Gays in Detroit

**jolla** · December-28-12, 09:31 AM

Is there a gay area of Detroit [[city of)?

**MidTownMs** · December-28-12, 10:08 AM

Yes there are gay people in all areas of the City of Detroit.

**poobert** · December-28-12, 11:31 AM

This is pretty interesting, though not entirely accurate:
http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/explorer

Boston-Edison, Woodbridge, and Indian Village. No surprises there.

We have many in EEV [[and growing) though it says we have zero...it also says North Corktown is 2% white, which is wrong.

**Hamtragedy** · December-28-12, 12:07 PM

Don't forget Palmer Park.

**Bham1982** · December-28-12, 12:28 PM

Ferndale is the gay area of Detroit. Anecdotally, I would say that the nice older homes in Pleasant Ridge/Hungtington Woods and and Palmer Woods/University District/Sherwood Forest/Green Acres have lots of gays.

Palmer Park area [[the apartments, mostly) was the gay area until the early 80's, when rising crime and decay pushed gays to suburbia. I think, before that, the gay community was more to the south in the old Jewish apartment corridors [[Dexter Davison and the like).

**poobert** · December-28-12, 03:59 PM

Originally Posted by Bham1982

Ferndale is the gay area of Detroit. Anecdotally, I would say that the nice older homes in Pleasant Ridge/Hungtington Woods and and Palmer Woods/University District/Sherwood Forest/Green Acres have lots of gays.

Palmer Park area [[the apartments, mostly) was the gay area until the early 80's, when rising crime and decay pushed gays to suburbia. I think, before that, the gay community was more to the south in the old Jewish apartment corridors [[Dexter Davison and the like).

Does the Ferndale thing ring true still? There are still stores and the like, but I know a lot of people in Ferndale, none of whom are gay, and I know a lot of gay folks, and none of them live in Ferndale. Has the population dispersed?

**bailey** · December-28-12, 04:11 PM

Originally Posted by poobert

Does the Ferndale thing ring true still? There are still stores and the like, but I know a lot of people in Ferndale, none of whom are gay, and I know a lot of gay folks, and none of them live in Ferndale. Has the population dispersed?

I don't think it was ever the Gayborhood it was represented to be, but it was and probably still is the closest thing Detroit has to one.

**Bham1982** · December-28-12, 04:38 PM

Originally Posted by poobert

Does the Ferndale thing ring true still? There are still stores and the like, but I know a lot of people in Ferndale, none of whom are gay, and I know a lot of gay folks, and none of them live in Ferndale. Has the population dispersed?

I don't think that Ferndale is [[or ever really was) a super heavily gay community, but I do think it's kind of the closest thing to a nexus for the demographic, given that they have the community center, and a number of gay-friendly gathering places.

Ferndale/Pleasant Ridge has lots of nice older homes, and generally crappy schools. This will attract many childless couples, many of whom are presumably gay. If I may stereotype, gays seem to prefer to renovate a nice older house, rather than buy some tract home.

I'm sure the same thing is going on in other communities with the nice houses/iffy schools thing [[University District, EEV, maybe Rosedale Park, maybe Lathrup Village).

**leapfrog** · December-28-12, 04:56 PM

Ferndale does indeed have a large Gay population, despite some of the "expert" opinions" here on DYes. My husband and I have lived here for over 20 years, and have watched us go from "pioneers" [[Ferndale couldn't even support a McDonalds when we first moved in), to seeing the Gay community thrive in Ferndale.
The fact that the LGBT community center has been based in Ferndale for years now has acted as a magnet to draw GLBT individuals to the city. That helped pave the way for Ferndale to elect the first openly Gay mayor in Michigan history - as well as one of the reasons why Pride eventually moved from Royal Oak to Ferndale [[and now to Detroit). Despite losing Pride to Detroit, Ferndale still hosts a decent Pride celebration of its own.

While there are Gay people in every city in the area, Ferndale continues to draw LGBT citizens - this year alone we saw 2 new LGBT couples move into homes on our street, and I personally know of LGBT individuals living on nearly every street surrounding mine.

At a minimum, I think its safe to say that south Oakland county has a rather large concentration of LGBT folks compared to the surrounding areas [[but thats an opinion).

