Gay Neighborhoods and the Rights of the Vicarious Citizen

Abstract

Drawing on a combination of qualitative methods using data collected from gay neighborhoods in Chicago and Washington, DC, this article develops the notion of vicarious citizenship—the exercise of rights and claims–making by nonresidential stakeholders who personally identify politically, economically, or socio–culturally with a local community. Vicarious citizens include a diversity of self–identified community members, some of whom were former or displaced residents of the neighborhood, who draw on a variety of socio–territorial practices to mobilize against perceived normative and political threats to their visions of authentic community. At times, vicarious citizens may hold differing and even conflicting perspectives on the functions of community, challenging the claims of local residents and those with more material stakes in the local area. I argue the notion of vicarious citizenship can expand our understanding of how gay neighborhoods remain relevant among certain LGBT populations who, for a variety of reasons, select into neighborhoods outside established gay areas. Vicarious citizenship can also be found in other nonresident communities.