Halloween in the Castro canceled: Gay icon mourned

As some of our dear readers may know, the National Sexuality Resource Center and American Sexuality Magazine are based in San Francisco, California. For us, the news of the world-renowned Halloween Party in the Castro strikes particularly close to home. The NYTimes has a fantastic piece about how the canceling of this party indicates a national trend of declining "gayborhoods."

“The Castro, and to a lesser extent the West Village, was where you went to express yourself,” said Don F. Reuter, a New York author who is researching a book on the rise and fall of gay neighborhoods, or “gayborhoods.”

“Claiming physical territory was a powerful act,” Mr. Reuter said. “But the gay neighborhood is becoming a past-tense idea.”

I mourn the decline of the "gayborhood" like I mourn the decline of snail mail. I'm happy that there's a better way to organize GLBTQ life, like I'm happy I can send emails rather than letters.

I think gayborhoods are becoming less necessary as the country's urban areas became to acknowledge that gay people actually exist. This is a good thing. Though there is a unique gay culture in the gay ghetto, wouldn't it be better if GLBTQ communities didn't have to run to safe zones like the Castro? We have a long way to go before the entire country is GLBTQ safe, but having more urban centers than just San Francisco and Manhattan is a great first step.

Opinions aside, I loved this quote in the article from a Canadian tourist.

Amanda Rankin, a 40-year-old tourist from Hamilton, Ontario, was taking a “Cruisin’ the Castro” walking tour with three lesbian friends the other day.

“In America there still seems to be a lot of sexual repression left over from Puritanism and the pilgrims,” Ms. Rankin said. “Then there’s San Francisco.”

GO SAN FRANCISCO!