What are Gayborhoods?

The movement of the gay and lesbian population in the United States is one that has been in progress since the early 1900s, and is still facing overwhelming controversy and backlash today. The push for gay liberation in a country founded on Christian morals and beliefs has subsequently led to struggles over equality of marriage, adoption, jobs, and healthcare. One side of the controversy argues that every individual deserves the same rights, while the opposing mindset argues that being homosexual puts you into a group of people that is different, and will therefore be treated as such.

Another huge social and cultural change during this time was the gay liberation movement. During the 1960’s, many groups decided to fight for their rights and equality. One of these groups was the gay and lesbian members of society. Many of these individuals were discriminated against and had no rights, but they decided enough was enough. In the 1960’s, gays decided to begin the fight for their own rights. One example of this was made after New York officers decided to raid the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York’s very own Greenwich Village on June 27, 1969. This type of raid was not unusual, being that many police officers made it a habit of raiding gay and lesbian bars. This became known as the “Stonewall Riot”, which many view as the starting point of the gay liberation movement. The gay liberation movement was the fight by gays and lesbians for equal rights, one of these rights being the right to not be discriminated against, and most importantly, to be able to openly “come out” to their family and friends. The gay liberation movement helped to impact our current times greatly. Today, a gay person has rights just like anyone else. A gay

The LGBT community has been silently suffering through generations. But in this generation, they are finally showing the world their voice. There have been many instances where young adults were denied their right to be who they are and now they are speaking out about the mistreatment. Even though the united states have begun to be more open about the LGBT community here is still more change it come. These changes can be explained through many sociological perspectives including: functionalist, conflict, symbolic interactionism and interactionism. Along with these perspective religion, norms and deviance all impact these individuals who are striving to be open about who they really are inside and out.

Life for most homosexuals during the first half of the Twentieth century was one of hiding, being ever so careful to not give away their true feelings and predilections. Although the 1920s saw a brief moment of openness in American society, that was quickly destroyed with the progress of the Cold War, and by default, that of McCarthyism. The homosexuals of the 50s “felt the heavy weight of medical prejudice, police harassment and church condemnation … [and] were not able to challenge these authorities.” They were constantly battered, both physically and emotionally, by the society that surrounded them. The very mention or rumor of one’s homosexuality could lead to the loss of their family, their livelihood and, in some cases, their

Over the next two decades, half the states decriminalized homosexual behavior, and police harassment grew less frequent and obvious to the public. Also in 1975, it became legal for gays to hold federal jobs. However all this headway also made room for more opposition. In 1977, Anita Bryant was so successful at obtaining a repeal of a recent gay ordinance in her home state of Florida that by 1980, a league of anti gay clubs had come together to make a force, led in part by Jesse Helms. The AIDS scare that began in the eighties did not help the gay image either, but more citizens joined their ranks in order to combat the oppression and fund a search for the cure, so in the end it actually made the movement stronger. According to the Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia (2000), by 1999, the anti-sodomy laws of 32 states had been repealed, and in 1996 Vermont granted its gay citizens the right to same sex marriages. Gay rights has come a long way as a social movement, and though it still has a long way to go, it makes a good topic to analyze the process of the social movement.

Harvey Milk and his assassinator, Dan White both served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors alongside each other. In the beginning, Milk and White were friends and got along well. This changed when Milk was against a zoning bill pushed by White. White then became the only supervisor to vote against Harvey Milk’s gay-rights ordinance. While Milk became a national icon due to his gay rights movement, White became forgotten about. His career hit a down fall and he became depressed. This depression led him down a path of jealousy.

The early homosexual groups in the U.S. proved that gay people also play important roles in the society, and should not be humiliated whatsoever.

Gay liberation throughout the United States had a purpose for lesbians and gay men to have gay lifestyles be normal. Gay liberation affected politics because gay men and lesbians wanted to inform their peers and family, which changed how citizens would view their sexual orientation. The gay liberation took place during the 1960’s through the 1980’s in which changed many cultures. The culture in the United States changed dramatically because during the 1960s through 1980s , there was an AIDS outbreak. AIDS was a sickness after HIV that would cause an individual’s body to weaken, therefore United States citizens would link AIDS to people who were gay or lesbian. For instance, David Rayside compares the United States to Britain, “After World War II, however, Britain once again stood out in the extent to public anxieties about sexuality were fanned and legal regulation of homosexual activity policed”(40) and “British authorities were especially preoccupied with the condemnation and strict containment of homsexuality.”(40). Homosexuality affected politics because authorities would prioritize the gays and lesbians before anything else. There were clear observations that governments from Britain and United States were not in favor for homosexuality, therefore attempting to change people's views on homosexuality so gays and lesbians would not be accepted into the society. Being accepted into a society requires majority of citizens to approve of other’s decisions. For example, citizens viewing gays or lesbians in public without attempting to discriminate their sexuality. The women’s movement was similar to the gay liberation because it affected politics greatly by hierarchies being

