Mapping gay and lesbian neighborhoods using home advertisements: Change and continuity in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Statistical Area over three decades

Abstract

Determining the spatial distribution of gay and lesbian households is relevant to understanding gay and lesbian identity and empowerment, and it has been a goal for geographers over the past half century. Our paper answers to calls for investigations of gay and lesbian geography beyond traditional enclaves. We use 9210 street addresses of advertised rental and for-sale properties posted between 1986 and 2012 in the gay and lesbian-oriented Dallas Voice to map historical changes in the spatial distribution of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Statistical Area's gay and lesbian population. We show how gay and lesbian markets contrast with those of all Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Statistical Area renters and homeowners, and consider our data in light of Dallas Voice coverage of how the location of the gay and lesbian population has shifted. Among other things, we find that advertisements have come to feature properties further from gay bars, and in census tracts of higher income, education levels, and rents, but that these advertisements also have consistently featured properties in census tracts with older construction and a higher proportion of same-sex coupled households. Our findings provide evidence of dispersion from old enclaves and reclustering in new areas, suggesting both lesser attachment to traditional enclaves, and the continuing importance of proximity to each other for gay and lesbian households.

Health-related regional and neighborhood correlates of sexual minority concentration: A systematic review

“…Five used multiple measures of sexual orientation, including marriage, identity, attraction, behavior, web site membership, and mailing lists [ 31 , 57 , 59 , 94 , 95 ]. We excluded two innovative studies [ 96 , 97 ] using real estate listings in gay/lesbian newspapers because they did not meet our inclusion criteria.…”

Fifty shades of gay: Social and technological change, urban deconcentration and niche enterprise

“…By retaining this wholly English geographical focus an attempt is made to control for some cross-cultural factors influencing the phenomenon under scrutiny. That said, Whittemore and Smart (2015) have also found evidence for a similar dispersal/deconcentration and potential decline narrative through tracking gay adverts for property rentals and for-sale properties in a US city. In this paper, however, focussing primarily on England, the outcome and future ramifications for the viability of such districts are explored from an explicitly economistic perspective in the light of various strands of secondary evidence.…”

Is “Gaytrification” a Real Phenomenon?

“…Indeed, Doan and Higgins (2011) analyze neighborhoods in Atlanta and find that gays and lesbians may be displaced as a result of gentrification, rather than a driver of gentrification. Whittemore and Smart (2016) report a similar dispersion of gay and lesbian enclaves in Dallas in recent years, although Ghaziani (2015) finds that these enclaves continue to be an important part of the social structure in Chicago neighborhoods.…”