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Posted on 03/06/2011 7:28:33 PM PST by lbryce
Since its beginning, West Hollywood has offered the country’s closest approximation of a gay city. It was founded by gay activists over 26 years ago, most of its City Council members are gay, and the community is famous for its concentration of gay residents and nightlife.
But an uncommonly bitter election has exposed a growing divide over what West Hollywood should represent, with prosperity and urban development pitted against the city’s history as a countercultural haven.
The six challengers in Tuesday’s City Council election — all of them gay men — are seeking to oust three incumbents by running on platforms invoking concerns about development and gentrification pushing out younger gay residents and the edgier elements that have long distinguished West Hollywood.
“I believe we’re at risk of being in a situation where West Hollywood is no different than Beverly Hills or Calabasas,” said Scott Schmidt, one of the challengers. “West Hollywood has a special place in the heart of the gay and lesbian community, and people want to make sure we retain what makes us special.”
West Hollywood’s story is a familiar one for gay neighborhoods across the country. From the Castro in San Francisco to the West Village in New York, bathhouses and bars catering to gay men and women have been replaced with designer retail shops, high-priced apartments and playgrounds. Many lament that this gentrification has forced young gay residents into other neighborhoods in search of cheaper rent.
But the fight over whether traditional gay neighborhoods should be preserved has taken on special significance here, because West Hollywood is not just a neighborhood — it is a city of 35,000 people with its own government, which repaves roads, builds public libraries and holds elections every two years.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
...concerns about development and gentrification pushing out younger gay residents....
There you have it, folks, couldn't have been expressed any clearer, the very raison d'etre for all, everything it means to be gay, the utter irony of which, not even so much as Freudian slip,they just don't get.
One man’s haven is another’s bath house.
Hahaha, gay gentification, you have to laugh.
GentrifiGAYtion?
It's about real estate and how the older homos are cashing out their once edgy investments to more stable purchasers, like hetero families.
Isn’t it interesting that it was OK for them to change the culture of the city when they did it, but not OK for the new arrivals to do that!
They’re worried about “edgier elements” being pushed out of West Hollywood? They’d better be careful what they wish for.
As the world gets uglier, and people’s inner barbarians begin to surface, they’re going to see more “edgy” than they ever bargained for.
No, the old fags want to maintain the the city’s gayness while the three straight incumbents want otherwise.
Wow.. Here I thought San Fransicko was the infected boil on the anus of California.
Obviously, there is more than one.
Well then, who is selling the properties to the families and changing the nature of the neighborhood?
Unfortunately, our film office is located in fudgepacker central: West Hollywood. You want militant gays? This is it. Every caricature u could think of: white, Dem, Jew, liberal and gay, this is your place. These fags basically run the city.
Also the same city where they burned an effigy of sarah palin in 2008. Tolerance is just an afterthought to these degenerates.
Well isn't that thpecial.
...and everyone wonders why we’re losing the War on Terror....
They don't really want acceptance. They LIKE being outsiders -- freaks. ...and to shove their freakiness in society's face. And now that (much of) society doesn't blink, they're depressed about it.
A modern day Sodom and Gemorrah. Let the sodomites have their fun now, Eternity is a very long time.
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“traditional gay neighborhoods”...are they claiming, like, native american type rights or what?
is it sexual discrimination to have an all-gay neighborhood?
Homosexuals reject diversity.
Not only that, all the milk sold there is homogenized.
The local short form for West Hollywood is WeHo. They even have t-shirts printed like that.
If they so gay why does so many of them seem so sad as to kill themselves so often? If they so gay why cant they just smiles and be happy?
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