Posted on 01/15/2005 3:02:05 PM PST by Horatio Gates
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Gay activists in this staid Eastern Washington city are planning to create a neighborhood of gay-oriented homes, businesses and nightlife, which religious conservatives complain will be at odds with Spokane's family-oriented culture.
A gay district would signal that Spokane is tolerant and progressive, proponents contend, the type of community that can attract the so-called "creative class" that will build the economy of tomorrow.
"We're talking about an actual physical part of town we would like to establish as a gay district," said Marvin Reguindin, owner of a Spokane graphic design firm, who envisions an area similar to the Castro district of San Francisco or Capitol Hill in Seattle.
Community Impact Spokane, a network of evangelical Christians, is appalled.
"A gay Mecca is not what we'd like to see Spokane marketed as," said Penny Lancaster, director of the group. "I'd rather see us promoted as a conservative, family oriented community without any reference to sexual orientation."
Too late, some say.
"There is a very large gay population here," said Bonnie Aspen, a business owner who arrived with her partner two years ago to escape the congestion of the San Francisco Bay area.
Even though they face little discrimination, gays stay under the radar, said Aspen, a member of the Inland Northwest Business Alliance, an association of gay and gay-friendly businesses that is pushing the idea.
"Visibility equals freedom," Aspen said. "Invisibility we have dealt with all our life."
She predicted a gay district will exist within the next year or two.
Spokane is some 90 percent white, and a gay district will promote the notion that such a community can still be tolerant and have diversity, Aspen said.
The idea arises out of the theories of Richard Florida, an economist whose 2002 book "The Rise of the Creative Class" contends that the economy of the future will be created by the 38 million workers who toil in "creative" industries.
Florida, a Carnegie Mellon University professor, said members of the creative class consider recreation, culture and ethnic diversity, including a large population of gays, as central to where they live. Places like New York, Boston, San Francisco and Seattle have those qualities. Places like Spokane generally do not.
After Florida spoke here a couple of years ago, Spokane civic leaders embraced many of his ideas. They have pushed hard to create a university district and several arts districts near downtown.
Tom Reese, an economic development officer for Spokane, said city government is not exactly pushing the notion of a gay district, but they don't oppose it either.
"It is our desire to create an environment where diversity and different interests and lifestyles of all types can flourish," Reese said.
No public funds will be used to create the district, which is dependent on developers, Aspen said. No location has been announced.
With about 200,000 residents, the city has little history of gay activism, other than an effort a few years ago that added homosexuals as a protected class to its human rights ordinance.
Spokane — which in trendy Seattle is shorthand for tragically unhip — has long been dominated by conservative politics that stem from its history as a mining and farming center. But it also has a large core of Democrats who push for social justice, and libertarians who share the West's live-and-let-live philosophy.
Most of all the city identifies itself as a good place to raise a family. A gay district clashes with that image, opponents contend.
"We are a family-friendly, traditional-values community," said former Mayor John Talbott.
Opponents fear a gay district will attract sexual predators who prey on gays, plus lead to increased crime, drug use and other social ills, Walton Mize, bishop of the Christ Holy Sanctified Church, said.
"Most people don't know about the underbelly of it," Mize said. "It's a culture based upon sex."
Aspen rejected the notion that a gay district will bring social problems to Spokane.
"I can't see why they think they will have more of that than is already here," Aspen said.
Spokane already has a gay newspaper, Stonewall News Northwest, and some businesses that cater to gay residents. It has had an openly gay member of the City Council.
But creating a district is still important, Reguindin said.
"It would help youth struggling with their sexuality to realize they don't have to go away to a big city to be gay. You can be gay right here in Spokane," Reguindin said.
Farand Gunnels, local representative for the Pride Foundation, a Seattle-based group that gives grants to support the gay community, wondered if there were enough gay residents in Spokane to support such a district.
The INBA is also preparing to launch a "visibility campaign," in which businesses will be asked to display signs in their windows proclaiming their support for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
"We'll know where we will be welcome and patronize those businesses," Aspen said. "We've had a very positive reaction from the business community."
Gay customers will be able to leave special cards at businesses they patronize, to let the owners know they were there, Aspen said.
"It will give Spokane an idea of the economic impact gay people have," Aspen said.
uh, "magnets"
Then toss in the sharks and paranas.
"Red Light District"
Sorry, but I can't pass up an obvious opportunity to joke:
Wouldn't "Pink Light District" be more appopro?
"Then toss in the sharks and paranas."
Can't do that! You would tick off PETA and then where would you be???
Was that an intended pun?
Ironically, it's this sort of thing that I think is so alienating.
I have gay friends. I'm not a gay-hater. But to be honest, this makes me feel more territorial and defiant than I otherwise would, and protective of Spokane. We don't need another Seattle in this state. (I'm in Seattle.)
Take a look at the Keys in FLA. No self respecting parent will even drive through the Keys anymore. The scenery is just too repulsive. Consider what "" members of the creative class consider recreation, culture and ethnic diversity,"" means!!!!!!!
Gay recreation??? and out in the open, on the streets. Not behind closed doors. The most outrageous you can imagine, is probably less outrageous than is actually seen on these streets.
Oops! LOL
Do you still live in Spokane? I left in 1988 to move to CA, and because of the types of social activities I was involved in, it seemed like the gays were quite a force there back then.
>>creative class consider recreation, culture and ethnic diversity>>
What about the pedophiles who claim their tendencies are in their blood (like gays) and who claim their lifestyle should not be illegal? Will it become difficult to prosecute a pedophile because he is black, gay and disabled? Get my point? How far will government go with this PC crap?
I've been in a few that were being built and they all had a bidet.
What about the pedophiles who claim their tendencies are in their blood (like gays) and who claim their lifestyle should not be illegal? Will it become difficult to prosecute a pedophile because he is black, gay and disabled? Get my point? How far will government go with this PC crap?
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I know, I feel the same way. I wish I knew how to stop it. Who to rally behind, Something!!!
Are they serious?
Gay customers will be able to leave special cards at businesses they patronize, to let the owners know they were there
Are they serious?
"It would help youth struggling with their sexuality to realize they don't have to go away to a big city to be gay. You can be gay right here in Spokane,"
ROTFL! They can't be serious!
I don't think I'll ask what types of social activities you were involved in.
ahhhhh but unfortunately for good people like us, they are!!
Now that's a Freudian classic if I ever saw one.
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