Are high rents pushing gays out of S.F.? (San Francisco: transplants, neighborhoods)

[MauiPartTimer]

My impression is that the LGBT community is still strong, but not concentrated in one area. 30 years ago, it wasn't that common to see same-sex couples holding hands in places other than the Castro. Now days, you'll find members of the LGBT community all over the bay area comfortable being themselves.

This is a change for the better, in my opinion. People shouldn't have to be in one neighborhood to feel safe being who they are.

[legal_eagle]

Originally Posted by veganwriter

I grew up in the Bay Area.
One of San Francisco's strengths is that it's always changing.

While it's true that Hipsters and Techies can be LGBT, it's also true that they can be young heterosexuals in search of family.

I used to drive cab in SF at night.
I noticed a difference in the night life. The bars and club life isn't the same.
The shift isn't drastically different... but it's noticeable. Places where no woman would set foot in are now "co-ed" ... which is good... but different.

I'm just wondering. No facts to back it up.
Even the pattern of where people spend time has changed. There are a lot less people spending their off work time downtown... but Alamo Park was packed. And that "new" Hays Valley area is so different it's almost comical. LOTS of people milling around. Of course Golden Gate Park was packed. And other beach areas that were marginally used are now more frequented with parents walking around with children.

I don't drive a cab, but having lived in SF since '85 I would tend to agree with your sense of a shift in things. The rougher edges of SF are almost gone and there is a homogeneity and corporate vibe overall. The Castro is a great example ... it seems more like a "gay-ish" theme park now than a real urban neighborhood. The historical LGBT and urban characteristics have been marginalized and replaced with ridiculous things like rainbow cross-walks, rainbow LED lights, sidewalk plaques, etc. What were they thinking? I assume things are like that around Folsom and Polk Streets as well.

[ServoMiff]

Originally Posted by ViolentDisasters

But socioeconomic status and sexual orientation/gender identity are interconnected... even in "gay-friendly" San Francisco, LGBT people have a significantly higher chance of living in poverty than their straight counterparts... and especially in the Castro, that universal Mecca of all things gay, the LGBT population has been greatly diminishing for the last decade.

Study Proves What We've All Known: The Castro Is Getting Straighter: SFist

If what you've said is accurate, then I must be special - because I'm friends with 2 gay couples and know a good number of gay people in SF who are much more well off than I am.

I know the Castro is diminishing in numbers, but it's nowhere near the same rate as the Spanish are being forced out of the Mission.

[LuvSouthOC]

This topic is so 2005.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by veganwriter

I recently visited San Francisco and felt a change.
Yes, I was shocked by the obscene disparity between wealth and poverty (... it's getting worse)
But I somehow felt the younger, techie, "Hipster" crowd was slightly edging the LGBT crowd out. Not that San Francisco isn't still a very LGBT Friendly place ... it's just that I felt the techie and wealth energy higher and more predominate than population and concerns of gay people in the past.

Curious, I checked the internet and an article by the Advocate listed the 2015 Queerest Cities in America ... and San Francisco wasn't even on the list. Was the article written by a more ... Midwestern focused writer, or is that too changing in San Francisco?

Queerest Cities in America 2015 | Advocate.com

I've met plenty of LGBT people techie hipsters. How about high rents and real estate are pushing out all races, sexual-orientations, people in general....

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by veganwriter

I recently visited San Francisco and felt a change.
Yes, I was shocked by the obscene disparity between wealth and poverty (... it's getting worse)
But I somehow felt the younger, techie, "Hipster" crowd was slightly edging the LGBT crowd out. Not that San Francisco isn't still a very LGBT Friendly place ... it's just that I felt the techie and wealth energy higher and more predominate than population and concerns of gay people in the past.

Curious, I checked the internet and an article by the Advocate listed the 2015 Queerest Cities in America ... and San Francisco wasn't even on the list. Was the article written by a more ... Midwestern focused writer, or is that too changing in San Francisco?

Queerest Cities in America 2015 | Advocate.com

What would make you think this way? San Francisco has high rent for everyone and always has. That has nothing to do with gay versus straight. I have known a lot of gays in my life and very few has had too many financual problems. Just like the rest of the country, some can afford top price living, other can't. As for the article you read, remember it was just that, someone saying whatever. The guidelines they used really meant almost nothing. The study done to day can be outdated tomorrow.

[dalparadise]

Who in San Francisco even thinks about whether or not someone is gay anymore?

[04kL4nD]

Oh people definitely still think about it. It's usually people who've always had a problem to begin with it or are new to the area from some podunk town in the MidWest and think it's a novelty. Let's not kid ourselves, Dal.

[dalparadise]

Maybe it's my industry (at least half the people I've known well in this business have been gay), my neighborhood, or the people I hang around, but as far as I can tell, in SF, gay culture seems fully mainstream. There are certainly bars and neighborhoods that are more straight or gay oriented, but here, it's like saying there are bars that are more Sports or Cocktail oriented, or neighborhoods that are more Hipster or Frat related. A great majority of people in SF comfortably coexist within these parameters without giving them a second thought.

I live in an area that seems to mix both cultures easily. There are some vestiges of gay self-segregation still visible in my area, such as Out of the Closet Resale Shop, but that's more of an amusing throwback than a sign of incongruity.

For instance, I am straight, but commute on the cable car with a gay friend of mine. We like to shoot pool after work and have two bars in our general neighborhood that are our go-tos. The one with the better pool tables happens to be a gay bar in a mostly straight neighborhood. No drama with the neighbors. No issues with straight couples coming in to get cheap and strong drinks for happy hour. We play pool with straight and gay couples. The sidewalks outside are full of both types of people (and more, for that matter). It's just not a big deal.

I don't think I'm kidding myself. Rather, I think that people in SF don't necessarily invest as much of their identities in their sexual orientation as people do in other parts of the country. I actually had a similar conversation with my above-mentioned friend about why the show "Looking" (gay drama set in SF) may have failed. We decided that it simply wasn't interesting enough. It was just gay men leading boring lives. The sex scenes probably made middle America cringe and they turned it off. But the core audience knows that's just part of life. They probably wanted more to happen. Thus, the show was too shocking for straights in middle America and too mundane for people with a San Francisco mindset--who wants to watch everyday people (who happen to be gay) apply for loans, work in barbershops and occasionally have sex? Nobody. the prurient interest isn't there anymore. At least, not in SF.

I really don't think the majority of people in SF even think about whether someone is gay or straight.

[04kL4nD]

You aren't gay, so your experience/opinion isn't quite representative of someone who is. It's definitely better than 95% of the country, but acting like nobody notices/cares if you're gay in SF just isn't true.