Le Marais: "Gay Paris" and the Constctn of an LGBTQIA+ mec — JP Lguistics - French, Italian, Spanish Class NYC

Contents:

• LE GAY PARIS
• LE MARAIS: "GAY PARIS" AND THE CONSTCTN OF AN LGBTQIA+ MEC
• 'GAY PAREE' TAK ON NEW MEANG
• WHAT THEY MEAN WHEN THEY SAY ‘GAY PAREE’
• [VOBULARY] GAY PARIS
• EUROPEAN CI HAVG AT LEAST 60 GAY AND LBIAN BS 2004EUROPEAN CI HAVG AT LEAST 60 GAY AND LBIAN BS 200413IF PARIS APPEARS AS A PAL OF HOMOSEXUALY BEE OF THE QUANTY AND DIVERSY OF S MERCIAL OFFERGS TEND FOR GAYS, CERTALY DO NOT HAVE THE IMAGE OR THE RA OF S TWO MA PETORS, ON THE EUROPEAN OR WORLD STAGE. THE HOMOSEXUAL MUNI THERE APPEAR MUCH LS STCTURED AND ENGAGED THE SOCIAL AND POLIL FIELD THAN BERL (GRéSILLON 2000), AND ACRDG TO OUR OBSERVATNS, MUCH LS FTIVE, AVANT-GAR, AND EXTROVERTED THAN LONDON. GENERALLY, ONE NOT THAT BEE THEY ARE STILL RELATIVELY ISOLATED AND MARGALIZED THE SPACE AND THE LIFE OF THE CY, THEY ARE LS EVINCE THAN OTHER INIC PLAC OF HOMOSEXUAL MUNI. NOHELS – AND THE ELECTN 2001 OF AN OPENLY GAY MAYOR IS A CLEAR EXAMPLE – THGS HAVE CHANGED SIGNIFINTLY RECENT YEARS.14FIRSTLY, THE GAY PRI EVENT, [11] A GREAT ANNUAL FTIVAL MIXG TECHNO RHYTHMS AND POLIL SLOGANS (FIG. 2) IS, WH (FOR SEVERAL YEARS) APPROXIMATELY HALF A LN MONSTRATORS THE STREETS OF PARIS (PARED TO ONLY 800 1979), THE LARGT GATHERG OF THE YEAR TERMS OF THE NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS, EVEN IF DO NOT RONATE TO ANY GREAT EXTENT THE MEDIA. THEN, IF THE DOMANT POSN OF PARIS ON A EUROPEAN SLE IS NTTED, THE PAL RETAS S NATNAL HEGEMONY. INED, THE DISTRIBUTN OF GAY TABLISHMENTS REVEALS A VERY HIERARCHIL STCTURE. IF LYON HAS A GAY MERCIAL FABRIC OF ABOUT 30 TABLISHMENTS, OTHER MAJOR CI ARE LS WELL PROVID FOR (ONLY 5 PROVCIAL CI HAD AT LEAST 20 TABLISHMENTS 2004). FALLY, NO TABLISHMENT THE PROVC N PETE WH THE RENOWN AND ATTRACTIVENS OF THE MOST FAMO PARISIAN GAY BARS OR DISTHEQU, WHICH SOME S HAVE AN ATTRACTIVENS ON A NATNAL OR EVEN NTENTAL SLE. WH PARIS, THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTN OF GAY AND LBIAN MERCIAL TABLISHMENTS IS ALSO VERY UNEVEN, BUT EVEN WHEN RTRICTG ONELF TO THIS GEOGRAPHY, THE SPATIALI OF HOMOSEXUALY APPEAR LS SIMPLE TO UNRSTAND THAN ONE MIGHT THK. BETWEEN VISIBILY AND ANONYMY, LICENSED STAT AND ILLEGALY, THE TERRORI OF HOMOSEXUALY SKETCH A SUBTLE ARRANGEMENT OF MULTIPLE CENTRALI.FIG. 2THE PARIS GAY PRI, BETWEEN FOLKLORE AND SOCIAL AND POLIL MANDSTHE PARIS GAY PRI, BETWEEN FOLKLORE AND SOCIAL AND POLIL MANDS
• GAY

