The Margins of the City - Stephen Whittle

Within cities, gay life has always been marginalised. Despite the fact that their significant places are often centrally placed geographically within cities, gay communities are not centrally placed in the political, social and cultural lives of cities. These international accounts draw on first hand ethnographic research and reflect the responses of gay men in particular to the changes that have taken place during the last 25 years in urban settings. They look at the physical and spatial development of gay places, at the same time as viewing the social placing of the communities that use those places. - - The cross-disciplinary studies within this book look at the tensions that arise between gay communities and their cities, the political and economic implications to city planners of the 'pink pound' and the legal and social implications for gay men as they attempt to reconcile being both the outsiders and insiders of city life.