Queer Ghettos: Hounded to the ends of the earth?

Wow! What an interesting thread, Seal. Marking until later.

Columbus, Ohio has become a mecca for homosexuals, but not a ghetto. When the gay boys move into a neighborhood in Columbus, watch the property values skyrocket. I've seen it happen twice in the fifteen years i've lived here. They're very militant, and they've got it pretty good in Columbus--no ghetto here.

I found this-


http://www.ajc.com/travel/content/travel/goguide2002/gays.html

I've heard of Key West before. So that's not an urban legend?

Apparently Sydney has got plenty and it's a coastal city. But Sydney seems to have plenty of everything.

The area I live is also coastal, but apparently in years gone by this was a safe haven for paedophiles.

(Great... I post a thread just when I won't have time or privacy to follow the links...)

Might actually make a day trip to P-Town this weekend. We're heading to Cape Cod for a romantic getaway weekend, and we often meander... especially without my kids in tow.

Wilso- I have been to Key West. And NO, it is not an urban legend.

http://gaykeywestfl.com/

Some guys at work were discussing it once. One spoke of an interview with a straight woman who lives there. Apparently when she meets a straight guy, she tends to hang on to him verrrrrrrrry tightly!

Here in Toronto, it's right downtown, in the Church and Wellesely area.

http://toronto.rezrez.com/entertainment/gaytoronto/index.htm

I'm not so sure about the hypothesis.

While US cities with outward-looking attitudes tend to be on the coasts, and Sydney conforms to this type, it's more of a big city/small town phenomenon, I think.

Rather than being isolated in communities with very few similar people, those who consider themselves minorities usually seek out similar people with whom to share life.

Or for protection!

Yep, I agree with KP. A lot of big BIG cities are on coasts, and larger, more urbane cities are less likely to give gay/ lesbian people a hard time. Plus larger numbers of people mean there are more likely to be more of them.

This happens with Deaf communities, too. You start with a large city that happens to have a lot of Deaf just because of percentages, and then Deaf who grew up in the boonies surrounded by hearing make a point of going to the place that has a lot of Deaf, and that place grows more, etc.

Cool about Columbus! I dunno why exactly, but that makes me happy on a few levels. (Finding out for sure about whether we're moving there in the next few days, prolly.)

hmmm, well, the bigger canajun cities are on lakes, but not on the outer edges (other than vancouver, of course). We have our biggest city toward the middle of the continent. Canajuns, always out to spoil a theory.

Ogunquit, Maine - coastal
South End, Boston - coastal, I guess - not the true 'coastal' side of Boston, though.
Northampton, MA - not coastal, but college town

I'm not sure that they all fall into the 'gay ghetto' category, but they have high concentrations of gays and are known to be local meccas.

Well... it was a pretty theory while it lasted.

Re: Queer Ghettos: Hounded to the ends of the earth?


I think that it's different than a ghetto, because the homosexual are often monied and fashionable.

But, in any group, sticking to people with similar outlook, habits, and culture can be used for protection and community-socializing.

Re: Queer Ghettos: Hounded to the ends of the earth?


The homsexual are often also prosecuted and marginalized. Monied and fashionable is not the norm historically, nor globally.

You were talking about america. I know homosexuals get a fashionable rap in America and G.B., France, and some parts of Italy (Milan, Rome) I don't know about elsewhere.

I just posted this in the gay marriage thread--in Columbus, Ohio today (far, far from any oceans, seas or even big lakes), several gay couples went to the Franklin County Probate Court to demand marriage licences. When they were denied, they began a noisy demonstration. I have no other information, i just heard that on the local radio news.