LE GAY PARIS

Helpful Vobulary When Talkg About Gay Life ParisUn marais - A swampUn hôtel particulier - A French mansn orlerally “a private hotel”L’âge d’or - The Goln age Un bar - A barAller boire un verre - To go get a drkPrendre un verre - To have a drkAller en boîte - To go to the clubFaire la fête (tf*) - To partyRearch has shown that the number of same-sex hoeholds holdg PACS (pacte civil solidaré, or civil unns) is evenly distributed throughout the cy, ditg that gay people live everywhere throughout Paris, not exclively the Marais. Officials Paris say they are enuraged by a trend toward greater tolerance but are still battlg nservatism and Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, when elected last year beme the cy's first openly gay mayor and proudly led this summer's Gay Pri para.

Delanoe uldn't attend a meetg last month to gurate the gay-iendly tourism mpaign bee he was recuperatg om a stabbg attack by a man who said he disliked overall challenge for officials workg on the mpaign is to tweak the image of a cy famo for photographs like the 1950 Robert Doisne snapshot of a man and woman stealg a kiss cintally ont of Cy have only begun turng on the project, which is not to be publicly lnched until June 2003. Berl's mayor, Kls Wowere, is openly gay and marched Berl's Gay Pri para this and Berl, like Paris, have proment gay districts, which are featured on their tourism Web s along wh listgs for gay-iendly hotels and those ci have a natural advantage, said Remi Calmon, a spokman for France's 600-member Natnal Unn of Gay Bs. Details of how to make Paris more people-iendly were still beg worked out, he ia that has sparked great tert was dreamed up the small Loire Valley cy of Le Mans, bt known for s 24-hour to s own missn to attract gay tourism, Le Mans Cy Hall has drafted a "Lbian and Gay Friendly Wele Charter, " which they mailed to lol merchants this fall.

Gay Paris, the dissipated metropolis of France, is the lole of our story, the home of the proust noblse, and the most miserable naille; of the most learned philosophers, and the shrewst thiev; of the strictt police disciple, and of laws the most disregard; the rort of all dissapated Europe, the centre of every extreme of life. Th, no geographer has llaborated wh the many dictnari and encyclopedias published recent years, which have been voted to homosexual cultur, nor participated the symposiums spired by Gay and Lbian Studi the Uned Stat on this subject, (such as the Renntr ternatnal sur l cultur gays et lbienn [Internatnal Meetgs on Gay and Lbian Culture] anized Paris by the Ge Pompidou Center 1997). 2“What we should be askg ourselv is not about why gay and lbian cultur exist (…); but rather why they are ncealed, ” the philosopher and soclogist Didier Eribon, a specialist on homosexual culture France, pertently remds (2003, 16).

LE MARAIS: "GAY PARIS" AND THE CONSTCTN OF AN LGBTQIA+ MEC

It requir a knowledge, or even a practil experience of the terrori ncerned, an sight to the logic of those who nstct them and of the habs of those who equent them, difficult issu bee the anizatn and the dynamic of the spac of homosexualy are part visible, as we will monstrate.

That is why we n wele the exceptn, which is the recent Dictnnaire la géographie et l’pace s sociétés, eded by Jacqu Lévy and Michel Lslt (2003) which, unlike prev works of the same genre, propos an entry for “sexualy” and another for “sexuatn, ” and even refers to Gay and Lbian Studi. While their fluence has always been nsirable artistic and lerary productn (Eribon 2003; Tamagne 2000) and the var movements mpaigng for equal rights, seems that homosexual women have a more discreet liftyle, more stable, and any se very different om that of men (particularly rpect of their needs and ways of meetg). Homosexual relatnships were mon and accepted the ci of ancient Greece (Halper 1990), jt as they were wispread (but already tolerated ls) the Italian ci of the Renaissance (Rocke 1996), or most of the large European ci om the seventeenth century onwards (Higgs 1999).

