Gay Ghettoes Growing Gray: Transformation of Gay Urban Districts across North America Reflects Generational Change

Abstract

IntroductionCompared to their straight counterparts, men and lesbian women arguably have different needs relative to their straight counterparts as they reach retirement age (Quam and Whitford 368). As a result, some and lesbian older adults (age sixty-five or more years) tend to gravitate toward living in gay (Hughes and Kentlyn 438-40). Differences between and lesbian older adults and straight older adults are largely underdocumented, and literature on the evolution of and lesbian retirement communities and neighborhoods is limited (Kehoe 87; Jackson, Johnson, and Roberts 326). Through an analysis of the typology of districts combined with a synthesis of current demographic trends relating to and lesbian older adults, this study examines the potential role of districts in housing and lesbian older adults; it also explores how districts appear to provide more accepting and inclusive communities for older and lesbian adults and the shift in demand for districts among younger and lesbian adults.Gay and lesbian older adults are a somewhat new population demographic. For the first time in American history, a generation of openly and lesbian older adults exists. Before this point in time, many and lesbian older adults remained quietly in the closet and lived as an invisible minority blended unobtrusively into mainstream society. A current generation of out and proud older adults has challenged this paradigm and, as a result, formed new styles of community that accommodate, during retirement years, the needs of and lesbian older adults.Despite these significant advances, challenges remain. While and lesbian older adults may have social and community needs that are different from straight older adults, they share-in terms of health, mobility, and economics-more similarities than differences (Jackson, Johnson, and Roberts 327). One significant difference, however, is that this generation of and lesbian older adults tends to have fewer children and therefore a much shallower pool of potential caregivers than straight older adults (BrennanIng, Seidel, Larson, and Karpiak 37). Gay and lesbian adults tend to have a strong sense of community and engage in entertainment-based activities more than straight counterparts (Kehoe 90). These differences between and lesbian older adults and straight older adults may create new challenges for city planners (Anderton). These subtle but important differences, along with other social and societal factors related to safety and security, have helped to give rise to districts found in most North American cities. A thorough understanding of these differences will allow planners and architects as well as social and human service agencies to more carefully study and engage in long-range planning. This in turn may-over time -cultivate a greater understanding of how and lesbian adults engage the communities in which they live as they grow older. Further study will also help to mitigate potential shortcomings in future service offerings for and lesbian older adults and provide greater choice for more responsive and desirable places for and lesbian adults to live through the life span.Background and ContextNorth American cities are becoming increasingly more integrated. Throughout the twentieth century, North American urban populations tended to sectorize (Knopp) a phenomenon in which people with similar demographic traits- race, economic class, ethnic background-spatially concentrate with same-group members. These concentrations evolved into various districts common to many North American cities: Chinatown, Little Italy, Millionaire's Row, as well as African American and ghettoes. Over time, the composition of these sectors has changed. Once prevalent, German and Italian districts, for example, have been replaced in twenty-first century cities by Burmese, Pakistani, and other contemporary immigrant groups. …