The 'gaytrification' effect: why gay neighbourhoods are being priced out; Guardian, 1/13/16

Feargus O'Sullivan, Guardian; The 'gaytrification' effect: why gay neighbourhoods are being priced out:

"The anecdotal association between LGBT people and changing inner cities has been around for a while. What’s relatively new is the starring role they have been given in discussions around urbanism and gentrification.

This dates back to the 2002 publication of Richard Florida’s The Rise of the Creative Class. Florida’s theory placed gay people at the heart of urban regeneration, part of a gentrifying vanguard along with creative and tech workers and “high bohemians”, who together helped to repopulate and refurbish previously rundown urban areas. In doing so, the model suggests these groups suck in more economic investment by creating the sort of attractive environment in which “wealth creators” like to live. If this tolerance of gay people is matched by a higher level of foreign-born residents and racial mixing, it is even more likely to attract the creative workers on which a city’s economic success depends. In other words, the more gay people your city attracts, the more tolerant it is likely to be.

As this theory has gained momentum, Florida’s point – that sexual tolerance in itself is not the sole factor, but a litmus test that measures a city’s ability to attract many diverse groups – has tended to get drowned out. This has often led to a basic assumption that LGBT residents are somehow synonymous with economic growth.

This approach might seem a little crude, but it’s not unfounded. According to sociology professor Amin Ghaziani, who researched the subject extensively while writing his book, There Goes the Gayborhood?, there is evidence from North America to back up assumptions that LGBT residents boost property prices."