Philadelphia Recognizes The Gayborhood

[William769]

Source: www.365gay.com

(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Members of Philadelphia's LGBT community joined Mayor John F. Street on Wednesday to dedicate 36 new street signs declaring the "Gayborhood".

The signs are are permanently affixed with the rainbow flag to designate the area from Chestnut to Pine Streets between 11th and Broad Streets as a gay village.

Locals sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and shot rainbow confetti into the air.

The rainbow-branded street signs are an internationally-recognized welcome symbol that demonstrates a city's commitment to diversity and inclusiveness.



Read more: http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/04/041807philly.htm

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We too shall overcome.

[DWilliamsamh]

1. Very cool... love that neighborhood

I thought "The Gayborhood" was a unique Philly Sobriquet. I guess not. I just hope whoever come after Street doesn't decide to reverse this. I guess those guys down in South Philly will have one more reason to hate John Street.

[William769]

4. I hope to visit there someday.

[Gen. Jack D. Ripper]

2. Seems a little segregationist to me

now homophobes will know exactly where to direct their violence.

[William769]

3. How is it segregationist?

BTW, homophobes will seek you out no matter where you are. At least in this case they just might stay away for fear of numbers (Most homophobes I have known are weaklimgs when it comes to numbers).

[Gen. Jack D. Ripper]

6. I have a hard time getting behind the idea

of designating "gay villages." Why would we want to break up our cities into gay and straight neighborhoods? Sounds like segregation to me, even if just symbolic. Even if that kind of separation already exists, why make it official? I'm sorry, it's not that I don't appreciate that this is an important gesture, but it seems counter-productive to use these means.

And, my homophode statement was rhetorical. I was just making a point. But by christening this neighborhood "gay," I really think you're just playing into the hands of the bigots.

[iverglas]

12. it seems like simple recognition of a fact

How 'bout "Chinatown"? People are going to call it that, and know where to go for dim sum, even if there are no signs.

Don't know where this particular moniker originated, but in Canada it's spelled gaybourhood.

;)

(Google asks me whether I want gayborhood, so I guess it's entered the language!)

It's here:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_and_Wellesley

http://www.nowtoronto.com/minisites/loveandsex/2005/survey.php
(NOW is the hip weekly in Toronto)

17. Do you have a community that shares your tastes in sex and sensuality?



The gay/lesbian/bi group of respondents are far more likely to identify as having a sexual community in which they explore and play (31 per cent live and local). Some have more than one. But one in six straight people (14 per cent), regardless of gender, has one, too.

who your community is:

• BDSM (local), BDSM national and extended network of lovers across the continent.
• Straitjacket fetish and bondage clubs.
• Other poly-kinky queer folks.
• Bisexual news group.
• Film-geek queer girls.
• Artsy lesbo experimental.
• Belong to three bear groups.
• Gaybourhood.
• Gaycanada.com, Wednesday-night Tango, etc.
• Queer west, baby, and U of T scene.
• Fetish masquerade parties.
• A few. Polyamory, bisexual, hypnosis fetish, Online sneeze fetish community.
• An online fetish board www.wetset.net.
• Bondage.com.
• Fetish clubs in downtown Toronto and swingers clubs in Mississauga.
• My bodacious and saucy burlesque ladies.
• Oh, just my international network of pervy friends. They're great.
• Mostly the, sigh, "goth" scene. But I keep my tastes private.
• Happyhedonist events.
• Suicidegirls.com.
• One is a messageboard community, the other is a community on Livejournal.
• It's a sex chat site, but we've become a family.
• Fat_Sex mailing list.
• Online voyeurism/webcam.
• Online masturbation with strangers.
• Polyamorous bisexual love bunnies, you know us.
• Play party group.
• Various events in the spiritual/polyamorous community, mostly based in the States.
• Consensual orgy.
• Raelian group helps develop sensuality and capacity for pleasure.
• Shemales.
• Public Health Nurses for Unprotected Anal Sex (PHNUAS).
• Erotica Readers and Writers Association.
• A community dedicated to exploring sexual freedom in the context of sacred sexuality.
• Tantric sex classes.
• Sex toy home parties.

[RobinA]

14. Touche

I'm from Philadelphia and this strikes be as just silly. Course, I'm from the days when we were trying to bring people together, not wall up with people just like ourselves. You see this more and more - college dorms that cater to people with all the same interests. God forbid anybody should mix with someone with different interests, they might LEARN something. I think this street sign business is just going to lead the area to become a gay ghetto, which it is not now, it is somewhat diverse taking into the consideration that it is not a cheap place to live.

I understand the sentiment behind this, I just think it's a bad idea. By all means let your freak flag fly whereever you live, what ever your flag, but let's keep the official designations out of the picture. It certainly isn't done to INCREASE diversity in the nieighborhood.

[philosophie_en_rose]

17. Who's walling themselves up?

Is there wall around the gayborhood? Customs? ICE officials? Do I need a passport to go there?

You're being sanctimonious and silly. The street signs don't mean that only gay people live there or that people that are gay are restricted there. The signs are symbols that the community is inclusive of everyone.

I've seen rainbows in the windows of "mainstream" businesses too. It's a symbol of culture and pride. Just like there's a Filipino flag in my cousin's Filipino store, which happens to be in a neighborhood where lots of people from Asia live. Have a problem with that too? Why be ashamed or hide one's culture to satisfy allegedly "color blind" people?

The signs don't change the neighborhood at all. They don't exclude or threaten anyone but bigots.

