Gay Village - List of Gay Villages

List of Gay Villages

The first and oldest gay village is situated in Berlin at Nollendorfplatz, established in the 1920s. Even today it's the gay area with most gay bars in Berlin. It's also the center of Folsom Europe, Easter in Berlin and the biggest street festival in Europe - Lesbisch-schwules Stadtfest Berlin (Lesbian and gay city party). Today Berlin has the most gay bars and gay clubs in the world according to Spartacus International Gay Guide. It's also the city with the most and biggest gay festivals in Europe. Hustlaball, the huge gay porn festival is held every year since 2003 and is today the leading event of its kind in Europe.

Even Amsterdam has an old gay village from the 1950s in the Red-light district.

Gay villages can vary widely from city to city and 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. Some examples include, in Chicago, gays having moved to the Andersonville area as an offshoot of the Boystown/Lakeview neighborhood; and in New York City, gays having moved to the Chelsea neighborhood as an offshoot of the Greenwich Village neighborhood. Also, notably Boston gays moving to the South End and for lesbians, to Jamaica Plain. Some gay villages are not neighborhoods at all, but instead are entirely separate municipalities from the city for which they serve as the primary gay enclave, e.g., West Hollywood in the Los Angeles area, and Wilton Manors in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area.

Provincetown, MA was ranked by the US Census Bureau as "the gayest city in America." Also Provincetown, or Ptown, was voted "Best Resort Town in 2011" by Gaycities.com. The town had far more gay marriages than straight marriages performed since 2003 when Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage. The town government sponsors Gay Men's Week, Women's Week, Bear Week, Family Week (same-sex families), and their version of a gay pride parade, Carnival. Famous gay residents currently include journalist Andrew Sullivan, filmmaker John Waters, and comedian Kate Clinton.

Some cities have a very well-defined gay village in the heart of a larger area that also has a significant gay population. For example, Boystown in Chicago is a very well-defined gay village situated within the larger Lakeview neighborhood. Lakeview is an affluent neighborhood with a reputation for being a stronghold of liberal and progressive political views. Outside of Boystown, Lakeview is a mixture of both gay and straight citizens and families, but Boystown is the main gay village. Other examples of this phenomenon include Davie Village in the heart of Vancouver's gay community. It sits within the greater West End area, which, though decently populated by gay people, is not necessarily considered a gay village.

Despite its predominantly gay population and higher concentration of gay venues, the South Beach area in Miami Beach, Florida, was never exclusively gay, because of its popularity among straight people alike. Philadelphia's traditional gay village comprises several downtown blocks and is called "the Gayborhood". It is known for clubs, bars, and restaurants along with LGBT health facilities. Washington DC's Dupont Circle and Logan Circle area are known for its many gay oriented bars, restaurants, and shops. The Short North in downtown Columbus, Ohio is primarily known as an art district, but has a strong gay community and a high concentration of gay-oriented clubs and bars. In Boston, the trendy and upscale South End neighborhood has a large population of gay men, and the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale neighborhoods are home to scores of lesbians, also with vibrant but less trendy downtown areas.

Montreal's Gay Village (Le Village, in French) is considered one of North America's largest in population, concentration and scope. (French).

Some areas are often associated with being "gay" cities or resorts, due to their image and acceptance of the gay community. Examples include San Francisco, Manchester and Brighton in the UK, Sydney, Cape Town and the Greek island of Mykonos.

Liverpool, England is home to a large LGBT population (equivalent to the size of San Francisco's) Link PDF Link PDF, and as well as having an officially recognised gay quarter, the city hosts the annual Homotopia (festival), the only lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans combined arts organisation in the North of England. It was the first city in the UK to install street signs bearing the rainbow coloured Pride flag to identify its gay quarter on Stanley Street, Cumberland Street, Temple Lane, Eberle Street and Temple Street, and was also the scene of many significant moments in the history of the gay rights movement (see LGBT culture in Liverpool).

