Nov 28, 2006Miscellanous: Are gay neighbourhoods worth saving?
By vanrozenheim
(SAN FRANCISCO, USA) - On Tuesday, November 28, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Historical Society will host “Are Gay Neighborhoods Worth Saving?” This roundtable with community leaders kicks off a new series, “Queer in the City: GLBT Neighborhoods and Urban Planning,” that the GLBT Historical Society will run through next spring.
“Queer in the City” emerges amidst an upsurge of dialogue about the potentially imperiled future of the Castro as a GLBT neighborhood and global destination. Major redevelopment plans are being put into motion that may profoundly alter the Castro’s demography and cultural landscape in ways that could both benefit the community and, potentially, threaten it. An organization, the Castro Coalition, has formed to ensure that GLBT neighborhood issues lead “community improvement.” The Castro Coalition is our series co-sponsor.
“We tend to assume that once created, queer neighborhoods will be self-sustaining. That’s not true,” said GLBT Historical Society Board Member and series moderator Don Romesburg. “Like those of communities of color, our neighborhoods get built within particular economic, political, and cultural circumstances. When those change, so do our neighborhoods. Sometimes this means diverse queer communities gain greater space to live, work, and play. Sometimes it means that segments of the community get shut out, or even that our neighborhoods disappear. The ‘Queer in the City’ series will explore the past, present, and future challenge of forging queer community in urban space.”
The first roundtable in the series is “Are Gay Neighborhoods Worth Saving?” It focuses on the idea of a “gay neighborhood” as developed in places such as the Castro and West Hollywood . Panelists and audience members will weigh the question of whether or not such spaces are worth fighting for, given both their inclusions and possibilities and exclusions and perils, and how we might transform them in the future. Panelists include:
Tommi Avicolli Mecca (Housing Rights Committee and longtime community activist)
Brian Basinger (co-founder, AIDS Housing Alliance)
Ruth Mahaney (board co-chair, GLBT Historical Society and longtime Castro resident)
Alan Martinez (co-founder, Castro Coalition)
AnMarie Rodgers ( San Francisco Planning Department)
Gerry Takano (architect, TBA West and organizer of Friends of 1800)
The “Are Gay Neighborhoods Worth Saving?” roundtable discussion will take place at 6-8 pm on Tuesday, November 28 at the GLBT Historical Society (657 Mission Street, Suite 300, San Francisco).
The website of the GLBT Historical Society is located on www.glbthistory.org
