Today’s Globe has a depressing article about the attempts of some guppie residents of Bay Village to close down Jacques, the only drag bar in town, on the grounds that it encourages prostitution and drug use and makes the neighborhood unfit for raising children. The article interviews one gay lawyer (who wishes to adopt), and it’s hard to tell how much the petition to the city is mostly his effort or a broader push. Either way, it’s maddening to see the short memory behind the current disregard for the political foundaiton laid by gay liberation and indeed the beer bottles thrown by drag queens at Stonewall. Even if (a BIG if) tolerance of gay people and inclusion of gays in general social fabric of this country had progressed far enough that gay ghettos are unnecessary, it floors me that gay men wouldn’t be remotely interested in preserving what few links to a historical past still exist. And if this lawyer didn’t want to live in a gay ghetto, like he says, why did he move to one? Sure, Bay Village is charming and it’s predictable that well-to-do people will move in and want to make the city in their own image, but the rest of city doesn’t have to go along with it. Let’s hope Menino doesn’t cave into the would-be do-gooders.
No comments have been added to this post yet.