1 Amanda Plocheck Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy Julien J. Studley Graduate Program in International Affairs Research Methods Final Project May 15, 2014 The Gay Community’s Changing Spaces and Places “At a time when gay men and lesbians can marry and serve openly in the government and are protected from systematic (if not random) discrimination in New York City, is there a need to cluster together for safety or a sense of community? When gay bars are a destination as much for (heterosexual) bachelorette parties as for gay men looking to stand and cruise, and when gay men can find their friends online as easily as they can at the coffee shop (obviously a Starbucks) on the corner, do we need a gay ghetto? This is a far more complicated question and, in reality, one that may be moot. The fact that there is no longer a frontier in Manhattan where gay men can go to gentrify, decorate and dance, and the fact that so many younger gay men and women simply cannot afford Manhattan, means that a more accepted gay culture also inevitable means a more dispersed gay culture. I don't think this is by any means the end of gay culture, just a transformed gay culture that looks a lot different from the one that so many of my friends in their 30s and 40s love reminiscing about with other friends in their 30s and 40s. In fact, it can be argued that for the first time in history, we have a truly multigenerational gay culture. It is not just diverse in terms of race and class and politics; it is diverse in terms of life experiences. I didn't enjoy doing the same thing in my 20s that my father did in his 20s, so I don't think we should be surprised that today's gay youth have a qualitatively different idea about what constitutes a fun Saturday night out. One gay bar experience clearly no longer fits all gays, and that is not a bad thing. That is evolution.” ~ Gudelunas 1 1 http://huff.to/1qkdYME