), homosexuals, bee of their limed number and their safety needs, mt fd or create plac of solidary and fe works of sociabily, build livg spac which, if not a muny, are at least llective nature (Altman 1983; D’E 2002; Murray 1996). The cy is the terrory that n bt meet the expectatns and is even the only one allowg pe om the domatn, even hostily, of the majory groupgs: “They (ci) beme plac where gays uld, to some gree, pe om the nstant prsur of an tolerant heterosexual society” (Lria and Knopp, 1985, 158). Two ditive pots: even if not only lookg at homosexual upl, wh nearly 130 “regnized upl” [4] per 10, 000 habants aged 18 years or more, pared wh the average of 60 France at the end of the 2004 [5], Paris is well ahead terms of the number of people signg a PACS (uple’s civil ntract), regardls of the sex of the signatori.

'GAY PAREE' TAK ON NEW MEANG

But is also reasonable to assume that, all major ci of veloped untri, the homosexual populatn is over-reprented and has been for a long time (Higgs 1999), even if the phenomenon has probably been magnified recent s, as a rult of the wispread crease mobily. If one accepts the theory of gentrifitn proposed by David Ley (1980), favorg the cultural dimensn to expla the emergence and creasg mand for hog the center, gays, wh their terts, their preference for plac wh good ameni (Black et al.

WHAT THEY MEAN WHEN THEY SAY ‘GAY PAREE’

[9] “Ever sce my childhood, an imaged Paris had been the shg pla twklg at the center of my ner stellar map” (Whe 1998, 12) nfs the young gay hero of the betiful novel by Edmund Whe, La Symphonie s adix, as he leav New York for Paris. In the Amerin versn of the Brish gay seri Queer As Folk, most of the characters dream aloud of gog to vis and even live Paris…12Wh nearly 140 mercial tablishments [10] 2004, followg exponential growth durg the 1980s and 1990s, the French pal is ranked jt ahead of Berl (but behd if this number is related to the rint populatn) and que clearly ahead of London (Fig.

The historian Florence Tamagne (2000) has shown that, om the begng of the twentieth century and ntrast to the suatn neighborg untri, the French pal was benefg fully om the relative benevolence of the thori and the absence of ercive measur even if, as the other pals, “the progrsive tablishment (…) of a homosexual subculture a fear of ‘ntagn’ public opn and feeds the myth of nspiracy (…)” (Tamagne 2002, 13). This predomance at the European level is rerced durg the 1930s as a rult of the Nazi reprsn Germany, general, and particularly Berl (Tamagne 2000) 1European ci havg at least 60 gay and lbian bs 2004European ci havg at least 60 gay and lbian bs 200413If Paris appears as a pal of homosexualy bee of the quanty and diversy of s mercial offergs tend for gays, certaly do not have the image or the ra of s two ma petors, on the European or world stage. Between visibily and anonymy, licensed stat and illegaly, the terrori of homosexualy sketch a subtle arrangement of multiple 2The Paris Gay Pri, between folklore and social and polil mandsThe Paris Gay Pri, between folklore and social and polil mands4 –.

[VOBULARY] GAY PARIS

Moreover, an analysis of the geography of the PACS shows an over-reprentatn of signatori both the center and the east of Paris (Ruelland and Tonnerre, 2003) 3Distributn of gay and lbian bs Paris, 2004Distributn of gay and lbian bs Paris, 200416In fact, the distributn of bs is not at all nfed by the lims of the arrondissements.

The existence of a gay district, maly posed of bars, rtrants, fashn shops – almost all tend for male homosexuals – supports the need to appropriate public space (for example by flyg the rabow flag there, the emblem of homosexuals), to display and onelf, short to exhib, to prent onelf. Unniably, this volv a level of mercializatn which some nsir excsive, alienatg, imposg uniformy and likely to generate soc-enomic divisns wh gay and lbian muni, but also which creat eedom, sociabily and culture, ed a llective inty. This excsive mercializatn and tough screeng based on money was vigoroly nmned by homosexual associatns and would rult both the disappearance of almost all of the stutns the early 1980s and the replacement of the e Sate-Anne district by the Marais.

