The Minnesota Daily is carrying an interesting article that looks at the changing dynamics in the gay community identified by researchers at the University of Minnesota. Actually, "decline" is probably not the correct word. "Changing" is more accurate and involves the effects of gays in general going more mainstream and being less isolationists in their social gathering spots, businesses and community involvemen. The article notes the closing of many gay book stores as the younger generation buys more goods online. This is certainly true of the Norfolk area where Lambda Rising - a wonderful bookstore that I frequented often for music CD's, movie DVD's of gay films that never made the local theaters and many wonderful books - closed last year due to lack of support from the local LGBT community.
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The article also cites that researchers found the number of gay clubs declining as members of the LGBT population increasingly frequent venues that are not aimed at an exclusively gay customer base. This area seems to be defying that trend so far and one new club has opened last year and I know of another that may be in the works. However, I believe that there seems to be the beginnings of a repositioning of the club market going on. Some local clubs that have in the past been able to make money hand over fist even though they are filthy, nasty cruising bars where no capital improvements have been made in perhaps decades see themselves as being challenged by gay clubs that also cater to a straight clientele and offer nicer facilities. The Wave , which I go to often, has made significant upgrades to its facilities and Mixers, for example, is a new establishment> Both seek to cater to a mixed crowd of gays and straights with the exact mix of the crowd depending upon the particular theme night. The other thing these transitioning clubs offer is clean kitchens and restroom accomodations where one doesn't feel like they are at risk of catching some disease from the filthy restrooms.
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The article, in short, sees a trend where just being a gay club may no longer assure success. It makes sense since in my view, if a club is dirty and nasty, I don't want to go to it whether it is gay or straight. Hopefully, in time more local gays will be more discriminating in which clubs they frequent and support. Giving money to club owners that put little or nothing back into providing clean and decent facilities shows a serious lack of self-respect on the part of the patrons in my view. Until this happens, however, I presume that closet cases who are afraid to be seen in the mixed patron clubs and trolls out cruising for promiscuous sex will continue to support these declasse establishments and in the process help maintain a sleazy stereotype for the larger gay community. Alright, I've preached enough! Here are some highlights from the article:
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Epidemiology professor Simon Rosser said he learned that "while the gay population is stable or increasing," in all but the world's largest cities, "the size of the physical gay community appears to be contracting." This means the number of gay bars, clubs and bookstores appears to be thinning or becoming more mainstream.
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Rosser credits it to a changing culture. "What we think is happening is that, in the '60s, '70s, '80s, gay men came together out of a sense of oppression, a desire to meet similar others," he said. "Now, some of the reasons that brought them together are very different."
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Rosser said losing GLBT locales will affect activism, like AIDS prevention groups. "In the past, to reach the gay community, AIDS organizations and researchers would go into the bars," he said. "Now, if most of the community isn't meeting in those bars, we're going to have to discover a way of connecting with the community and raising awareness."
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Meanwhile, a study announced in late May by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs has found that reported violence against the GLBT community increased 135 percent in Minnesota in 2007. Rebecca Waggoner Kloek , anti-violence program manager of OutFront Minnesota, a GLBT activism group, said this could be credited to the greater presence of GLBT individuals in the mainstream community, even as niche communities diminish. "The GLBT community is no longer regulated to, forgive the pun, 'the closet,' " she said. "I think that the violence is going to happen no matter where the GLBT community is."
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