Description
Book SynopsisThis open access book examines the significance of gay neighborhoods (or ‘gayborhoods’) from critical periods of formation during the gay liberation and freedom movements of the 1960s and 1970s, to proven durability through the HIV/AIDS pandemic during the 1980s and 1990s, to a mature plateau since 2000. The book provides a framework for contemplating the future form and function of gay neighborhoods. Social and cultural shifts within gay neighborhoods are used as a framework for understanding the decades-long struggle for LGBTQ+ rights and equality.
Resulting from gentrification, weakening social stigma, and enhanced rights for LGBTQ+ people, gay neighborhoods have recently become “less gay,” following a 50-year period of resilience. Meanwhile, other neighborhoods are becoming “more gay,” due to changing preferences of LGBTQ+ individuals and a propensity for LGBTQ+ families to form community in areas away from established gayborhoods. The current ‘plateau’ in the evolution of gay neighborhoods is characterized by generational differences—between Baby Boom pioneers and Millennials who favour broad inclusivity—signaling various possible trajectories for the future ‘afterlife’ of these important LGBTQ+ urban spaces.
The complicating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic provides a point of comparison for lessons learned from gay neighborhoods and the LGBTQ+ community that bravely endured the onset of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
This book will be of interest to students and scholars in various disciplines—including sociology, social work, anthropology, gender and sexuality, LGTBQ+ and queer studies, as well as urban geography, architecture, and city planning—and to policymakers and advocates concerned with LGBTQ+ rights and social justice.
Trade Review“This book will likely find appeal … among social scientists, planners, and architects seeking insights into the shifting character of post-pandemic urban living in the twenty-first century. … considering the disparaging and supercilious comments from a few ostensibly cisgender colleagues … encountered by the editors in the early stages of The Life and Afterlife, Professors Bitterman and Hess are to be commended for their commitment to producing an informative and courageous study.” (Dennis E. Gale, Journal of Planning Education and Research, September 13, 2022)
“The book is scholastic … and serve as impetuses for future research. … The Life and Afterlife of Gay Neighborhoods provides methodologies and concept grounds for this approach and is an invaluable resource for planners, sociologists and designers to both confront and integrate notions of diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice into education, research, scholarship and practice.” (Michael A. Richards, Town Planning Review, Vol. 94 (1), January, 2023)
“The volume is a stimulating and enjoyable anthology, which is on the whole well written and richly illustrated. Notably, it remains low on jargon and thus accessible to audiences beyond academia or the professional realm. … The Life and Afterlife of Gay Neighborhoods will find-and reward-multiple audiences, a process aided by its democratizing open-access availability.” (Manish Chalana, Journal of the American Planning Association, June 9, 2022)
Table of ContentsPart I: Introduction.- Who are the people in your gayborhood? Understanding population change and cultural shifts in LGBTQ+ neighborhoods.- Part II: Context and composition.- Breaking down segregation: Shifting geographies of male same-sex households within desegregating cities.- A queer reading of the United States census.- Why gayborhoods matter: The street empirics of urban sexualities.- Part III: Identity and evolution.- The rainbow connection: A time-series study of rainbow flag display across nine Toronto neighborhoods.- Wearing pink in Fairytown: The heterosexualization of the Spanish town neighborhood and carnival parade in Baton rouge.- A tale of three villages: Contested discourses of place-making in Central Philadelphia.- Are “Gay” and “Queer-friendly" neighbourhoods healthy? Assessing how areas with high densities of same-sex couples impact the mental health of sexual minority and majority young adults.
