![ghaziani post gay definition ghaziani post gay definition](https://pwias.ubc.ca/sites/default/files/legacy/wallpapers/articles/inline/Aminbook_wpublisher1.jpg)
But, Collins’ stage 4 leaves the sociologist in me a bit dissatisfied–and I’m not alone here. Collins is pretty positive about this development, and certainly, some LGBT populations benefit a great deal in the process of this transition. The final stage–what Collins calls “integration”–is characterized by: increased presence of straights frequenting gay run establishments, increasing residential presence of heterosexuals, an increased presence of mainstream society service-sector businesses, the building of new apartment buildings to house the influx of straights and as a result of increasing property values and rents, and finally the movement of some of the existing gay population to other spaces (new gay enclaves, suburbs). The model is linear, and assumes (or prescribes) a single (optimal?) path of development for gayborhoods with the ultimate goal of undoing themselves. This is characterised by an urban area in decline progressing through several broad stages of economic enterprise denoted by: sexual and legal liminality gay male social and recreational opportunities a widening service-sector business base and ultimately, the assimilation of the area into the fashionable mainstream. Collins discusses the pattern he identifies as follows:
![ghaziani post gay definition ghaziani post gay definition](http://www.bossy.it/beyondstereotypes/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Iranian_gay_celeberate_LGBT_day1.jpg)
I put together a summary chart of Collins’ model (right) for ease of explanation. In a nutshell, Collins takes an economic perspective and identifies a pattern in the emergence and development of urban gay spaces using Soho Gay Village in London as a case study. One of the endeavors that has produced a variety of responses is Alan Collins’ path model of the emergence of gayborhoods. But, scholars in a variety of disciplines have helped to piece together this complex puzzle. It’s difficult to chart the emergence of gay enclaves. was marked by a shift toward the development of increasingly formalized urban gay districts in some of the larger U.S. Ghaziani remarks, however, that the post-WWII U.S. They were spaces to which people with same-sex desires could go to locate one another. Yet, these early, largely urban, gay enclaves were distinguished by their unpublicized nature. But, gayborhoods were also emerging prior to WWII as well. As men and women came home–some after being dishonorably discharged from service (as a result of their sexuality)–they settled in port cities like San Francisco. Ghaziani discusses the pivotal role that World War II played in their emergence.
![ghaziani post gay definition ghaziani post gay definition](https://journals.openedition.org/droitcultures/docannexe/image/5286/img-1.jpg)
Sociological research on gayborhoods asks a few different kinds of questions: How and why do gay neighborhoods emerge? What kinds of factors shape their growth and endurance? What kinds of processes and forces threaten their existence?Ī variety of social forces account for the emergence of gayborhoods. Indeed, as Amin Ghaziani writes, “It’s quixotic to think that gay neighborhoods have always been around and will never change” ( here). While groups of gay men and lesbians have sought living spaces organized around sexual identity for a long time, neighborhoods actively recognized as “gayborhoods” by others is something arguably more recent. The gayborhood is a relatively new cultural phenomenon. See “ Can Living in the City Make you Gay?” and “ Why More Lesbians (Might) Live in Rural Communities than Gay Men” for the first two in the series.
![ghaziani post gay definition ghaziani post gay definition](https://0.academia-photos.com/attachment_thumbnails/47737334/mini_magick20190205-4620-xwvj1x.png)
#GHAZIANI POST GAY DEFINITION SERIES#
This post is part of a series of posts I’ve written on sexuality and space, specifically addressing issues of where LGBT populations live and why.