Toward an Analysis of the Role of Gay Communities in the Urban Renaissance

This paper provides a theoretical and methodological framework for a "social constructionist" analysis of the role of gay communities in the "urban renaissance." We suggest that this is important both because as a substantive area of research the role of gays in the "urban renaissance" has been neglected, and because it highlights the need to overcome the structure versus agency debate in social theory. Structuralists have tended to regard the role of cultural identity in the "urban renaissance" asepiphenomenal, while voluntarists have regarded it as indicative only of personal choices in "lifestyles." An analysis of the social construction of the gay identity is stipulated, and an argument is made that gay involvement in the "urban renaissance" constitutes part of a spatial response to a historically specific form of oppression. An enumeration of what needs to be done to more fully implement our approach is provided.