Why Gayborhoods Matter: The Street Empirics of Urban Sexuali - PMC

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WHY GAYBORHOODS MATTER: THE STREET EMPIRICS OF URBAN SEXUALI

"We are a prime target bee of our Blackns, and our tersectnaly of beg trans adds an extra target on our backs, " said Jonovia Chase, -lead anizer of Hoe Liv Matter, a muny anizatn posed of sexual- and genr-mory people of said that although Black Liv Matter was "created by queer folks, [cisgenr] privilege has taken precent over gay and transgenr people. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, a trans woman of lor, who helped kickstart the LGBTQ rights movement followg the Stonewall uprisg of the 1960s only to watch as many hard-fought rights and privileg benefed whe gay men and women but weren't extend to people like them.

Held the "world’s first permted para advotg for gay rights, " a fact Christopher Street Wt still highlights on s webse to this Shalae, a Beyoncé impersonator who performed at the march, said that when she first moved to Los Angel, she uldn't persua whe-owned LGBTQ bars and clubs to book her for performanc. Gut Edor (s): Alex Bterman17 and Daniel Baldw Hs1817Department of Archecture and Dign, Aled State Universy of New York, New York, USA 18Department of Urban and Regnal Planng, Universy at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY USA AbstractUrbanists have veloped an extensive set of proposns about why gay neighborhoods form, how they change, shifts their signifince, and their spatial exprsns. By shiftg the analytic gaze om abstract ncepts to teractns and embodied perceptns on the ground—a “street empirics” as I ll —I challenge the claim that gayborhoods as an urban form are outmod or obsolete.

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Keywords: Urban sexuali, Technology, Gay neighborhoods, LGBTQ+ safe spacIntroductn: Gayborhood StudiThe associatn between sexualy and the cy is as tablished experientially as is affirmed the amy—om sexologil unts of sexual practic to thick ethnographic scriptns of the moral regns of urban sexual worlds (Ksey et al. Scholars ask why gayborhoods first formed (Castells and Murphy 1982; Knopp 1997; Lewis 2013), how they have changed over time (Kanai and Kenttamaa-Squir 2015; Rhbrook 2002; Stryker and Van Bkirk 1996), their cultural signifince for queer people (Doan and Higgs 2011; Greene 2014; Orne 2017), why they appeal to heterosexuals (Brodyn and Ghaziani 2018; Ghaziani 2019d), and their diverse spatial exprsns ( Brown-Saraco 2018; Ghaziani 2019a; Whtemore and Smart 2016). This prompted follow-up qutns about whether gay districts remble ethnic ghettos (Leve 1979; Wirth 1928) and if gay bars are better nceptualized as private (Weightman 1980) or closet-like spac (Brown 2000).

Some rearchers show that people e technology creatively to image new spac away om the gayborhood (Wu and Ward 2017), while others argue that apps reproduce equali (Conner 2018) than origs, anizatns, and technology, rearchers who work a fourth stream of gayborhood studi document mographic chang (Moral 2018; Sprg 2013) and nsir their effects on muny-buildg and placemakg efforts ( Brown-Saraco 2011; Casey 2004; Ghaziani and Stillwagon 2018; Rennger 2019). Cens tracts, real tate ads, bs and non-prof listgs, llective memori, revenu, nighttime enomy, pop-ups, cultural archipelagosAlthough scholars have produced nsirable knowledge about gayborhoods, a key oversight remas: what do the gayborhood mean for the people who actually live ? I draw on more than six hundred natnal media reports about the gayborhood across several s of verage, particularly stori which a journalist terviewed lol rints, to intify six major reasons why queer people say they live a gay district and what about appeals to them.

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2 Non-rintial stakeholrs make “vir” claims on gayborhoods as well (Greene 2014), but the are precisely what the ncept of virns suggts: proxy experienc that take the place of, or are imaged as related to, the on of rints. Former San Francis supervisor Harry Brt famoly asserted that sexualy and space are extribly lked: “When gays are spatially isolated, they are not gay, bee they are visible” (Castells 1983: 138). ”5 Another article the same prs reported on activy San Francis, where lol officials “timate that 95 percent of eligible voters are registered, large part bee of tensive voter-registratn driv gay neighborhoods.

Durg electn cycl, gayborhood rints historilly have often worn buttons on their bags to proclaim the power of their vote, and they have anized voter registratn driv on the streets as well (Imag 4.

