gay community - castro changing, gayborhoods changing

i am actually going to post my comments here … comments on an article that is on gay.com and i may post a few excerpts from the article as well as the link, but the base premise is that the castro and other gay neighborhoods seem to be thinning out and getting more mixed and gay locales are shutting down as gay people meet more on the internet and through other venues and as they are more accepted in various other cities than the former mainstays.

my thoughts which i posted in response to the article and other comments are as follows:

everything changes. wild how fast it can go at times. computers have barely been around 20 years. many do prefer the web as the bar environment doesn't seem to be meeting needs for many.

if there were the same demand there once was then demands would be met somehow. people use the web now to order their porn. christopher area changed. chelsea has a home depot now. homogenization is happening everywhere. small towns angry as walmart comes in. manhattan has a kmart - two of them at least. has its pluses and downsides.

kmart used to not have martha stewart now they do. coming out is still an issue for many, but for many it isn't what it used to be. borders has brought gay publications to middle america. people are used to seeing it all around them these days. they still may have their issues. they still may blink an eye, but less and less does is shock people and less and less is there as much to be angry about. a lot of pain and anger fueled the expression.

now we can move into more subtle details around the conflicts and focus on development within the community further and further which is what is happening. youtube, gay.com, 365gay.com and counttless other sites are meeting social and intellectual needs that used to have to be met in other ways. yes, we can mourn the gayborhoods. they had their fun elements, but they were often as much a cage as they were a haven.

we are here. we are queer. people are used to us now. now we can contribute what we have to offer to others. yes we are a minority. yes there is still much to work through and be gained. black people have their rap and their soul music and their african art and all their cultural things and cultural ways of identity and ways of sharing their identity with others.

gay people are a minority of sorts no question, however, we are a unique minority and we are born into other minorities and/or majorities and our role may be as much to serve within those societies and find our roles not only as gay people, but as another gender as we were seen in many native american societies where we were seen as 'two spirits' (having both male and female attributes) and had various roles to serve. of course like women we don't need to be limited to those roles, but at the same time to have some access for public exploration and an awareness that intellectually and emotionally we have variance and things to offer (as illustrated by gay brain studies) can offer a lot of direction as far as where to go next.

Re: gay community - castro changing, gayborhoods changing

link for the article mentioned above…

Re: gay community - castro changing, gayborhoods changing

Its refreshing to hear that gay communities are changing and that homosexuals are being accepted more in society. I see communities in Long Beach that are just people both gay and straight. People can live their lives not in fear. Its also refreshing being gay and going to a place like Long Beach where its accepted. And also being a homo friendly area takes away from the hook up/cruzy aspect of gay neighborhoods. Gay neighborhoods are nice because there is a sense of “family” and also safety to a degree. Its ok for gay individuals to be walking around hand in hand in gay communities but is still not accepted outside of those cities. I would love to see more towns where that is accepted and people cannot be scared if they are going to be beat up for holding the hand of the person of the same sex. Its nice there are shifts now because there are some communities I feel like West Hollywood that promote stereotypes. All towns do, but I feel especially with not being a “generic” homosexual I spend time trying to break these stereotypes that have been developed. Sure West Hollywood isn’t just a gay hunting ground with bars and sex shops. I don’t want to be put into a box and I maybe doing so in my thoughts about West Hollywood. Some people are unfamiliar with homosexuals and their lifestyle and learn a lot by observing television and communities. And if people drive though weho and observe the community people will make judgments based on what they see even if they don’t’ know. As the communities shift people’s perspectives will shift as well. It’s important for the boys towns to be evolving.

Re: gay community - castro changing, gayborhoods changing

nicely said jeremy. thanks for your comments about what you notice from your area. others care to add further thoughts/perspectives?

-d