Panel Discusses Changing Demographics and
Character of the Castro
Many Express Importance of Preserving LGBT Identity of Neighborhood

Supervisor Bevan Dufty talks to the audience while holding his baby daughter at the
Commonwealth Club on Nov. 8. To his right stands panel moderator Don Romesburg. The seated panelists (from left to right) Donald Reuter, Alan Martinez, Anmarie Rogers, Damien Quesnel, all spoke about their vision for the Castro.

By Kyla Calvert

As homosexual couples turn fewer heads in mainstream areas, historically LGBT neighborhoods across the U.S. are losing their unique character to redevelopment. In spite of the Castro’s unique position as a LGBT community, tourist destination and powerful political voting block, the signs of this trend have surfaced here, leading to front-page articles in national publications.

A member-led panel discussion at the Commonwealth Club of California on Nov. 8, titled “The De-Gaying of The Castro: Are Queer ‘Hoods Worth Saving?” debated how and whether to maintain the Castro as a vibrant enclave of gay community, culture and history.

Panel participants included Donald Reuter, author of “Greetings from the Gayborhood;” Alan Martinez, architect and landmark-preservation advocate; Anmarie Rogers, urban planner and Castro resident; and Damien Quesnel, 36-year Castro resident and urban studies student.
The panel voiced wide ranging points of view on the current state and possible future of the Castro. The panel was moderated by Don Romesburg, board co-chair of the GLBT Historical Society.

“Gayborhoods are a thing of the past,” Reuter asserted. “In my research in cities across the country, none of the gayborhoods I visited any longer bore much gayness. In Atlanta, for example, rezoning would not allow bars to extend their leases. It seems that people want to dismantle these neighborhoods and we see sexuality-centric institutions being replaced with chain stores.”

In response to Reuter’s comment, Martinez cautioned the audience against thinking of maintaining these neighborhoods as futile.

“There is an underlying feeling that these neighborhoods have failed us and that their dismantling is no great loss,” he began. “But, the institutions built since World War II are phenomenal, nothing like them has existed before in human history. These are spaces that were hacked out of a very hostile world.

“Many of the institutions and political representation we take for granted today can’t exist without the concentration of population that a place like the Castro provides. It would be a crime not to try to maintain and develop the resources we have in this community.”

The panel’s conversation about how to maintain the Castro’s unique character focused on a theme common to the redevelopment of all culturally unique neighborhoods – retaining current residents and ensuring future construction of affordable housing.

“If we look at the Chinatown redevelopment, the community was nervous about office space taking over buildings and the Chinese residents being pushed out,” Rogers said.

“In the end, through the involvement of community activists and business owners in developing the plan for the area, height restrictions on new construction and a requirement to replace every unit removed by demolition retained the unique architectural character and population of the neighborhood.”

“The way to have an impact on the face of the Castro in the future is to talk to these people – developers, the city’s planning department – now, while development is in the planning stages,” Quesnel added. “It is amazing how much impact voices from the community can have on the decisions being made.”

The changing voices of the community and how the area can serve the needs of an increasingly diverse population constituted a large part of the conversation about the neighborhood’s future.

Participants also discussed whether it was possible to create spaces for a sustainable lesbian community within the traditionally male-dominated Castro, how to accommodate the area’s aging population long-term and being inclusive of families with children.

“Part of developing the future of this community is bringing back what was here in the past,” remarked Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who attended the panel and spoke briefly while balancing his young daughter on his hip.

“I would like to see a gay history museum in the neighborhood in the near future. But, I would also like to see a new component, like a family resource center. Eighty percent of the kids adopted from foster care are adopted by gays and these families are also a part of our community,” Dufty said.

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