The Marais: “A Safe Nursery, a Center of Attractn like No Other” [12]19From the outset, the Marais district had all the advantag for rapid velopment and succs relatn to homosexual muni: a perfect geographil centraly, excellent accsibily (particularly wh the nstctn of the RER (rail work) 1977), very old buildgs (which do not lsen the charm of the neighborhood) and space available at very low st. Ined, those who now rail agast the existence of an area of nspicuo homosexualy the heart of Paris, one of s olst, most central, well-known and betiful districts are perhaps fettg that at the time the first gay bar was opened 1978 (a bar aptly lled Le Village), the e du Plâtre, the Marais was very much the middle of beg renovated and rehabilated (a procs given impet at the end of the 1960s by the Malrx law) and that was far om havg the appearance has today. 20The tablishment of gay bs, which was facilated by the existence of a supply of vant premis and very low land pric, was slow at first and then accelerated the 1980s, would make a signifint ntributn to the functnal and archectural renaissance of the Marais.

EUROPEAN CI HAVG AT LEAST 60 GAY AND LBIAN BS 2004EUROPEAN CI HAVG AT LEAST 60 GAY AND LBIAN BS 200413IF PARIS APPEARS AS A PAL OF HOMOSEXUALY BEE OF THE QUANTY AND DIVERSY OF S MERCIAL OFFERGS TEND FOR GAYS, CERTALY DO NOT HAVE THE IMAGE OR THE RA OF S TWO MA PETORS, ON THE EUROPEAN OR WORLD STAGE. THE HOMOSEXUAL MUNI THERE APPEAR MUCH LS STCTURED AND ENGAGED THE SOCIAL AND POLIL FIELD THAN BERL (GRéSILLON 2000), AND ACRDG TO OUR OBSERVATNS, MUCH LS FTIVE, AVANT-GAR, AND EXTROVERTED THAN LONDON. GENERALLY, ONE NOT THAT BEE THEY ARE STILL RELATIVELY ISOLATED AND MARGALIZED THE SPACE AND THE LIFE OF THE CY, THEY ARE LS EVINCE THAN OTHER INIC PLAC OF HOMOSEXUAL MUNI. NOHELS – AND THE ELECTN 2001 OF AN OPENLY GAY MAYOR IS A CLEAR EXAMPLE – THGS HAVE CHANGED SIGNIFINTLY RECENT YEARS.14FIRSTLY, THE GAY PRI EVENT, [11] A GREAT ANNUAL FTIVAL MIXG TECHNO RHYTHMS AND POLIL SLOGANS (FIG. 2) IS, WH (FOR SEVERAL YEARS) APPROXIMATELY HALF A LN MONSTRATORS THE STREETS OF PARIS (PARED TO ONLY 800 1979), THE LARGT GATHERG OF THE YEAR TERMS OF THE NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS, EVEN IF DO NOT RONATE TO ANY GREAT EXTENT THE MEDIA. THEN, IF THE DOMANT POSN OF PARIS ON A EUROPEAN SLE IS NTTED, THE PAL RETAS S NATNAL HEGEMONY. INED, THE DISTRIBUTN OF GAY TABLISHMENTS REVEALS A VERY HIERARCHIL STCTURE. IF LYON HAS A GAY MERCIAL FABRIC OF ABOUT 30 TABLISHMENTS, OTHER MAJOR CI ARE LS WELL PROVID FOR (ONLY 5 PROVCIAL CI HAD AT LEAST 20 TABLISHMENTS 2004). FALLY, NO TABLISHMENT THE PROVC N PETE WH THE RENOWN AND ATTRACTIVENS OF THE MOST FAMO PARISIAN GAY BARS OR DISTHEQU, WHICH SOME S HAVE AN ATTRACTIVENS ON A NATNAL OR EVEN NTENTAL SLE. WH PARIS, THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTN OF GAY AND LBIAN MERCIAL TABLISHMENTS IS ALSO VERY UNEVEN, BUT EVEN WHEN RTRICTG ONELF TO THIS GEOGRAPHY, THE SPATIALI OF HOMOSEXUALY APPEAR LS SIMPLE TO UNRSTAND THAN ONE MIGHT THK. BETWEEN VISIBILY AND ANONYMY, LICENSED STAT AND ILLEGALY, THE TERRORI OF HOMOSEXUALY SKETCH A SUBTLE ARRANGEMENT OF MULTIPLE CENTRALI.FIG. 2THE PARIS GAY PRI, BETWEEN FOLKLORE AND SOCIAL AND POLIL MANDSTHE PARIS GAY PRI, BETWEEN FOLKLORE AND SOCIAL AND POLIL MANDS

