Although Boystown seems like a great community, violence is a very big issue. There is violence everywhere but the violence in Boystown may be affecting their community. I just recently found out that Boystown was a bad neighborhood to live in. I never would have thought it was but it was a real eye opener. In this article, http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/07/queer_theory_vs_reality_in_chicagos_boystown.html it talks about how Boystown’s community blames the center on Halsted for attracting violence. The LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bi-sexual Transgender) community is supposedly provides support for the gay community but its turning into a rehab instead. It’s also attracting young minorities that loiter all day and night scaring the elders of the gay community. The elders of this community wish that it will be better segregated as it was back in their time because of the disturbance from the younger individuals. Before LGBT was The Rodde Center and that was formed after a popular gay bartender named Frank Rodde, who was brutally murdered in 1977 and they created this center but it had closed down due to the economy back in the late 90’s. Then LGBT was built in its place. Violence is still a big issue in Boystown till this day because of anti-gay attacks. Since Boystown is still segregated from the rest of Chicago: Is that causing a war with individuals that are against homosexuality? Isn’t that making it worse? Would it be better to just destroy Boystown as a community, since anti-gay attacks will continue to happen?
This is a great blog post for numerous reasons. First off, I would never have expected the info you found in the American Thinker article.
ReplyDeleteand of course, I have questions about your questions. The idea that the community center is turning into a rehab is really interesting, but shouldn't the focus be on why LGBT youths are turning to drugs in the first place?
I'm trying to be brief, but notice the way you framed one of your last questions and used the term 'segregated'. From one perspective, you could view the area as segregated but you also have to take into account that they chose to form the community and support one another, it isn't a forced segregation. I'm not trying to pick it apart, but I am curious if you found any arguments that went against the ideals described in the link you provided.
Also, great post! I really enjoyed reading this!
I agree this is a provocative post and a really interesting source. Did you check out the link to the Facebook page Take Back Boystown? There's also a pretty radical Facebook page called Take Back Boystown from Racist Jerks. Super fascinating!
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