Beg Black and gay Palm Sprgs n be lonely. One group wants to fix that

Contents:

• PALM SPRGS POLICE CHIEF RIGNS OVER GAY SEX STG
• LIVG ‘BT GAY BLACK LIFE’ IS KEY FOR THIS PALM SPRGS GROUP
• WHY PALM SPRGS IS THE GAYT TOWN AMERI
• GAY REALTOR PALM SPRGS | DERT LIVG | GAY MEC
• PALM SPRGS ELECTS AN ALL-LGBTQ CY COUNCIL, SHOWG THE POWER OF GAY POLICS
• WE’RE SO GAY
• DERT PARADISEA GAY MENS CLOTHG OPTNAL DERT OASIS THE MIDDLE OF WARM SANDS. WHETHER YOU'RE SEARCHG FOR RT & RELAXATN OR A SENSATNAL GETAWAY, YOU'VE FOUND PARADISE. DERT PARADISE, PALM SPRGS.

PALM SPRGS POLICE CHIEF RIGNS OVER GAY SEX STG

Though the cy may be a gay mec today, for many years a nservative “old guard” led this rort town, sistg the pleasure pursus of “alternative liftyl” (as they were once lled) stay hidn out of sight.

So how did a dty ltle outpost at the base of the San Jacto Mountas bee an ternatnally known statn for gays and lbians? In his book, A Cy Com Out: How Celebri Ma Palm Sprgs a Gay & Lbian Paradise, thor David Wallace tri to separate fact om fictn.

LIVG ‘BT GAY BLACK LIFE’ IS KEY FOR THIS PALM SPRGS GROUP

A longtime rint of both New York and Los Angel, he now ris Palm Sprgs, teachg memoir wrg and givg lectur on gay and lbian history at the LGBT Communy Center of the Dert.

WHY PALM SPRGS IS THE GAYT TOWN AMERI

VIDEO: Author David Wallace not Palm Sprgs' earlit gay pneer.

Even as gay liberatn entered the mastream, the mayor and cy uncil sisted that gay bars and clubs terg to “those people” be relegated to unrporated areas south of town toward Cathedral Cy. He was known lolly for his generosy, and also for his sexual proclivi — an open secret he went so far to fend that he sued a Brish tabloid that claimed he was gay (and he won!

The June 2009 gay sex stg ted 19 public cent exposure arrts, and disbelief and outrage have ftered this sert haven ever sce. This is Palm Sprgs, “the gayt cy Ameri, ” a gay tourist statn erned by an openly gay mayor and home to the sexually charged Whe Party, a dance and mic ftival that attracts tens of thoands of gay men every year. “The stg was an egreg se of entrapment, a technique that has been ed by law enforcement agast gay people for s, ” said Robert Stone, -founr of the Warm Sands neighborhood associatn and one of the most vol crics of unrver operatn.

GAY REALTOR PALM SPRGS | DERT LIVG | GAY MEC

” The ntroversy reached a boil last June wh the revelatn that an officer volved the stg was taped utterg a gay slur. I mean, ’s like the gay mec, ” said Mariah Hanson, owner of Club Skirts and a promoter of the cy’s annual lbian extravaganza that attracts an timated 20, 000 revelers durg the Dah Shore golf tournament. News of the chief’s parture had brought lm to Palm Sprg’s gay muny by week’s end.

PALM SPRGS ELECTS AN ALL-LGBTQ CY COUNCIL, SHOWG THE POWER OF GAY POLICS

But animosy, as chilly as the snow-dted San Jacto Mountas risg over this sert town, lgers agast the mayor and members of the gay-majory uncil who had steadfastly fend Domquez or held their tongu. “What you heard a lot was what’s the good of havg a majory of gays on the uncil if they don’t stick up for the muny?

WE’RE SO GAY

“We have to e to grips wh the realy that there’s hidn racism and hidn homophobia. She lled the episo a distasteful flexg of gay polil mcle led by a few noisy activists.

DERT PARADISEA GAY MENS CLOTHG OPTNAL DERT OASIS THE MIDDLE OF WARM SANDS. WHETHER YOU'RE SEARCHG FOR RT & RELAXATN OR A SENSATNAL GETAWAY, YOU'VE FOUND PARADISE. DERT PARADISE, PALM SPRGS.

I thk this town is sred to do anythg agast gay people, ” Wolff said.

The cint crystallized the plexi of Palm Sprg’s agg and tablished gay muny.

Gay men and lbians, by some timat, acunt for nearly half of the 47, 000 rints. The gay muny is wily creded for rcug the pipg hot sert town, which was slowly wastg away as clung to s past heyday as Hollywood’s playground. The olickg y to that yang clus the annual Whe Party; a gay pri para that, on one day every year, doubl the cy’s populatn.

The Warm Sands neighborhood where the 2009 stg took place is a mishmash of refurbished 1920s ranch and retro apartments and is home to 11 clothg-optnal gay rorts. A lol gay magaze ranks the rorts, most of which are well-kept ns, by “sexual temperature. “What I believe is the Palm Sprgs Police Department tentnally targeted gays, ” Tansey said.

Rod Pache’s hard-le prosecutn of the Warm Sands s, which have yet to go to trial, rallied many the Palm Sprgs gay muny to pour money to his challenger’s mpaign the June electn. In the face of a global ronavis panmic, many gay pri celebratns have moved om jubilant ftivals on the streets to … puter screens. But the lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer muny still has plenty of reasons to fly those rabow flags last week, the U.

Supreme Court issued a monumental lg that gay and transgenr people are protected om workplace discrimatn unr the Civil Rights Act of 1964. “Until [the lg], you uld be fired for beg LGBT, ” says Jeff Berger, founr and print of the Natnal Associatn of Gay & Lbian Real Estate Profsnals. Ls than half of LGBTQ adults, 49%, were homeowners, pared wh almost two-thirds, 65%, of LGBTQ folks who do buy hom prrize livg fun, safe muni wh lots of other gay rints where they’re ls likely to be harassed.

“They n have a level of fort [ the plac] bee other people have charted the waters, ” says fd the gayt towns Ameri, the ® team of data analysts looked at five-year U. The list was limed to towns wh at least 1, 700 hoeholds wh a marg of error unr many big ci like San Francis and New York have long been renowned for their thrivg gay culture, they’re jt so big that the number of same-sex upl ma up a smaller percentage of their total populatns.

We also limed our list to jt one statn per state to ensure geographic, where are the both famo and off-the-radar “gayborhoods”?