If today the Marais, along wh the spac which surround , is the Parisian, even the French ht li (fed as a “place where valu nnse, where practic nverge and emotns are experienced” [Debarbix 2003]), of the homosexual inty, ow much to David Girard, one of the inic entreprenrs of the gay mercial scene of the 1970s and 1980s. 21At the same time as the birth of the Gai Pied and Masqu magaz 1979, the emergence of a neighborhood which was both an enomic and tourist space and an inty-affirmg terrory, the diversn of part of the public space, vted and then transformed by the homosexual muni, really marks the begng of a new era: that of mass nsumptn, of “g out” and of openg out to the cy.

This is the heart of the gay quarter, the one which, wh s substantial ncentratn of gay premis equented very regularly by an ostentat and monosex clientele, is most symbolic of the ia and reprentative of the image eher of the village or the ghetto for the heterosexual populatn as well as for the homosexuals who do or do not equent . Such a ncentratn of gay tablishments such a small area, which greatly creas the opportuni for enunters (which is one of the raisons d’être of gay neighborhoods), is very unual (see the map of the cy plans the Spartac gui), bee is not an extensive area, and is too small to acmodate many nightclubs or sex-clubs, which “vour” space. The e du Temple, the e Vieille-du-Temple, the e Sate-Croix--la-Bretonnerie and those of the Archiv have been succsful” (Laferie 2003, 32) 4Lotn of gay and lbian bs the Marais and surroundgs (2004)Lotn of gay and lbian bs the Marais and surroundgs (2004)22The agglomeratn effect is felt full and the “good” lotns, the high-traffic on, are rare and therefore expensive.

GAY

While homosexuals have ntributed greatly to promotg land and property valu the Marais, and is sentially gay shops (which are now the largt employers the 4th arrondissement [Garcia 2002]), which have enabled the substantial enrichment and gentrifitn of the neighborhood, they are turn victims of their own succs. 23If remas the ma center of attractn for Parisian homosexualy, “the Mec of Mecs, ” the gay Marais should be seen ls as a “village, ” such as there are North Amerin ci, than as a kd of gateway that one go through on a more or ls regular basis: “the crossg pot of a megacy of sire, a kd of ‘ner door’ for anyone who will then proceed to another, often ls visible, center” (Laferie, 2003, 32).

Jt as there are several ways of livg out one’s homosexualy, bee an dividual n have multiple inti, acrdg to the sphere (public or private) which he fds himself, there are multiple spac, multiple spatiali of homosexualy, wh greater or lser gre of visibily. Alongsi the “tablishments/street-shows” (and mirrors…) of the Marais, plac of sociabily and enunters where is jt as important to be seen as to see, there is a another geography of homosexualy Paris, ls well known, the geography of gay cisg and sexual activy. The Invisible Geography of Plac for Anonymo Enunters24The numero plac Paris for enunters and anonymo sexualy are not apparent to the uniated (heterosexuals and some gays), but for the most part are well known to male homosexuals (Proth 2002).

Like homo-sociabily spac, which they plement as much as oppose, the practic the plac of transgrsn are part of the velopment of the homosexual inty, particularly the break that they e wh heterosexual liftyl, which are often seen by gays as rtrictive bee they are characterized by long-lastg relatnships between upl. 5) 5Lotn of anonymo sexual meetg plac Paris 2004Lotn of anonymo sexual meetg plac Paris 200426There are two typ of “visible” plac for male homosexualy: on the one hand, mercial tablishments (snas men’s clubs or sex-clubs), which are certaly more fortable than the pornographic movie ho and public toilets that they have replaced and on the other hand, the external meetg plac which erase the le between public and private by illicly (homo)sexualizg urban spac (Proth 2002). Some of the unseen lotns, nstutg cy “bld spots, ” which often share several , sometim shady or even unual – such as the cemetery of Père Lachaise, for example, [13] immutable or mobile time and the Parisian space, have bee almost mythilly graed the homosexual imagatn.