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I'm 'yes, but...' on both those points. (1) is true, but I was thinking more about the persecution aspect than the community aspect. If being gay made life unb
by uniqueid 5y ago
I'm 'yes, but...' on both those points.
(1) is true, but I was thinking more about the persecution aspect than the community aspect. If being gay made life unbearable in a particular town, it was at least physically possible, if expensive, for a person to cross state-lines and start life fresh. Today people leave a trail that follows them globally and for a lifetime.
In terms of community, (2) is a little more bleak than the reality. I'm guessing in the 1980s, most college towns had at least a gay bar (or cafe, bookshop, whatever), and community formed around it.
- monocasa 5y agoI don't know about your (2) argument. There's a lot of college towns even today that don't have gay bars. I've lived in Boulder, CO (CU Boulder) and Athens, GA (UGA) and neither really have a gay bar. In the 1980s? Only the major metros really.
- uniqueid 5y agoI don't have any statistics, but there may well be fewer brick-and-mortar gay hang-outs today, precisely because the internet has given people other ways to meet.
- monocasa 5y agoThere hasn't ever been a gay bar in either of those towns AFAIK, so my point still stands. And that includes 'The People's Republic of Boulder'.
- uniqueid 5y agoI'll settle at more than your 'major metros' and fewer than my 'most college towns' — although now that I think those two numbers over, it's probably not that large a delta to begin with ;)