Without Place?: A Dispersed Queer Community’s Response to Gentrification

Keywords: queer, gentrification, urban, culture, LGBTQ
Session Type: Virtual Paper
Day: Saturday
Session Start / End Time: 4/10/2021 04:40 PM (Pacific Time (US & Canada)) - 4/10/2021 05:55 PM (Pacific Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 31

Abstract

Queer persons have been seen as both the gentrifiers and more recently as victims in a continued gentrification in many cities in the United States. In the context of Atlanta, Georgia this is clearly demonstrated with the gay gentrifiers of Midtown and the subsequent out-pricing and family-friendly policies that spearheaded the decline of queer culture in the city. Considering the city’s urban sprawl and high cost of rent there is a definitive dispersion of queer persons outside of the Perimeter, and outward to more suburban areas. In this paper I trace both the historical lineage of this dispersion and provide insights into how members of the LGBTQ community make place for themselves within the constraints of an ever-increasing cost of living and without accessible physical locations to exist within.