“there goes the gayborhood”

Queer communities revitalize forgotten neighborhoods.

People arrive in New York every day from all over the world. The city attracts diverse members of every marginalized community. Notably, New York has long been known as a sanctuary for the LGBTQ community.

New York City became the literal gay metropolis for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from within and without the United States: the place they chose to learn how to live openly, honestly and without shame.

Charles Kaiser, The Gay Metropolis: The Landmark History of Gay Life in America (New York: Grove Press, 2007).

Oftentimes, many queer immigrants congregate in the same neighborhood—creating a gayborhood. In New York, Greenwich Village and Chelsea hosted many of the most important (and frequently forgotten) events of the early LGBTQ movement.

Now, resurgent gentrification threatens the queer character of gayborhoods across the country. These neighborhoods are important spaces where the LGBTQ community can gather free from harassment and discrimination. I aim to visually and mathematically narrate the rise and fall of New York’s gayborhoods.

Neighborhoods of Interest: Greenwich Village (West Village, Christopher Street), Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen, Park Slope, Jackson Heights

Story title from Scott James, “There Goes the Gayborhood,” The New York Times, June 21, 2017 and Amin Ghaziani, There Goes the Gayborhood (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014).