Both Birmingham Pride and Liverpool Pride are huge annual festivals which attract tens of thousands of people to their respective cities in August each year. Birmingham Pride is centred on the city's gay village located around Hurst Street, whilst Liverpool's Pride is spread across the Liverpool gay quarter and the Pier Head.

Manchester's gay village is within Greater Manchester's main central business district and is the centre for the city's pride events. The village is based on Canal Street, so The Gay Village and Canal Street are terms used interchangeably when describing the area. The Queer as Folk storyline was set in Manchester and much of the series was filmed in the city's gay village. Gay scenes from Britain's ITV serial drama Coronation Street (also based in the city) were filmed around Canal Street.

The neighbourhood of Le Marais in Paris has experienced a growing gay presence since the 1980s, as evidenced by the existence of a large gay community and of many gay cafés, nightclubs, cabarets and shops, such as the largest Gay Club in Europe called Le Depot. These establishments are mainly concentrated in the southwestern portion of the Marais, many on or near the streets Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie and Vieille du Temple.

San Diego has its own gay village called "Hillcrest", which sits around Balboa Park. Hillcrest is very close to the downtown area but is able to maintain a small town eclectic feel. While it is considered by most as the gay area of San Diego with its gay bars and dance clubs, the overall population of the area has only gotten more and more diverse with the rise in condominium projects.

In Minneapolis, Minnesota areas surrounding Loring Park, site of the local LGBT pride festival, are regarded as a "gay" neighborhood, though many gay and lesbian people have migrated to more residential neighborhoods such as Bryn Mawr and Whittier.

In Tampa, Florida, the gay community was traditionally spread out among several neighborhoods. In the early 21st century, the Ybor City National Historic Landmark District has seen the creation of the GaYbor District, which is now the center of gay and lesbian life in the Tampa Bay area and home to the majority of gay bars and dance clubs, restaurants, and service organizations. Orlando, Florida, the gay community is centered around the neighborhoods of Thornton Park and Eola Heights.

Church and Wellesley is an LGBT-oriented community located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is roughly bounded by Gould Street to the south, Yonge Street to the west, Charles Street to the north, and Jarvis Street to the east, with the intersection of Church and Wellesley Streets at the centre of this area. Though some gay and lesbian oriented establishments can be found outside of this area, the general boundaries of this village have been defined by the Gay Toronto Tourism Guild. Many LGBT people also live in the nearby residential neighbourhoods of The Annex, Cabbagetown, St. James Town and Riverdale, and in smaller numbers throughout the city and its suburbs.

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, established a GLBT-friendly Village along Bank Street in Centretown on November 4, 2011 when the City of Ottawa installed 6 street signs at the intersections of Bank/Nepean, Bank/Somerset and Bank/James. This is the cap to an historic year and six years of lobbying, where the Village installed two public art projects in addition to tripling the number of rainbow flags in the Village area. The Village in Ottawa features a diverse mix of businesses and organizations, many of which cater to or of specific interest to the GLBT community, and has a high concentration of GLBT persons living and working in the area.

Asbury Park, New Jersey and the adjacent town of Ocean Grove, New Jersey house a large gay community. Many vacationers who visit Asbury Park are gay, and the city houses New Jersey's only gay hotel, The Empress Hotel. Collingswood, New Jersey, a suburb of Philadelphia, also houses a very large year 'round gay community. Ogunquit, Maine has a gay population of year round residents and second homeowners. Many vacationers stay at the numerous gay B&B's in Ogunquit village.

In some cities, such as Stockholm, Helsinki, Tel Aviv, Austin, Texas, and Copenhagen, there are no established gay villages, partly due to the differing social dynamics of these cities (less social segregation within the city), but also due to earlier and greater social acceptance of the gay community within mainstream society. However there are areas which were historically known as meeting places for gays, such as Södermalm in Stockholm, Punavuori and Kallio in Helsinki, which remain as somewhat trendy areas for gay people to live in, though they do not have a predominantly gay population.

In other cities, gay villages are less obviously residential in nature, because of the shortage of accommodation, the high price of real estate, and long-established existing communities.