The New York Tim terviewed rints of Greenwich Village who reflected on what drew them to the neighborhood before gentrified: “Olr rints rell another era, when the street was paved not wh gold, but wh gays. ”8 Rints like the pend on the streets of gayborhoods, which are often shield om the heterosexual gaze, to nnect wh each four s later and across the untry, people still appreciate the streets of gayborhoods for their sexual workg opportuni.

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An edorial the Advote reflected on Wt Hollywood’s twentieth anniversary as “Ameri’s first gay cy” ( was rporated on November 29, 1984): “I’m not argug that Wt Hollywood is a perfect cy, or even a gay mec.

”13 Although the gayborhood shifted om the Village to Chelsea, the sense that s streets were safer followed , as this passage om the New York Tim suggts: “Chelsea has bee the gay neighborhood bee gays and lbians feel fortable here.

A reporter for the Philalphia Daily News terviewed a high-school senr who “felt like she was home yterday, walkg the streets the Gayborhood durg OutFt, the Philly Pri event held each year on Natnal Comg Out Day.

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Black and Lato, and often om poor fai that reject them for beg gay, they are drawn to the street’s bleak g by a need to fe themselv through the pany of soul mat…‘Where I e om, you n’t be black and gay, ’ said Darnell. A journalist for the Chigo Tribune observed, “Young gay men om the cy’s South and Wt sis e to Boystown to vis the Center on Halsted [the LGBTQ muny center], whose youth programs make them feel safe, affirmed, and valued. Co-sponsored 2019 by the Chigo Black Social Culture Map, the Morn Dance Mic Archivg Foundatn, and the Center on Halsted, the event clud muny archivg on se, oral histori, and panel discsns that celebrated nightlife’s queer roots, reflected on the signifince of public events like Black Pri, and explored the importance of inic spots and “anchor stutns” (Ghaziani 2014a: 383) the gayborhood.

” Rints found her msage pellg and voted by a marg of more than 2-to-1 a referendum to repeal a law that protected gay men and lbians om discrimatn employment, hog, and public acmodatn (Ghaziani 2008: 33) Florida fight unleashed protts across the untry, many of which were anized gay neighborhoods.

Soon after Ana Bryant’s recent victory a Miami homosexual rights referendum, most of the rtrants around Dupont Circle agreed—some whout proddg—to stop servg the Florida orange juice Bryant advertis. ”26 The prott theme found s way to the first natnal March on Washgton for Lbian and Gay Rights another well-known example, the San Francis queer muny uned when Dan Whe assassated supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor Gee Masne on November 27, 1978. A ont-page story the New York Tim scribed the power of gayborhood streets for social movement mobilizatn efforts: “While the Castro has been the center of a movement, is also home to ‘an important polil nstuency.

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A reporter for the New York Tim mented, “Soclogists and mographers alike say the ncentratn of homosexuals re neighborhoods has grown the last two s out of gay polil advocy and the AIDS crisis.

”28 A wrer for the San Francis Chronicle add that mobilizatn gay districts helped to lower fectn rat: “When AIDS fally was intified, whe middle-class gays mobilized powerfully, and over time their efforts drove down fectn rat San Francis’s Castro district. Wrg for the Washgton Post, Pla Span remarked on group’s name, logo, and activi:They uld have lled themselv somethg more prosaic, neighborhood anti-crime patrols beg nothg new, after all…But gay activism, New York-style, requir a certa ironic panache…The Pk Panthers tle, wh s echo both of ‘60s policizatn and silver-screen mp, won swift approval. Coupl, Inc., a Los Angel-based anizatn fightg for legal regnn of gay partners, anized The Weddg, a ceremony that celebrated queer relatnships and mand that their partnerships receive equal legal regnn as married heterosexuals (Ghaziani 2008).

In today’s climate of greater legislative equaly, gayborhoods provi an abeyance (Taylor 1989) functnaly, allowg queer people to stand on guard and ready to rist any jtic that may e their way. Rega Quattrochi, the former director of the New York Cy AIDS Rource Center, argu that gayborhoods have always promoted the celebratn of queer cultur: “Even as recently as the early and mid-1980s, I thk the Village was symbolic of a sort of celebratn of gay culture. ’ A welg vibe is what anizers hope to spire when visors see new street signage that will signate a portn of the Center Cy District as the cy’s official gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr-sensive neighborhood…the new street signs will feature the tradnal GLBT rabow, or ‘Freedom’ flag unrneath the ual street signs…‘The signage is an important symbol for this cy, ’ [said Tami Sortman of the Philalphia Gay Tourism uc].

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