Editing Gay village (section)

==Characteristics==
Gay villages can vary widely from city to city and from country to country. Furthermore, some large cities also develop "satellite" gay villages that are essentially "overflow" areas. In such cases, gay men and lesbians have become priced-out of the main gay village and move to other, more affordable areas, thereby creating an entirely new gay village, also thereby furthering the process of [[gentrification]] by pricing-out long held tenants of these areas. In [[LGBT culture in New York City|New York City]], many gays in the 1990s moved to the [[Chelsea, Manhattan|Chelsea]] neighborhood from the Greenwich Village neighborhood as a less expensive alternative; subsequent to this movement, [[house price]]s in Chelsea have increased dramatically to rival the [[West Village, Manhattan|West Village]] within Greenwich Village itself. Similarly, gentrification is dramatically changing [[Philadelphia's Gayborhood]], and the city's LGBT community is expanding across the city.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.phillymag.com/news/2019/10/19/gayborhood-midtown-village/|title=There Goes the Gayborhood|first=Ernest |last=Owens|newspaper=[[Philadelphia (magazine)|Philadelphia]] magazine|date=October 19, 2019|access-date=October 22, 2019|quote=Rapid social change and Midtown Village development are encroaching on Philadelphia's LGBT mecca. Should we mourn its loss or embrace its evolution?|archive-date=October 21, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191021011417/https://www.phillymag.com/news/2019/10/19/gayborhood-midtown-village/|url-status=live}}</ref> Other examples include, in [[Boston]], gay men moving to the [[South End, Boston#Diversity|South End]] and lesbians migrating to [[Jamaica Plain#Urban renewal|Jamaica Plain]]; while in [[Chicago]], gays have moved to the [[Andersonville, Chicago|Andersonville]] area as an offshoot of the Boystown/[[Lakeview, Chicago|Lakeview]] neighborhood. Some gay villages are not neighborhoods at all, but instead are entirely separate [[municipality|municipalities]] from the city for which they serve as the primary gay enclave, such as [[West Hollywood]] in the [[Los Angeles]] area, and [[Wilton Manors]] in the [[Miami, Florida|Miami]]/[[Fort Lauderdale]] area.
[[File:Rainbow Flag, Lesbians Who Tech, Castro Theater (43090588535).jpg|thumb|upright|[[The Castro]] Neighborhood of [[San Francisco]]]]
These processes are tied to the spatial nature of the [[urban renaissance]] which was occurring at the time. The "first wave" of low-wage gay residences in these urban centers paved the way for other, more affluent gay professionals to move into the neighborhoods; this wealthier group played a significant role in the gentrification of many inner city neighborhoods. The presence of gay men in the real estate industry of San Francisco was a major factor facilitating the urban renaissance of the city in the 1970s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The gay saviors of San Francisco's Victorians |url=https://www.ebar.com/story.php?245424 |access-date=2022-12-02 |website=Bay Area Reporter |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Castro {{!}} Castro History |url=https://www.kqed.org/w/hood/castro/castroHistory.html |access-date=2022-12-02 |website=www.kqed.org}}</ref>

However, the gentrification of gay villages may also serve to reinforce stereotypes of gays, by pushing out gay people who do not conform to the prevailing "gay, white, affluent, professional" image. Such people (including gay people of color, low-income/working-class gays, and "undesirable" groups such as gay prostitutes and [[leather subculture|leathermen]]) are usually forced out of the "village" due to rising rents or constant harassment at the hands of an increased policing presence. Especially in San Francisco's Polk Gulch neighborhood (the first "gay village" in that city), gentrification seems to have had this result.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=4393&catid=&volume_id=254&issue_id=312&volume_num=41&issue_num=48|title=San Francisco Bay Guardian - Looking for a Guardian article?|access-date=14 February 2018}}</ref>

Gay men and women have a reputation for driving the revitalization of previously run-down enclaves. Making these neighborhoods more desirable places to live, businesses and other classes of people move to the area and, accordingly, property values tend to go up. The urban studies theorist [[Richard Florida]] claims that their mere presence lures [[investor]]s and jobs, particularly of the high-technology kind. They are, he says, "the canaries of the creative economy". Cities that have gay villages and are more tolerant towards gays, generally tend to have stronger, more robust, and [[creative economies]], as compared to cities that are less tolerant towards gays. Florida says that cities as such have a stronger [[creative class]], which is integral in bringing in new ideas that stimulate economies.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Economist |title=Britain: Village people; The gay economy |id={{ProQuest|224021047}} |volume=378 |issue=8463 |date=February 4, 2006 |page=27}}</ref>

===Consumerization===
[[File:Motzstrassenfest2006.jpg|thumb|The area around Berlin's [[Nollendorfplatz]] and [[Motzstrasse]]]]
The gentrification of once rundown inner-city areas, coupled with the staging of [[pride parade]]s in these areas, has resulted in the increased visibility of gay communities. Parades such as [[Sydney]]'s [[Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras|Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras]] and [[Manchester Pride|Manchester's Pride]] events attract significant investment and create tourist revenue, and cities have acknowledged that the acceptance of lesbian and gay culture has become a sign of urban "sophistication" and that gay-oriented events, such as pride parades and the [[Gay Games]], are potentially lucrative events, attracting thousands of gay tourists and their dollars. The growing recognition of the economic value of the gay community is not only associated with their wealth but also with the role that lesbians and gay men have played (and continue to play) in urban revitalization.