The face of historically gay enclaves is changing nationwide as straight couples move in and gays move out.

But some activists point to cities with less-established gay districts as a sign of what could happen. Honolulu's Kuhio district stands vacant after its gay bars were dispersed during an economic revitalization project in the late 1980s. In Atlanta's Midtown, gay nightclubs recently have given way to more condominiums, diminishing the neighborhood's allure as a gay nightspot.

Community activists worry that "gayborhoods" are losing their relevance as gays win legal rights and greater social acceptance.

"Thirty years ago, if I lived in the Midwest and I was gay, my thought was I would go to San Francisco or New York," says Gary Gates, a demographer for the Williams Institute, a think tank at UCLA that specializes in sexual orientation and the law. "Now, a person can go to Kansas City and find a fairly active and open gay community."

It's a good sign, it means that people are starting to cease hostilities toward gay/lesbian individuals as a general trend. Someday, maybe our life times, we'll wonder why we had such gay ghettos in the first place. :3

-- Brede