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The hoax 'gay-only village' isn't so far-fetched The hoax 'gay-only village' isn't so far-fetched
(35 minutes later)
When Dutch real estate company Blauwhoed announced that it was developing a gated community specifically for LGBTQ people, there was an outcry. Blauwhoed was creating a "gay ghetto" people argued, letting mainstream society off the hook. Resources should instead be channelled into the inspiration for the project – the fact that 22% of gay men did not feel safe in their neighbourhoods. Yesterday, it was revealed that the scheme was a hoax on the part of gay rights organisation Roze Maandag, aimed at highlighting the homophobia still at large in a supposedly enlightened society, and everybody breathed a sigh of relief.When Dutch real estate company Blauwhoed announced that it was developing a gated community specifically for LGBTQ people, there was an outcry. Blauwhoed was creating a "gay ghetto" people argued, letting mainstream society off the hook. Resources should instead be channelled into the inspiration for the project – the fact that 22% of gay men did not feel safe in their neighbourhoods. Yesterday, it was revealed that the scheme was a hoax on the part of gay rights organisation Roze Maandag, aimed at highlighting the homophobia still at large in a supposedly enlightened society, and everybody breathed a sigh of relief.
Of course, gay-only spaces do exist, just not on that scale. There are clubs, hotels and cruises – Manchester's "gay village", although sometimes a tourist trap for well-meaning voyeuristic straights, is full of LGBTQ bars and businesses. But even their existence plays into the debate about whether we're not just being precious and marginalising ourselves, fetishising our own otherness rather than integrating into an increasingly tolerant society.Of course, gay-only spaces do exist, just not on that scale. There are clubs, hotels and cruises – Manchester's "gay village", although sometimes a tourist trap for well-meaning voyeuristic straights, is full of LGBTQ bars and businesses. But even their existence plays into the debate about whether we're not just being precious and marginalising ourselves, fetishising our own otherness rather than integrating into an increasingly tolerant society.
There will always be a need for LGBTQ spaces, the same way plenty of spaces are geared towards a specific interest – if you go into a sports bar, you can be reasonably sure the match of your choice will be on. If you go into any pub that boasts live folk music, you're guaranteed a decent pint of real ale. Gay bars provide a practical service – you can make a pass at someone and be reasonably confident that if they turn you down, it's not because of your gender.There will always be a need for LGBTQ spaces, the same way plenty of spaces are geared towards a specific interest – if you go into a sports bar, you can be reasonably sure the match of your choice will be on. If you go into any pub that boasts live folk music, you're guaranteed a decent pint of real ale. Gay bars provide a practical service – you can make a pass at someone and be reasonably confident that if they turn you down, it's not because of your gender.
If I lived in Roze Maandag's fictional town, I wouldn't have had that toe-curling chat with my GP about why I'm not using contraception. I wouldn't pause before taking my wife's hand in public and I wouldn't have had to travel all the way to New York to be capital-M married to her before David Cameron realised he needed the gay vote. A survey last year showed that a quarter of gay people in the EU have been attacked or threatened with violence. Earlier this month, three men were sprayed in the face with a concentrated ammonia solution outside a gay club in London.If I lived in Roze Maandag's fictional town, I wouldn't have had that toe-curling chat with my GP about why I'm not using contraception. I wouldn't pause before taking my wife's hand in public and I wouldn't have had to travel all the way to New York to be capital-M married to her before David Cameron realised he needed the gay vote. A survey last year showed that a quarter of gay people in the EU have been attacked or threatened with violence. Earlier this month, three men were sprayed in the face with a concentrated ammonia solution outside a gay club in London.
But when we talk about a gay "safe space", we have to ask – safe for whom? The idea of a gay bar comes with its own set of assumptions – that everyone there will be gay rather than bi, pansexual or any of the myriad orientations that describe who we fall in love or lust or bed with. And all too often it assumes, exactly the way heterosexual society does, that everyone there is cisgender. The Vauxhall Tavern venue in south London hit the LGBTQ press headlines last year after they threw out the radical feminist Cathy Brennan, known online for her transphobic views, in order to keep their trans patrons safe. But there are plenty of bars that would have privileged her custom over the right of others to have a drink without fear of attack, even in a space set up with that exact aim. But when we talk about a gay "safe space", we have to ask – safe for whom? The idea of a gay bar comes with its own set of assumptions – that everyone there will be gay rather than bi, pansexual or any of the myriad orientations that describe who we fall in love or lust or bed with. And all too often it assumes, exactly the way heterosexual society does, that everyone there is cisgender. The Vauxhall Tavern venue in south London hit the LGBTQ press headlines last year after they barred radical feminist Cathy Brennan, criticised online for her transphobic views, (which she describes as "transcritical"), in order to keep their trans patrons safe from negative judgment. But there are plenty of bars that would have privileged her custom over the right of others to have a drink without fear of disapproval, even in a space set up with that exact aim.
Gay spaces aren't perfect, they're just frequently safer than the alternative. The answer, of course, is for a heterocentric society to adapt – not for queers to go off and live in their own utopia where new seasons of Orange is the New Black are screened every month and everybody checks which pronouns you use. But there will be some people who, on hearing about the community, will have wished fervently that they could move there.Gay spaces aren't perfect, they're just frequently safer than the alternative. The answer, of course, is for a heterocentric society to adapt – not for queers to go off and live in their own utopia where new seasons of Orange is the New Black are screened every month and everybody checks which pronouns you use. But there will be some people who, on hearing about the community, will have wished fervently that they could move there.
Sixty people signed up before it was revealed that it was a hoax. I wonder how they felt when it turned out to be designed to raise awareness of a prejudice they're reminded of daily.Sixty people signed up before it was revealed that it was a hoax. I wonder how they felt when it turned out to be designed to raise awareness of a prejudice they're reminded of daily.