**leapfrog** · December-28-12, 04:58 PM

Originally Posted by Bham1982

I don't think that Ferndale is [[or ever really was) a super heavily gay community, but I do think it's kind of the closest thing to a nexus for the demographic, given that they have the community center, and a number of gay-friendly gathering places.

Ferndale/Pleasant Ridge has lots of nice older homes, and generally crappy schools. This will attract many childless couples, many of whom are presumably gay. If I may stereotype, gays seem to prefer to renovate a nice older house, rather than buy some tract home.

I'm sure the same thing is going on in other communities with the nice houses/iffy schools thing [[University District, EEV, maybe Rosedale Park, maybe Lathrup Village).

I disagree with many of your points - and yes, you are stereotyping.
Believe it or not, Gay people have children too and even those of us that do not recognize the value of successful schools.

**Bham1982** · December-28-12, 05:16 PM

Originally Posted by leapfrog

I disagree with many of your points - and yes, you are stereotyping.
Believe it or not, Gay people have children too and even those of us that do not recognize the value of successful schools.

I am stereotyping, but it is true that gay couples are generally childless.

And, when you don't have children, locational decisions change. When I bought my house, the school district was the primary consideration, because I plan on having children.

If I never wanted to have children, I would be much less invested in local school quality issues.

**Hans64** · December-29-12, 01:54 AM

Interesting thread. I grew up in the Detroit area but left long ago for Chicago, San Francisco, and now Portland where I am settled long term. Here there is no "gayborhood" and the city is better for it: the gay population is highly integrated and doesn't need a separate area of the city to call its own. Detroit and SE Michigan have a long way to go. Sadly, I'll probably never live there again in spite of family connections and my own sense of nostalgia.

**ismoakrack** · December-29-12, 12:17 PM

I think Ferndale reigning queen as the gay mecca it probably never was began to fade several years ago. Too bad Affirmations didn't have the foresight to build in Midtown. In the six years I have lived downtown, I have seen the gay population swell in downtown and the surrounding areas, and know very few gay people who live in Ferndale. For the most part it is either Detroit or Royal Oak. Pride moving downtown is a huge indicator of where the populace is headed.

**Bham1982** · December-29-12, 02:49 PM

Originally Posted by ismoakrack

Pride moving downtown is a huge indicator of where the populace is headed.

There are 5,000 people living downtown and 5 million in the region, so extremely unlikely.

The reasons Pride moved downtown are likely because it had outgrown Ferndale and is a regional event, requiring a central gathering place. Most gays live like anyone else, in the same places as anyone else.

**southofbloor** · December-29-12, 03:28 PM

Supergay had a good blog post on this in 2007 - linked here. Read the comments as well. It would be interesting to see what were to happen if the extensive renovations going on in the Palmer Park Apt neighbourhood manage to stabilize that part of town.

http://supergaydetroit.blogspot.ca/2...yborhoods.html
and here
http://www.modeldmedia.com/features/supergay9107.aspx

**Bham1982** · December-29-12, 03:32 PM

Another thing is that gayborhoods aren't as important as in the past.

Gayborhoods were essentially ghettoized communities, for safety and cultural solidarity. There's less of a need for this now, and plenty of out folks in random communities everywhere.

You see the traditional gayborhoods in SF and NYC starting to disperse. The Castro in SF and Chelsea/Village in NYC are much less gay than in the past. Gays can generally live anywhere, just like everyone else.

**Wingnatic** · December-29-12, 04:50 PM

Usually the media goes here for a comment regarding something in the news regarding gay rights , hate crimes etc. , its been here for quite some time now in downtown Ferndale .
http://www.goaffirmations.org/

**bailey** · December-31-12, 10:32 AM

Originally Posted by leapfrog

Ferndale does indeed have a large Gay population, despite some of the "expert" opinions" here on DYes. My husband and I have lived here for over 20 years, and have watched us go from "pioneers" [[Ferndale couldn't even support a McDonalds when we first moved in), to seeing the Gay community thrive in Ferndale.
The fact that the LGBT community center has been based in Ferndale for years now has acted as a magnet to draw GLBT individuals to the city. That helped pave the way for Ferndale to elect the first openly Gay mayor in Michigan history - as well as one of the reasons why Pride eventually moved from Royal Oak to Ferndale [[and now to Detroit). Despite losing Pride to Detroit, Ferndale still hosts a decent Pride celebration of its own.

