I'm wondering if there is a neighborhood in the Raleigh-Durham area that is particularly gay friendly, or any that are patricularly NOT gay friendly. Most cities have an area (or areas) where gay people tend to concentrate, sometimes endearingly called a gay ghetto. NYC has Greenwich Village; San Francisco has the Castro; Chicago has Boystown. Even Buffalo, NY has a neighborhood called Allentown (centered around Allen Street) that has a reputation as a "gay neighborhood." I haven't been able to find anything on the internet about a Raleigh equivalent. Is there one?
"Gay neighborhood" in Raleigh-Durham?
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To the best of my knowledge, there is no real gay neighborhood in Raleigh, although I would assume that any area near downtown would have a higher concentration of gay people living within close proximity. I don't know if this is appropriate for me to say, but I would suggest you write to the people that own the White Rabbit bookstores (there is a link to the Raleigh store). They should be far more knowledgeable on this topic than me. Of course, any gay forumers from Raleigh would be happy to assist you a lot better than I ever could. I wonder if Durham has a stronger gay community that could be of more help.
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I've always heard Cameron Court (basically downtown) called the "Gayborhood" of Raleigh. I don't think there is such an area in Durham.
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Sorry to post and run but...I read somewhere just a few days ago that although ruled unconstitutional recently by the US Supreme Court, Raleigh has charged two men with sodomy. Not very friendly indeed. That said, I've always been very comfortable when visiting and I do know a few gay people there that just love it. They live (well most of them do) near Cameron Village.
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I've never lived in the Triangle area, but I have visited quite a bit, and I've found Durham to have more of a "Gay sensibility" than does Raleigh. Raleigh is larger, but it also seems more conservative to me. Here is a link to an organization working to open a gay and lesbian community center in Raleigh. I was surprised to find out there isn't one there yet, as we've had one in Columbia for about 15 years.
http://www.tcworks.org/
You might also try contacting Out Triangle.
http://outtriangle.com/about-us1.php
http://www.tcworks.org/
You might also try contacting Out Triangle.
http://outtriangle.com/about-us1.php
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^^
Do that not even have a youth group or anything?
Do that not even have a youth group or anything?
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There are at least two: Legends and Flex.
:hilarious
I too find this shocking. Raleigh is about the size of OKC, and OKC has an entire gay district that is one of the largest in the country with about a half dozen gay bars, an entire "gay resort" and two or three gay festivals. The interior north side's main arterial, Classen Boulevard, even has rainbow banners put up along it by the city during June which is when Gay Pride is... there are numerous gay community centers, HIV/AIDs testing centers at all of the churches on the interior north side..which is sort of the most refined and sophisticated part of the old inner city at least.
Raleigh is every bit as big and every bit as prosperous as OKC, I'd expect a little more gay howdy-ness.
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Nobody said that Raleigh doesn't have a heavily gay neighborhood or two; the penguin only said he didn't know of one. I'm sure if you asked a lot of straight people here in Columbia, they wouldn't know what neighborhoods are heavily gay unless they lived in those neighborhoods and they probably wouldn't know where the Gay and Lesbian Community Center is located. I know that the Triangle area of NC is one of the more gay-friendly areas of the southeast so I'm sure Raleigh has some heavily gay neighborhoods. If you check out the 2 website links I posted, there are a lot of gay and lesbian organizations in the area. Is the penguin the only Raleigh area poster on SSC?
The penguin is a symbol of the gay community, come on, you know that..
And our penguin (now referring to Raleigh-NC) was aware of the gay bars, so he isn't completely out of the know. You said yourself you were surprised Raleigh has no gay and lesbian community center. That's the surprise I was referring to.
And our penguin (now referring to Raleigh-NC) was aware of the gay bars, so he isn't completely out of the know. You said yourself you were surprised Raleigh has no gay and lesbian community center. That's the surprise I was referring to.
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I've been to Raleigh on business - never explored the gay area. Raleigh enccompasses a region that has experienced tremendous post W W II growth - thus much of the region is very spread-out. I'm sure an area of this size and considering all the university age demographics, it has a sizeable gay community, but the "gay ghetto" so to speak is emerging as the area continues to grow.
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Do you know what my penguin says? Leave him alone and out of this conversation :lol: My penguin is the symbol of Linux, plain and simple.
On a serious note, I am certain that there is no gay district the way you would think of it in bigger cities. Most gay people in the area live all over the place. I would assume that gay people who prefer to live in an area with higher density of gay people would choose to live in bigger cities, where gay districts already exist.
On a serious note, I am certain that there is no gay district the way you would think of it in bigger cities. Most gay people in the area live all over the place. I would assume that gay people who prefer to live in an area with higher density of gay people would choose to live in bigger cities, where gay districts already exist.
Raleigh and OKC are very different areas...Raleigh has several medium to large sized cities within a short drive, where OKC has...none? OKC would be considered a mecca for anyone gay in the state of Oklahoma, where Raleigh has competition from Charlotte, Durham, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Asheville, Chapel Hill, and even Atlanta & D.C. Raleigh wouldn't attract the state's gay population like OKC would, so I wouldn't expect to find a centralized gay neighborhood in Raleigh.
Besides, those types of neighborhoods are quickly disappearing as the need for them isn't as large as in the past. Gay neighborhoods created "safety in numbers" at a time when there was no police protection for gay people and there was a lot of animosity from the general public. Much has changed in the world and the "safety in numbers" concept is less important...plus, the gentrified neighborhoods that gay people lived in have become very attractive to straight people in the past decade, so the "gayness" of the old neighborhoods has been watered down considerably. The French Quarter, Midtown Atlanta, Castro, South Beach, West Hollywood, Halsted, Chelsea, Dupont Circle...not the gay places they used to be. So don't expect to see a gay ghetto forming in Raleigh any time soon...it's more the thing now to be spread out into the general population.
:yes:
Seems to me that a city where gay, bi and str8 people all live together is true acceptance. I have never understood the whole "gay neighborhoods" or "Chinatowns" etc, that is often hyped by people of certain large cities. When you have neighborhoods specifically made up of a certain demographic like that you have a form of segregation.
I find Raleigh to be well balanced. :cheers:
That's one of the greatest things about Raleigh. You see people of all sexual orientations, as well as races, mixing and mingling all over town, and it's great to see. About 10 years ago, you didn't see as much interracial dating around town, as it was still taboo, but times have really changed in this city.
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