Community Corner
Park Slope Listed As One Of The City's Most LGBTQ Friendly Hoods
A real estate website listed the neighborhood as "one of the city's oldest gayborhoods" that has been a "lesbian haven" since the 80s.
PARK SLOPE, NY — A new report by a real estate startup ranked Park Slope as one of the friendliest neighborhoods for LGBTQ people, with the area having some of the highest concentrations of same-sex couples in the city.
Localize.city, which uses artificial intelligence to give information about neighborhoods, used data to rank LGBTQ friendly neighborhoods around the city and put Park Slope at the top of the list in Brooklyn.
"The neighborhood has a reputation for being a great place to settle down and have a family, for both queer and straight couples," Beth Kancilia, urban planner for Localize.city, said in a statement. "This is reflected in census data that shows Park Slope as having some of the most same-sex couples, particularly female partners, citywide."
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Park Slope was ranked high on the list because it's home to many LGBTQ businesses and organizations including Ginger's, one of the oldest lesbian bars in the city, the Lesbian Herstory Archives and OUTmedia, according to Localize. It also has an annual Pride Festival and Night Parade.
Localize called Park Slope a haven for lesbians since at least 1983 and it was home to the Transy House collective — which gave shelter to trans and gender non-conforming people — from 1995 to 2008.
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However, climbing real estate prices have led many people to lesbian couples to flee the neighborhood for the nearby, and cheaper, Windsor Terrace, the report found.
"But as prices have skyrocketed in recent years, and a number of lesbian and queer businesses have shuttered, areas further south, like Windsor Terrace are welcoming priced-out lesbians and queers," Kancilia said.
Windsor Terrace has the third highest amount of female same-sex households in the city, while the area just south of Prospect Park has the second, according to Localize.
The report also listed neighborhoods like East Williamsburg, Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant among the friendliest for LGBTQ people in the borough.
Image: Nicholas Rizzi/Patch
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