One sociologist characterized lesbians as the “canaries in the urban coal mine.”
Lesbians, he said, typically pave the way. Ghaziani said gays and lesbians have often been involved in the early stages of urban revitalization or renewal. The 1970s and 1980s marked a moment in time that demographers refer to as the Great Gay Migration. These areas flourished some decades later following the Stonewall riots of 1969. “Gayborhoods in the United States first formed following World War II,” he said, “when gay men and lesbians who were discharged from the military as a result of their real or perceived homosexuality decided to remain behind in major urban centers rather than returning home disgraced.” Amin Ghaziani, an associate professor of sociology at the University of British Columbia, has analyzed the changing role of gay neighborhoods in his new book, 'There Goes the Gayborhood.” Ghaziani said gayborhoods began as refuges for LGBT people from heterosexual culture.
