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This place reminds me a bit of the setting for the Baysville series over on The Glass Onion site...all you Florida bois should consider moving there, perhaps! And now I have to find me a copy of that gay and lesbian reference book that was mentioned in the article, too! Enjoy!
By RACHEL LA CORTE, Associated Press Writer
WILTON MANORS, Fla. - In the most recent elections in this small island city, four out of five candidates were gay. But that is not exactly remarkable in Wilton Manors.
Within the past decade, this once-rundown city outside Fort Lauderdale has become a bustling gay enclave. Gays and lesbians make up perhaps 35 percent to 40 percent of the nearly 13,000 residents.
The initial draw for many was the affordable housing compared with nearby gay-friendly areas in Fort Lauderdale and Miami Beach.
But even as property prices shoot up, Wilton Manors remains a draw for gays, many of whom say they like the ease with which gays and straights live side by side.
Unlike other communities in Florida with large gay populations, such as Key West and Miami Beach's South Beach, Wilton Manors is a quiet place, not one boisterous, nonstop party.
"Gay people don't just identify with each other," Tom Elliott, who lives in Fort Lauderdale but works at Java Boys, a Wilton Manors coffee shop. "We grew up in small towns with next-door neighbors and churches and schools and knowing all the people. And all of a sudden you can live in a place (like that) where you don't feel like you're the only gay people in town."
Wilton Manors has the third-highest concentration of male same-sex households in the country behind Provincetown, Mass., and Guerneville, Calif., according to the Urban Institute in Washington. And it is No. 33 for lesbian couples, said Jason Ost, a researcher at the institute and co-author of "The Gay and Lesbian Atlas."
Ost said that according to the Urban Institute's calculations, about 5.5 percent of households in Wilton Manors are headed by same-sex couples. That is 10 times the national average, he said.
Wilton Manors is one of four U.S. cities to have a gay majority on its city council. The others are West Hollywood and Palm Springs, Calif., and Mount Rainier, Md.
"Here I am, a straight man and this is supposedly a gay mecca," said Scott Newton, who was elected mayor in March. "But this is a community for all. That's why all the gays come here because it's very welcoming."
Most of the businesses in the downtown's main strip mall are gay-owned or are clearly marked with rainbow flags or stickers. Gay pride rainbow flags fly from businesses and homes along streets lined with palm and Australian pine trees.
Many see Georgie's Alibi Bar & Grill, a gay bar that opened seven years ago, as the catalyst that helped turn Wilton Manors into a haven for gays.
"When we came here, this was a ghost town," said owner George Kessinger, who is gay. "We created something, we put a demand on something."
Kelvyn Rivera, for one, said he decided to move from Fort Lauderdale to Wilton Manors once he saw regulars at Alibi start to move into the city and buy up the then-cheap property.
In addition to Alibi and Java Boys, there is GayMart, a clothing and card store. Also, gay-owned Russotto Realty has helped gays and straights alike find homes in the booming city.
The mayor said there are about 10 development projects under way in the city, the most prominent being Wilton Station, a luxury condo project that has nearly sold out with prices starting at $300,000. Gays are expected to make up a significant portion of its tenants.
Gays were included in focus groups before architects drew up the design for Wilton Station. The condos were advertised in the national gay magazine The Advocate and in 411, a Fort Lauderdale gay publication. The ad in 411 featured photos of a man in a hot tub with his arm around another man.
Janet Fredericks, 48, who has lived in Wilton Manors for 27 years, said that the number of gay neighbors started to increase about five years ago. As a straight, married woman, she could soon be in the minority in her neighborhood.
"For me personally, it's not an issue," she said. "My gay neighbors are friendlier than my straight neighbors."
Not everyone feels the same.
Angie Bermudez, 44, said she and her family have considered moving because of the influx of gay couples. "I'm raising three children, and I have concerns over the normality of them seeing two guys together," she said.
Members of the city's gay population said they do not want straight people to move out and make Wilton Manors a gays-only city.
"It will always be diverse, and most people want it to remain that way," Rivera said. "No one wants to live in a gay bubble."
"Always forgive your enemies...nothing annoys them quite so much." Oscar Wilde
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