LGBT San Francisco: The Daniel Nicoletta Photographs
by Daniel Nicoletta
Reel Art Press. 304 pages, $60.
MIGRATION is about survival. For centuries in America, LGBT people migrated northward, westward, and eastward from small towns to urban centers, forming “out” communities, constructing intellectually creative and meaningful work, and advocating for political and social rights. Heterogeneous LGBT subcultures emerged in urban neighborhoods—in Greenwich Village, West Hollywood, Boston’s South End, Chicago’s Northside, Philadelphia’s Center City, and San Francisco’s Castro Street. This migration has not been quantifiable, because census data did not include questions about sexual orientation or gender identity. Due to the striking deficiency of research and demographic statistics about LGBT migration, a discourse termed queer diaspora scholarship has developed within academia to examine this problem.
