The Geography of Sexuality
The Geography of Sexuality
Urban and Historical Perspectives
While contemporary geographical research is increasingly examining rural LGBTQ+ lives, the city remains the fundamental starting point for studying the geography of sexuality. In modern Western urban landscapes, “gay villages” or queer districts have become as recognizable and established as ethnic enclaves like Chinatowns.
The academic foundation for this field was significantly advanced over three decades ago. In May 1990, Geographical magazine published a landmark article titled ‘Geography of Homosexuality’ by Lawrence Knopp. This piece was instrumental in defining how societal views on homosexuality manifest in physical and geographical ways. At the time, the subject was highly controversial; the UK was under “Section 28,” a law that banned local governments from “promoting” homosexuality. Consequently, Knopp’s academic work faced backlash from readers who felt such topics were inappropriate for a general audience or schools.
Knopp, along with prominent scholars like David Bell and Gill Valentine, represents a generation of academics who were able to establish this field without facing the severe professional penalties that 1970s and 80s researchers often endured. Knopp suggests that his early publication helped provide a necessary layer of academic legitimacy to the study of sexuality in geography.
Today, the discipline has expanded far beyond its urban origins. Researchers now investigate how sexuality—including heterosexuality—influences global phenomena such as migration patterns, refugee status, tourism, and public protests. The field also contrasts the differing experiences between city and country life.
Professor Kath Browne emphasizes that sexuality is as central to human identity as race or gender. She argues that urban spaces, such as red-light districts or specific queer enclaves, cannot be fully understood without analysing the sexual norms that created them. Ultimately, Browne asserts that to comprehend the social and spatial shifts of the 21st century, one must recognize how significantly gender and sexual norms have evolved and shaped our world.
Commercialisation and the Loss of Marginalised Space
As queer spaces disappear, the remaining venues often undergo a process of “unpleasant commercialisation.” To survive rising rents, these spaces must become highly profitable, often leading them to cater to tourists and mainstream audiences rather than the local marginalised communities they were originally intended to serve. Governments frequently market these districts as “safe” and “diverse” tourist attractions, which, while beneficial for tourism revenue, can strip the spaces of their original purpose as radical meeting places for those lacking financial or social capital.
The 21st Century Perspective: Shifting Norms and Human Geography
Does the decline of these spaces matter in an era of improving legal rights? Professor Kath Browne of University College Dublin argues that it does. Geography is fundamentally about “people in place,” and Browne asserts that one cannot understand contemporary urban life without understanding how we are constructed sexually, just as we are through race and ethnicity. The formation of urban spaces—from red-light districts to queer enclaves—is a direct result of shifting sexual and gendered norms. Ultimately, the study of sexual geography remains essential for understanding how power, identity, and the physical environment intersect in the 21st century.
Historical Depth: Beyond Modern Enclaves
It is a common misconception that LGBTQ+ urban spaces are a recent phenomenon. As George Chauncey, a professor of history at Columbia University and author of Gay New York, has demonstrated, a distinct gay and lesbian world with clear spatial characteristics was already flourishing in New York City by the late 19th century. These spaces were often hidden from the mainstream gaze but were vital for community building and survival. Much of the subsequent academic literature has focused on tracing these historical “hidden geographies” to understand how queer life persisted under regimes of intense surveillance and criminalization.
The Contemporary Crisis: Gentrification and Decline
Despite this deep-rooted history, the current narrative of urban queer geography is one of significant and alarming decline. The “gaybourhoods” that once offered sanctuary are being dismantled by the forces of 21st-century urban development.
The Case of London: A 2017 audit by the Urban Laboratory at University College London (UCL) revealed a “shocking” statistic: since 2006, the number of LGBTQ+ venues in the capital fell from 124 to just 47—a loss of nearly 60 percent. The audit identified rent hikes, large-scale public transport projects (like Crossrail), and residential housing developments as the primary drivers of this displacement. In response, London Mayor Sadiq Khan appointed a “Night Czar,” Amy Lamé, to implement policies aimed at protecting the city’s queer nightlife.
The Case of San Francisco:
Similar patterns are observed in traditional hubs like San Francisco. In 1973, the city’s gay bar count peaked at 118; today, that number has plummeted to fewer than 30.
The Vanishing Lesbian Bar: Perhaps the most acute decline is seen in spaces dedicated to queer women. These venues have dwindled to almost zero in many global cities; London, for instance, currently hosts only one dedicated lesbian bar.
