OutInform: Houston Pride Guide 2015 Issue | Page 37

END OF AN ERA?
For some gay and lesbians, the gayborhood is simply no longer as
relevant as it once was.
Michael Rogers, 46, says when he moved to Washington, D.C., from
western Pennsylvania nearly 20 years ago, his heart was set on living
in Dupont Circle, the major gay enclave in the nation's capital.
But when he moved to Portland, Ore., last year, he says finding a
neighborhood with a big LGBT population was a low priority.
"Twenty years from now, I'm not sure if gay neighborhoods as we know
them now will exist," he says.
Lanae Erickson Hatalsky, an analyst at the Washington group Third Way
who tracks public opinion on the LGBT community, says she and her
spouse have their own simple litmus test as they've begun shopping
around D.C. for their first home.
First, can they walk around the neighborhood holding hands without
facing uncomfortable stares or catcall? Secondly, if they had a child,
would he or she be the only kid at the local school or playground to
have two moms?
"I think the older generation of LGBT people had to very much create a
community for themselves that was protected and accepting and that's
just not how the Millennial generation of LGBT people feel," she says. "I
think we feel that we can be friends with whoever we want no matter
their sexual orientation and that we can pretty much go wherever we
want."

Jaime Zurheide, 38, who has lived in and around Chicago with
her partner, says she never saw gay neighborhoods as much of
a draw. In 2011, Zurheide, a doctoral student, and her partner
bought a house in Berwyn, the suburb that is marketing to
gays and lesbians.

"TWENTY YEARS
FROM NOW, I'M
NOT SURE IF GAY
NEIGHBORHOODS
AS WE KNOW THEM
NOW WILL EXIST"

Zurheide says she
appreciates her town's
effort to be welcoming.
But ultimately her
decision of where to
move was based on the
mundane calculations
of commuting time and
affordability.

She adds that her
generation, particularly
those living in and around urban areas, has a luxury that older
gay and lesbians didn't have.
"I have lived here (in Chicagoland) for 10 years and it's not an
issue that I have really ever had to think about," she says. "For
an older generation, there was more having to fight for things.
I don't feel like I have had to fight to be accepted."

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