MEDIATING PHILADELPHIA's GAY URBAN SPACES a Dissertation
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TALES OF THE GAYBORHOOD: MEDIATING PHILADELPHIA’S GAY URBAN SPACES A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY by Byron Lee May 2014 Examining Committee Members: Dr. Fabienne Darling-Wolf, Advisory Chair, Journalism Dr. Carolyn Kitch, Journalism Dr. John Edward Campbell, Media Studies and Production Dr. Hilary Iris Lowe, External Reader, Temple University, History © Copyright 2014 by Byron Lee All Rights Reserved ii ABSTRACT Philadelphia, like other major North American cities, has neighborhoods that are informally known as gay neighborhoods. This project examines how Philadelphia’s Gayborhood is mediated, and how representations and markings of the Gayborhood are shaped by different discourses, namely tourism and urban development. Marking Philadelphia’s Gayborhood justifies the presence of LGBT individuals in the city by linking LGBT lives to economic activity and “positive” urban change. This dissertation reads media texts about Philadelphia’s Gayborhood against participant observations of everyday life and events in the Gayborhood, with particular emphasis on the activities of the Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus (PGTC). Starting in 2002, the PGTC formed and produced specific tourism materials targeting the LGBT community, including print and television advertising campaigns, the rainbow street signs, and a dedicated map of the Gayborhood. These products highlight the Gayborhood as evidence of Philadelphia’s gay-friendliness. Philadelphia’s attractiveness for LGBT travelers is rooted in the visible presence of the city’s LGBT community; Philadelphia’s established LGBT everyday life allows LGBT travelers to come and already belong in the city. To support this message, the PGTC and the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation market the city to both visitors and locals. New media platforms, namely social media, help promote events, both supporting local organizations, as well as creating visible LGBT everyday life to attract visitors. The meanings of the Gayborhood are then explored through its physical markings and LGBT events that emphasize its location. First, Philadelphia’s Gayborhood is placed iii in the context of visibly and symbolically marking a “gay” city. While visual markers may provide indication of LGBT presence, certain symbols become stereotypical and caricatured, limiting the possible meanings of being LGBT-identified in public. Events such as the Pride Parade also serve to define the boundaries of belonging in the LGBT community. A central tension is the distinction between belonging and access, which are often conflated by an emphasis on legal, anti-discrimination discourses. LGBT history is also a central theme of Philadelphia’s LGBT tourism promotion. By examining LGBT history walking tours, this project argues that not only do historical projects highlight stories that might otherwise be unseen, they also produce visibility of absences in contemporary discourse. The Gayborhood also functions as an archive exhibit, ultimately supporting a liberal project of belonging through economic and political activities. Parts of the archive are currently present, but access to the LGBT archive requires further inquiry or participation. By considering the Gayborhood as an exhibit of the LGBT archive, we also can consider aspects of the archive as restricted from the public, or still impossible to articulate intelligibly to the public. This project ends with a reconsideration of what it means to articulate and communicate ideas about LGBT identity in space. Current representations and understandings of the Gayborhood still serve a homonormative and homonationalist project that privileges the activities and everyday lives of wealthy, white, gay men. Returning to thinking about gay men’s cruising and public sex, this project closes with an examination of how mobile communication technologies and methods allow for public sex to occur in new ways. Marked LGBT neighborhood spaces still have the potential to change how we understand the relationship between sexual lives and public space. iv For Dr. Dave. