Geographies of LGBT
Although 'minority' sexuality remains a topic that hardly gets a mention in school geography, it has become an accepted part of many university geography departments and is often taught as part of courses on Social and Cultural Geography. Arguably, the most influential book-publication to position sexuality as an accepted part of geography was Mapping Desire, an edited collection by David Bell and Gill Valentine. Bell and Valentine provide a critical review of the history of geographical works on sexuality and set an agenda for further research. They are especially critical of the earliest sexual geographies written during the 1970s and 1980s in the UK and North America. In contrast to the ‘dots on maps’ approach of the 1970s and 1980s, Mapping Desire represents an attempt to map the geographies of homosexuality, transsexuality, bisexuality, sadomasochism and butch-femme lesbian identities. This represented an important landmark in geographer's engagement with, and development of, queer theory. Subsequent research has developed this work, with an increasing focus on transnational LGBT activism; the intersections of nationhood and sexuality and questions of LGBT citizenship and sexual politics at scales from the body to the global.
Ever since the rise of attention of geographies of LGBT in the last 1970s and 1980s, more researches had been focused on the relationship between place, space and LGBT group afterward. New phenomenons and issues are being explore, for example, in Dereka Rushbrook research, he points out that some of the secondary cities in US like Portland, Oregon or Austin, Texas had seen the Gay village in their cities as something that represent the modernness and diversity of their cites; furthermore, transsexual and third gender, so called the Kathoey in Thailand are worldwide famous for their dance performances and it considers as something must watch while visiting Thailand .
On the other side, people had started to realize that the potential consumption of the LGBT group and cities are starting to targeting the group which creates the phenomenon called pink tourism or LGBT tourism where providing safe yet non-discriminate service and facilities like pub and sauna that targeting the LGBT group. Even more, the increasing legalize of the same sex marriage in some of the western countries had significant impact of changing the LGBT groups migrating and travelling pattern. Although, the marriage might not has the same legal power back in their countries.
As Robert Aldrichsaid in the article, Homosexuality and the City :An Historical Overview, there is an inseparable relationship between land and people where people are constantly shaping the landscape .For example, one of the school in Thailand offered to build a third gender washroom in order to reduce uncomfortable feeling of transsexual students using either male or female washroom. And on same hand, the relationship of sexuality and space is not independent from other areas of geography; often, there are other aspects associate with those issues and phenomenons like cultural geography and political geography. In 2012, further concern has been made toward the LGBT community and retirement home in British Columbia, Canada. The Vancouver man, “Alex Sangha is determined to make sure elderly LGBT people have a comfortable place to spend their twilight years.” by building retirement home for LGBT community where Montreal, Canada has already has one operating as well as a few in the United States.
Nowadays,with the rising awareness of LGBT communities around the world, LGBT influences would play a more important role in shaping our space with no doubt.
Read more about this topic: Sexuality And Space