om a sample group of 632 men and women who had rpond to more expansive pre-existg surveys, and nclus that there is “ltle support for the premise that ral livg is patible wh the needs and wants of gay men and lbians.