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without my adviser and dissertation committee chair, Fabienne Darling-Wolf; I owe her more than just gratitude. Carolyn Kitch has also guided me through my Temple experience, from my first campus tour to my dissertation defense. John Edward Campbell provided thoughtful ideas and comments about my research and academia in general. Hilary Iris Lowe gave me great feedback. Cindy Patton continues to inspire me to ask more questions and to believe in my ideas. Laura Levitt is simply amazing and she helped me finish this dissertation. My professors, colleagues, and friends make up my imagined academic community, and they provide me with intellectual, practical, and emotional support: Alina Hogea, Amanda Scheiner-McClain, Andrew Mendelson, Angela Carter, Ann Mosher, Ann Travers, Brenda Galloway-Wright, Chiaoning Su, Heidi Mau, Jan Fernback, Jessica Renaud, Jordan McClain, Katrina Flener, Kelly George, Kristina DeVoe, Nancy Morris, Sarah Gardam, Sherri Grasmuck, Siobahn Stiles, Thomas Jacobson, Tina Peterson, Tricia Way, and my peers in the Women’s Studies Writing Seminars. Denise Lannon and Nicole McKenna navigated (practically carried) me through the university’s bureaucracy. My research was only possible because of the work of many Philadelphia organizations and people, and in particular, the board and general members of the Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus, the staff and volunteers of Philadelphia QFest, the participants of the Robert Rosenbaum Oral History Project, and the William Way Community Center. I especially thank Bob Skiba, Candice Thompson, Chris Bartlett, and Lauren Amery for their inspiring leadership in their respective communities. vi Charlie Chan, Chris Lian, David Knowles, David Nose, Evelyn Wong, Fayyaz Vellani, Janis Burrell, Kate Jacobs, Noel Ramirez, Paul Luong, Renita Sollie, and Wendy Luong are great friends who have kept me sane. My family—Amy Lee, Laurens Lee, Belinda Yip, Clive Yip, Heather Yip, Gabriel Leung, and Cheung Fung Ning—is always there for me. David Lewis has watched me do this thing we call a dissertation with curiosity, intrigue, and horror. I am thankful for his being here with me. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii DEDICATION .....................................................................................................................v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. vi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ...............................................................................................x CHAPTER/SECTION CHAPTER 1:INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................1 FIRST INTERLUDE: A REAL NICE CLAMBAKE ...........................................29 CHAPTER 2: METHODS .................................................................................................32 SECOND INTERLUDE: BY THE SEA (I DREAM OF A SOCIETY WHERE A CHICKEN CAN CROSS THE ROAD WITHOUT ITS MOTIVES BEING QUESTIONED) .........................................................59 CHAPTER 3: ADVERTISING IMAGES OF LGBT PHILADELPHIA..........................65 THIRD INTERLUDE: STEPPIN’ TO THE BAD SIDE ....................................100 CHAPTER 4: MARKETING LGBT PHILADELPHIA: PEOPLE, PAST, AND PLACE .................................................................................................................104 FOURTH INTERLUDE: BEFORE THE PARADE PASSES BY .....................134 CHAPTER 5: READING THE GAYBORHOOD ..........................................................139 FIFTH INTERLUDE: ALABAMA SONG (WHISKEY BAR) .........................172 CHAPTER 6: READING THE GAYBORHOOD, PART 2 ...........................................175 viii CHAPTER 7: SEEING NOTHING THROUGH SOMETHING: PRESENTING AND READING ABSENCE IN LGBT HISTORY WALKING TOURS .........215 SIXTH INTERLUDE: IN FLANDERS FIELDS ................................................242 CHAPTER 8: AN ARCHIVE ON DISPLAY .................................................................245 FINAL INTERLUDE: DON’T TELL MAMA ...................................................284 CHAPTER 9: CONCLUSION: (BUT ARE WE) FREE TO BE… YOU AND ME? ......................................................................................................................287 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................311 APPENDICES A. LABELING A COMMUNITY..................................................................................332 B. LOCATIONS OF ARCHIVE MATERIALS AND PUBLICATIONS.....................336 C. PUBLIC EVENTS ATTENDED ...............................................................................338 ix LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Illustration Page 1. Center City Philadelphia, Close Up, with Gayborhood Label . .…….….….…. 28 2. The Gayborhood and Midtown Village Boundaries……..….….….….…….... 140 3. Rainbow Street Sign ….….….….….….….….…………………………...........147 x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Introduction In April 2007, the City of Philadelphia, working in collaboration with the Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus (PGTC) and the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation