Gays in Harlem

"...I never got to know Harlem the way I know other parts of the island's geography. ...[T]he
main reason was simple: I never paid rent there. I came as a visitor and then went home to
some other place." ---Pete Hamill, Downtown: My Manhattan, (Little, Brown, 2004)


While walking the streets of Harlem, the onset of gentrification is very evident: the springing up of luxury condos, upscale restaurants and shops, and art galleries.The attraction involves the availability of housing, wide boulevards, access to public transportation, and numerous parks. As this gentrification accelerates, Harlem will inevitably attract more and more gay men and lesbians. I met a few such newcomers at the Casa Frela art gallery on West 119th Street this summer. One artist, a white lesbian, who paints nature artworks, told me of some of the hostility she has encountered since coming to the neighborhood, like being spat at. By moving into the neighborhood, "What harm am I causing?" she asked.
Gay men and lesbians have always been a part of Harlem life, but their existence has always been on the margins. Gay men have never been as open in Harlem as is the case in Greenwich Village or Chelsea.
In the book, Queers in Space: Communities, Public Places, Sites of Resistance (1997), one black gay youth from Harlem explained why he preferred Christopher Street as a hangout: "We can't really hang out on the corner where we live, so we come here." That attitude may be more about his perception than anything else. For decades there have been out gay men in Harlem, some accepted by their neighbors, others not. But it is true that gay life in Harlem has been on the down low. Conservative attitudes about homosexuality from fire and brimstone preachers hasn't helped the situation.
With all the renovating and construction going on, the influx of gays and lesbians to Harlem will alter life, I think, for the better, bringing new vitality and money to the area.