The gay and lesbian communities attempted to fill this gap by volunteering in and self-funding AIDS service organizations, also known as ASOs, providing healthcare alongside educational and preventative services to the community (Policy). In a stark contrast to Reagan’s response, the programs directly impacted those highly affected by AIDS, like drug users and homosexuals. They featured a liberal response of providing free or subsidized services to those in need, directly paralleling how Reagan’s program reflected conservative values. These organizations revolutionized not only responses to the AIDS crisis, because there was no organized medical response at the time, but also centralized the nature of the LGBT community. Although the 1970’s had featured a growing gay rights movement following the Stonewall Riots, the ASOs functioned as an early opportunity to organize in support of a cause, and turn the fervor for change into concrete action. The government refusing to help forced the gay community to help themselves, and they formed bureaucracies and systems of volunteers in response. Although in the latter half of the 1980’s, other institutions like the FDA stepped in to expedite the healthcare process, ASOs served as an early lifeline to those struggling with the disease and centralized the LGBT

George Chauncey’s Gay New York Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World 1890-1940, goes where no other historian had gone before, and that is into the world of homosexuality before World War II. Chauncey’s 1994 critically acclaimed book was a gender history breakthrough that gave light to a homosexual subculture in New York City. The author argues against the idea that homosexual men lived hidden away from the world. Chauncey’s book exposes an abundant culture throughout the United States, especially in New York. In this book Chauncey not only shows how the gay population existed, but “uncovers three widespread myths about the history of gay life before the rise of the gay movement which was isolation, invisibility, and internalization.” Chauncey argues against these theories that in the years 1890-1940, America had in fact a large gay culture. Chauncey book is impactful in the uncovering of a lost culture, but also works as an urban pre-World War II history giving an inside view of life in the city through sexuality and class.

One of the most famous acts occurred on November 27, 1978. Harvey Milk, an openly gay San Francisco city supervisor and Mayor George Moscone (who was not a gay man) were assassinated by a political rival, Dan White, at San Francisco City Hall. Milk was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California. Deep into his office term he became an activist for the gay community, passing many gay rights ordinance for the city. He was an icon and a role model in the LGBTQI community before his untimely death (Shilts, 2008).

Before the stonewall riot, homosexuals were completely miserable because of police and homophobes.According to Dissent Magazine “both the New York Times and the Washington Post ran pieces that assumed the genesis of the gay freedom campaign can be traced to a single dramatic event with a singularly memorable name: Stonewall.”The only reason that people have LGBT+ rights today is because of the stonewall riot.Rights info “ We’ve come a

In the early 1960s the homosexual group was small, but began to grow. During the 1960s many gays were protesting for equal rights and treatment under the law enforcement. Multiple people found it hard to “come out” because they felt exposed and society made them feel misplaced and judged. I believe having the people protesting during this time has made it easier

The climate of the 1960s was turbulent. This decade was marked by many political movements, which reflected support for non-establishment themes. During this time the “sexual liberation movement” became a popular cause. This intensified social and political interest helped many disadvantaged groups to receive support and attention that previously had never been received. As part of the nation’s desire for sexual political liberation, gay liberation became visible.

In the past two decades, scholars have expressed keen interest in the gay gentrification (gaytrification) of historically well-defined gay urban neighborhoods (gayborhoods). Their studies have been comprehensive and have shed new light on the causes and effects of gentrification within these gayborhoods. In the course of their investigations, multiple forces were identified as agents of change in the gay ghetto/gay neighborhood in the 21st Century (Bitterman & Hess, 2016; Stover, 2014). Significant threats to gay and lesbian inhabitants and businesses in gentrified gay neighborhoods throughout the United States included real estate development and skyrocketing real estate prices (Moskowitz 2014, Stover 2014). Additionally, changing demographics and social acceptance seemed on track to alter the makeup, definition, and existence of the urban gay neighborhood (Bitterman & Hess, 2016). Finally, the gayborhood’s survival as a whole was thoroughly examined, as researchers argued that gays and lesbians have not only been agents of gentrification but also casualties of it (Christafore & Leguizamon, 2016; Moskowitz, 2017).