While there are Gay people in every city in the area, Ferndale continues to draw LGBT citizens - this year alone we saw 2 new LGBT couples move into homes on our street, and I personally know of LGBT individuals living on nearly every street surrounding mine.

At a minimum, I think its safe to say that south Oakland county has a rather large concentration of LGBT folks compared to the surrounding areas [[but thats an opinion).

I don't think anyone said it wasn't where gays congregated but, Boystown, Castro, South End it ain't. I mean today its what? 1 and half gay bars and a community center? If it weren't for Affirmations, what would make Ferndale any different than Royal Oak? Or Mid-Town?

I think a huge problem in the gay community here is that we accept and have settled that Ferndale is the gayborhood. that is NOT to say that Ferndale isnt a nice and accepting place to live. Its just that it falls pretty short when measured against the places gays are fleeing to.

**MidTownMs** · December-31-12, 11:36 AM

Originally Posted by Hans64

Interesting thread. I grew up in the Detroit area but left long ago for Chicago, San Francisco, and now Portland where I am settled long term. Here there is no "gayborhood" and the city is better for it: the gay population is highly integrated and doesn't need a separate area of the city to call its own. Detroit and SE Michigan have a long way to go. Sadly, I'll probably never live there again in spite of family connections and my own sense of nostalgia.

I don't blame you for settling in Portland. It was on the top of my list for relocation spots, however, due to health reasons, I moved to the Southwest. I found Portland to be everything you mentioned and more.

**Lowell** · December-31-12, 12:44 PM

I just spotted this 'thing that makes me go hmmm' on DeadlineDetroit.

"Tigers Torri[sic] Hunter: It Would 'Be Difficult And Uncomfortable' To Have Gay Teammate"

link

Perhaps Torii should check into this thread before choosing his Detroit dwelling.

Follow up: I now notice that he is catching some flak.

Torii Hunter being criticized for his comment on gay athletes

**Bham1982** · December-31-12, 01:04 PM

Torri Hunter, while possibly a decent pickup in the baseball sense, has really dug himself a hole very quickly. First he trashed his old team, manager and GM [[very bad form), then revealed he's a bigot.

He better perform on the field, or people will run him out of town. This isn't NYC or Boston or Philly; we're generally nice to athletes and give them the benefit of the doubt. But so far, he sounds like a real jerk.

**iheartthed** · December-31-12, 02:21 PM

Originally Posted by Bham1982

Ferndale is the gay area of Detroit. Anecdotally, I would say that the nice older homes in Pleasant Ridge/Hungtington Woods and and Palmer Woods/University District/Sherwood Forest/Green Acres have lots of gays.

Palmer Park area [[the apartments, mostly) was the gay area until the early 80's, when rising crime and decay pushed gays to suburbia. I think, before that, the gay community was more to the south in the old Jewish apartment corridors [[Dexter Davison and the like).

Are you talking about white gays or gay people in general? Because there are plenty of gay people still in the Palmer Park area.

**Bham1982** · December-31-12, 02:47 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Are you talking about white gays or gay people in general? Because there are plenty of gay people still in the Palmer Park area.

Are African American gays still concentrated in the Palmer Park apartment district? That's good news if true.

I really don't know the demographic in the apartments. I definitely know there's a gay population [[both black and white) in Palmer Woods, University District, etc.

**DetroitPlanner** · December-31-12, 06:53 PM

Originally Posted by Bham1982

Are African American gays still concentrated in the Palmer Park apartment district? That's good news if true.

I really don't know the demographic in the apartments. I definitely know there's a gay population [[both black and white) in Palmer Woods, University District, etc.

How the heck is segregation 'good news?'

**Bham1982** · December-31-12, 08:33 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

How the heck is segregation 'good news?'

It's good news if anyone is living in those buildings.

I'm not expecting Detroit gays to solve the world's problems. If it's only blacks living there, that's a reflection of society at large.