Discussion week fourteen - "Cultural Identity, Sexual Liberation and Urban Structure: the Gay Community in San Francisco"

For this week's discussion:

Tuesday:
Four groups by last name:
1. Why in San Francisco?
2. Gay society and Urban Culture.
3. Gay Political System.
4. Transformation/Renovation of the City by Gays.

Answer the following questions: Why are gays put into this segregated state and forced into making a new society in SF? Also, who is doing the segregating and why? How the gays are able to face the oppression from society and be able to form their own society in SF? Also, focusing on the specific methods to facing oppression and how they overcame it. Be sure to take a side and support it in class. Each group will present their topic to the class, and be expected to answer any questions and debate their position.

Thursday: Revised
We will break up into four groups, where each group will individually discuss the questions below. After thoroughly discussing each question, we will return and share our thoughts as a class.
1) What was the initial attraction of San Francisco to gays?
2) How did the gay community change the Castro district to suit their needs?
3) How is being gay different from being a racial minority?
4) Based on that, why does each group resort to residing in a "ghetto"?
5) Why do gays have such a high voter turnout?
6) How has the gay community changed the face of San Francisco, and as a result, other cities as well?

Friday:
Read the article paying attention to details as we will be playing Quiz Bowl. Also think about how you felt about this article and controversial issues (if any). Think about key points such as:
- political power of gay communities
- improvement and gentrification of San Francisco as a result of the gay community
- how location affected their lifestyles
In addition, be ready for a general discussion.

Summary of pages 144-145 missing from reader (handed out in class).

Senator George Moscone was elected Mayor of San Francisco in 1975 by a narrow margin of 3000 votes. He appointed Harvey Milk to a post at city hall -- the first openly gay public official. A new political movement to elect officials based on neighborhood districts instead of citywide elections allowed Harvey to be elected supervisor for the first time in 1977. This happened as a homophobic backlash gained momentum throughout America. Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone were murdered at city hall in April 1978 by fellow conservative supervisor Dan White. White's light sentence of seven years in prison sparked some of the most violent rioting in city history. "The gays' power was apparently most uncertain but nonetheless they possessed it, based on a spatial, cultural community whose profile and formation, and relationship to the political process, we will now examine.
The Making of a Gay Territory
Space is a fundamental dimension for the gay community. Social prejudice, legal repression, and political violence have forced homosexuals throughout history to be invisible." Invisibility is an obstacle to meeting others and leading a normal life, so gays have established spaces and places where they can meet others and be themselves. Gay space expanded from streets and hidden bars to entire neighborhoods. Gay territory expanded in relation to changing cultural transformation. There are five different means of determining where gays in SF were concentrated:

1 A map (14-1) established according what pollsters for gay electoral campaigns showing the sequential development of gay residences over time.

2 A map representing the proportion of multiple male households on the resident population of the area in 1977. . . the adequate description of the . . .