Gay bar chicago suburbs
"We have to ask the question, 'What will happen to these safe spaces in safer times?' " Ghaziani says.
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But the shift also presents gay communities with a quandary: how to preserve some of the culturally important spaces that have been at the center of the gay rights movement over the last 50 years. On its face, the changing demographics would suggest progress, a sign that fewer gays and lesbians see the need to envelop themselves in friendly enclaves. But the bureau does collect data on same-sex couple households, providing the best, albeit incomplete, account of the USA's LGBT population.īy that measure, the number of gay men who live in gay enclaves nationwide has declined 8.1% while the number of lesbians has dropped 13.6% over the last decade, Ghaziani notes in his new book, There Goes the Gayborhood? Census Bureau doesn't ask all individuals about their sexuality. Understanding the extent of the gay and lesbian migration from gayborhoods with precision is difficult, since the U.S. In the midst of 20 straight wins in federal courts for same-sex marriage and polling that demonstrates Americans' growing acceptance of LGBT people, scholars and demographers say there are signs that the draw of the so-called gayborhood is fading away. "They came to see if we fossilized."Ĭall it a sign of progress, or as University of British Columbia sociologist Amin Ghaziani describes it, the "de-gaying" or "straightening" of America's historically gay enclaves. "It was like they were at a gay museum," joked James Davies, 61, who has been a regular at Little Jim's for most of the 39 years it's been in business.
CHICAGO - At one of the oldest gay taverns in the city's Boystown neighborhood, the regulars were sharing a laugh over what they had seen the night before at their watering hole: a gaggle of straight women.