[William769]

27. This is called passive aggressive bashing,

[DWilliamsamh]

19. Please....

The signage identifying the Gayborhood is for Gay tourists - do you HONESTLY think any one who has lived in Philly for more than say 3 years doesn't KNOW where the Gayborhood is? And last time I checked the signs weren't accompanied by a "gay only" requirement for moving into the neighborhood, or patronizing the businesses. I would live there in a heartbeat if I could afford center city.

[William769]

16. Because some heterosexuals are just unbearable to live with.

I wasn't born with that prejudice, I earned it!

[DWilliamsamh]

18. I live in Philadelphia

The neighborhood in question is KNOW as one area of the city that has a tradition of high openly gay population and gay Friend businesses that cater to general needs as well as the specific commerce aimed at the gay community. Giovanni's Room for instance is a GREAT independent book store in general but but has a large and deep section of gay literature, including everything from Romance novels to sociological studies to parenting materials, that a "big box store" could and WOULD never have.

The point of the designation of the Gayborhood, is not in any way for the residents of Philadelphia. Any one who grew up here of lives here knows without signs that the area is the unofficial center of gay culture in the city. The point of the signs is for gay tourist groups and individuals to be able to readily identify the area as a gay Friend area where they can feel easily relax and support those businesses that are openly supportive of their community. This is especially important in Philadelphia. Although I love the city I grew up in, lets not kid ourselves there are plenty of reasons for Gay people to fear finding themselves in "the wrong neighborhood." Members of Philly's gay communities are fighting to change that ugly reality on an ongoing basis but that is not something some one on vacation should have to worry about.

In short: The signs are for tourists. Native Philadelphian's know the area is the the Gayborhood: That why we call it that. We know it as sure as we know "South Philly" is The Italian neighborhood.

[heliarc]

23. I'm a heterosexual...

who has never felt discriminated around the tree streets. Rough around the edges, it happens to be one of the nicest communities in the country, with people hanging out on their stoops and saying hi as you walk by. Long live the city of brotherly love.

What you don't understand is that the designation is merely a playful recognition of the community's dominant identity... just like Thai Town in LA, only with more of a sense of fun and humor.

[Gen. Jack D. Ripper]

26. I'm more than willing to admit I don't know Philadelphia that well

and you're right, I didn't see this as merely a "playful recognition of the community's dominant identity." But, what I do know, is where I'm from, if people start puttin' up rainbow stickers on street signs around a known, predominantly gay neighborhood, it's time to get out 'cause your ass is about to get "cleansed." No doubt I live in a far less tolerant part of the country, unfortunately, and I'm still not 100% keen on the idea, but if the people in that neighborhood are for it and they view it as a step in the right direction, good for them. I think that's great. :)

[Zuiderelle]

5. Homophobes already know very well where to direct their violence.

Do you seriously think that this will assist them in their mission? I suppose homophobes don't know that there are a lot of gay people living in Greenwich Village since there aren't any signs. :eyes:

[Demit]

10. That neighborhood has been well known for years. Plus plenty of non-gay people live there.

Thirty years ago it was jokingly called 'the swish alps.' And thirty years ago plenty of non-gay people lived there as well. Art students, med students, recent grads, people who hang out at Dirty Frank's. Besides, homophobes have always known where to go to bash gays in this city; they don't need street signs. There used to be roving bands of homophobe toughs on South Street. This gesture by the mayor won't change anything for the worse. It was a nice symbol of recognition, and inclusiveness, and in a city where a long ago mayor was a homophobe, appreciated.

[Party Line]

11. I agree

Just like the "Black Table" in the cafeteria...this is another form of self-imposed segregation.

[DWilliamsamh]

20. See #19 (N/T)

[rodeodance]

7. People in general are SO ahead of congress and the WH

[SayWhatYo]

8. Are you saying congress should send homosexuals to ghettos?

Of course you're not, but I know someone will come along and actually challenge that statement with a statement similar to the one I said.

[heliarc]

24. huh? nt

[Jersey Ginny]

9. I live in an inclusive neighborhood-I like that much better

The idea that anyone should "KEEP OUT" of anywhere is troubling. My neighborhood is about inclusion and tolerance (South Orange/Maplewood NJ) not about segregation. I think that is a better way to go and to improve understanding.

[iverglas]

13. did you miss it?

The idea that anyone should "KEEP OUT" of anywhere is troubling.

It certainly would be a troubling idea, but where on earth did you get it??

"The rainbow-branded street signs are an internationally-recognized welcome symbol that demonstrates a city's commitment to diversity and inclusiveness."

The only people who might get the idea they should "keep out", I'd think, are people who don't share that commitment. And that's not a bad idea.

[MrSlayer]

15. Philadelphia is a very gay friendly city.

It's not all bad here.

[Uncle Roy]

21. Boston's Chinatown now has a large gate flanked by ferocious dragons

guarding the entrance to the main shopping street. I'm not Asian myself, but I still feel very welcome there. I see the gate and dragons as a festive and celebratory recognition of an important part of the neighborhood's character. I don't see it as exclusionary or ghetto-izing in any way.

[iverglas]

25. Canada's capital

Has a great big stone arch over one of the major road entrances to "Little Italy". And alternate-name street signs on a couple of the streets -- Via Marconi, that kinda thing. Just decoration. And more decoration a few blocks away in Chinatown.

And a bridge called Pretoria. Now there's some cultural heritage for ya. They're always there, the cultural markers, it's just that when they're "ours", they're not really markers. Except to the people who aren't "us", but who cares?

[truthisfreedom]

22. Out of four of my neighbors (one in each direction), two are gay couples. Minneapolis is

pretty dang diverse.