Article on chang Key Wt, Fla, once a remote refuge for gay tourists, which, bee of soarg real tate pric and populary of events like Fantasy Ft, has begun to attract a more heterogeno crowd; photos; map (M)
Contents:
- IS KEY REALLY GAY? OR S ONLY A POPULAR MOR?
- WHO IS GAY SHEE AND WHY PEOPLE THK SO?
- HOW GAY/LBIAN IS KEY WT THE DAYS? - KEY WT FOM
- KEY OM ‘SHINEE’ BGRAPHY (KIM KIBUM) AGE, HEIGHT. GAY?
IS KEY REALLY GAY? OR S ONLY A POPULAR MOR?
* key is gay *
18, 2005Correctn AppendFOR s, the remote Florida town of Key Wt has been a refuge for gay tourists, a kd of Southern bookend to Provcetown, Mass. -- a place where drag shows, all-male gut ho (plete wh munal hot tubs) and a spir of unbridled hedonism attracted everyone om closeted Midwt acuntants to Tennsee recently, soarg real tate pric and the populary of events like Fantasy Ft -- an annual bacchanal of of paras, masquera balls and celebry look-alike ntts that began as an AIDS fundraiser 1979 and has sce evolved to a dnken open-air party that would be right at home on aterny row -- have begun to attract a more heterogeno crowd, one that n at tim make Key Wt look like any other tourist town gettg ready for Sprg n feel the change at the Lighthoe Court, a popular -- some would say notor -- gay-only Whehead Street guthoe that recently went "all wele, " the lol phemism for acceptg heterosexual guts as well as gays.
And 's obv clear across Old Town at the Heron Hoe Court, formerly known as the Flr Key and long one of the premier gay-only gutho on the island. "I'd say Key Wt is ls gay iendly than was 10 years ago, " said Gregory Gearhart, a hairdrser om Fort Lrdale who viss three tim a year.
WHO IS GAY SHEE AND WHY PEOPLE THK SO?
Is Key really gay? Or s only a popular mor? - Sorry if youre offend, but I jt wanna know. I wanna learn him more. I've only been a Shawol for a qutn and answer the Shee club * key is gay *
Gearhart was stg at the Atlantic Shor pool bar, an inic gay hangout that plans to close next year. "Actually, I wouldn't say 's gay uniendly.
"Of urse, Key Wt retas a gay sensibily. There are gay tourist charters to the Dry Tortugas and gay sunset cis to the Florida Stras.
"Key Wt was the first Amerin cy to openly rec gay tourists, and current ads are specifilly aimed at gay travelers. A gay and lbian trolley tour rolls down gay guthoe row on Flemg Street, passg the Equator, Conut Grove, Oasis and the Coral Tree Inn. The Island Hoe on Flemg not only remas gay-only, also featur a clothg-optnal Duval, the La Te Da baret ntu to offer drag queen reviews.
HOW GAY/LBIAN IS KEY WT THE DAYS? - KEY WT FOM
At the Bourbon Street Pub, a man a tight pk tank-top still looks right at for many longtime gay visors to this 5. 9-square-e island, loted about 150 southwt of Miami, there is a growg sense that Key Wt is no longer the gay statn once was.
Some of is a generatnal shift, as younger gay travelers n take their choice of gay-iendly statns like South Beach, Palm Sprgs, Puerto Vallarta and even -- unlikely as seems -- the shifts are a reflectn of more signifint chang Key Wt self. Once a low-st retreat for those who wanted to get away om all -- both gay and straight -- is now one of the most expensive real tate markets the untry. In the pool, men fluorcent bikis stood submerged almost to their nostrils, motnls like Everglas alligators stalkg a survey of gay tourists nducted by the Key Wt Bs Guild, several rponnts specifilly mentned the Atlantic Shor as their favore thg about Key Wt.
"It wasn't a slight agast the gay muny at all. "At Pearl's Rabow, a former cigar factory that is the island's only women-only guthoe, Lorae Quigley remaed optimistic about the island's gay-iendly inty.
KEY OM ‘SHINEE’ BGRAPHY (KIM KIBUM) AGE, HEIGHT. GAY?
"I wouldn't say there's a trend to elimate gay gutho, " she said.
There was talk of movg to Wilton Manors, a growg gay enclave outsi Fort Lrdale. "Key Wt is not gog to be the gay Mec that was, " Charlie Barry, 42, said. It's not gog to be a gay Key Wt.