Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
19.1
Introduction
Many researchers have claimed that city neighborhoods where the residences of gay
men and lesbians are concentrated have different characteristics and different futures
than the city neighborhoods where more heterosexuals reside.
1
Most studies, how-
ever, have weak empirical bases for these claims.
A few studies have statistically analyzed the locations of gay men and lesbians.
Black et al. (
2002
) demonstrate that partnered gay men are more likely than
heterosexual couples to locate in higher amenity cities. They argue that this is the
case because gays are less likely to have children, allowing more of their incomes to
be spent on the amenities of a residential location than on housing square footage or
other expenditures. They show that amenities, more than “gay-friendliness,” attract
gays to concentrate in particular cities, such as San Francisco. Black et al. explore
intercity locations, but do not address the location, or concentration, of gays or
lesbians across neighborhoods within cities.
Gates and Ost (
2004
) created an atlas showing the locations in 2000 of gay
partners by state, city, zip code and urban place within metropolitan areas. They
provide maps and charts showing that, while there are differences in where gay men
and lesbians locate, their locations are correlated with one another and differ from
those of heterosexual partners. The Gates and Ost study does not analyze the causes
or effects of differences in the intra-city locations of gays, nor do they provide any
summary data or statistically based comparisons.
A few earlier studies identify neighborhoods within a single city that attract
concentrations of gay men or lesbians and compare the characteristics of these
neighborhoods to other neighborhoods in the same city. Castells (
1983
) used
informants, voter data on the addresses of multiple male households, addresses of
gay bars and social gathering places, addresses of gay-owned businesses, and
concentrations of votes for gay activist Harvey Milk to create a series of maps
showing the neighborhood concentrations of gay men in San Francisco. Castells
compares characteristics of these neighborhoods to the neighborhoods in the rest of
the city and finds that the gay neighborhoods have fewer owner-occupied homes,
fewer children, and lower rents.
Two studies pursue similar strategies in examining the concentrations of
lesbians. Adler and Brenner (
1992
) compare the average characteristics of
neighborhoods with more lesbians within one (unnamed) city to the characteristics
of other neighborhoods in the same city. They use mailing lists from two lesbian
organizations to identify 12 census tracts in which lesbians are concentrated. Using
1980 US Census tract data, they present comparisons similar to Castells, finding
that lesbian neighborhoods have less homeownership, fewer married couples,
1
There is an extensive literature on sexuality and space that explores the variety of reasons that
gays and lesbians do or do not concentrate spatially within cities (for example, Brown
2013
; Lauria
and Knopp
1985
; Harry
1974
). We do not address those questions here. Rather, we analyze the
kinds of neighborhoods that attract concentrations of gays and lesbians and the effects of those
concentrations on subsequent development of the neighborhoods.
