How is the gay community 15 yrs after Dahmer (Milwaukee, Washington: crimes, home)

[Geog101]

Do gay people still feel safe in this city or are they still haunted by the acts of this seriel killer

[Empidonax]

Originally Posted by Geog101

Do gay people still feel safe in this city or are they still haunted by the acts of this seriel killer

Gay Milwaukee is doing fine and well. No matter where we are--San Francisco and NYC are no exception--we have to be careful. There is still a lot of hate from outside the community, and sometimes a bit of hate from within, but we still manage to do fine. Though Milwaukee's community is not at the level of larger metros such as SF, LA, NYC, Chicago, and even Minneapolis, it is quite robust for a metro of 1.7 million. And though there are safety issues and occasional hate crimes, they don't seem to be any more numerous and severe than what you find in metros of similar size. Indeed, the area--esp. the city and inner-ring burbs--tends on the liberal side, and the gays I know here feel quite safe. The east side, Bay View (aka "Gay View"), and Walkers Point are particularly comfortable places for gays. Many neighborhoods, such as Riverwest and Washington Heights, have neighborhood LGBT groups. The community is quite open--around 20 bars, a GLBT community center, lots of GLBT sporting and rec groups, a couple of gay choruses, an LGBT bookstore near UWM, and many other groups and institutions. Pridefest, held each summer at the festival grounds, draws lots of people from the area and from afar. There are also many prominent gay people in the public eye, including politicians, business leaders, and scions of old Milwaukee families. If anything, many gays here are a bit too complacent and forget that there's still a lot of hate lurking around. But thankfully, the community has been doing quite well, and is in fact thriving.

[#Littledog]

I'm not gay but I don't think people in Milwaukee make the connection about Dahmer being gay. I've never hear people identifying him as a gay person-sick, deranged serial killer, yes, but no one really talks about the fact that he was gay. So I don't think that haunts gay people in Milwaukee. The crimes were so unusual, dwelling on his sexual preferences would be like pointing out he has brown hair. Nobody really cares about those attributes.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by #Littledog

The crimes were so unusual, dwelling on his sexual preferences would be like pointing out he has brown hair. Nobody really cares about those attributes.

Well I don't trust those brown-haired people. Tom Cruise has brown hair and is not to be trusted. And even though my hair looks brown in certain light conditions, I'm not to be trusted when it looks brownest. And my infant daughter with brown hair is not to be trusted.

But wait... Jeffery Dahmer had BLONDE hair. Blonde like the devil himself!

Getting back to the original question, I think Milwaukee's gay community is doing fine. The gay Milwaukeeans I know, who are largely in their 30s, react to the Dahmer thing in a "Wow, isn't it crazy that this happened here???" kind of way. But I would imagine that there are still many older gay men around that actually knew some of the victims... For them it would be more real, I imagine.

[crowbarxxx]

do gay people ever feel safe anywhere?

[slamont61]

Pffft! Dahlmer or the lack there of has no bearing on ANYTHING gay or othewise. The Milwaukee scene is as GREAT as can be. The East Side is absolutely the Greatest Metropolitan Area for a very busy lifestyle regardless of preferences.

And we are so very close at hand to Chi town - if you know what I mean. Yes it's there, all the culture you can swallow, and then some.

Milwaukee is one of the Safest Cities in the Norther Hemisphere no matter who you are. For larger cities, Milwaukee is it. At the same time it's kind of smaller and keeps some of the urban rif-raf away. They tend to levetate towards Chicago where all the trouble goes to die.

[Fishtacos]

Ok, after seeing the original posters other posts in other threads, I'll take the question seriously, as at least he/she has been consistent with other posts in other forums.

Dahmer isn't discussed in Milwaukee in present time. That happened almost 20 years ago.

Serial killers live in every city(yep, yours), and the Dahmer crimes could have happened anywhere.

The gay community in Milwaukee is fine and well.

[mpls_ec77]

we'll was in Milwaukee the past 2 months and just couldnt stand to live there any longer. I guess it all depends what part of the gay community your involved in. Race relations in milwaukee in the gay community are horrible, black n white guys dont really get along which is why i had to leave and come back to minneapolis. Was it that way before dahmer i dont know, but i got a feeling alot of people within that part of the community are cautious

[Drover]

Is this a serious thread?

[merkie]

All Milwaukee is doing well after the Dahlmer (spelling) affair. In fact, his name and his "home" as well as "job location" have both been bull dozed into the ground never to be seen again. No one from Milwaukee would even want to show a visitor where Dahlmer lived even though it is nothing now but a vacant lot nor would they want to show a visitor where he worked. He was murdered in prison and saved us all time and money in warehousing him. The LGB scene is kind of in the dark and not really promoted very well but once you know were to go in the 3rd ward you will feel at home as I hope you would feel anywhere in Milwaukee. I have lived here for my entire life and think it is a nice place to call home