Chicago Renames Iconic LGBTQ ‘Boystown’ Neighborhood Over Concerns Name Was Not Inclusive Of Women

[BootmanLA]

5 hours ago, C10H15N said:

If not wanting women to have anything to do with the thoughts, interest, execution, or expression of my sexuality is misogynistic, then so be it.  

I wasn't aware that the naming of a neighborhood was so vital to the "thoughts, interest, execution, or expression" of your sexuality. 

[C10H15N]

3 minutes ago, BootmanLA said:

I wasn't aware that the naming of a neighborhood was so vital to the "thoughts, interest, execution, or expression" of your sexuality. 

That is part of the history of my people. It therefore encompasses "thoughts, interests, and expression"

[BootmanLA]

"The history of my people". LOL

[C10H15N]

1 minute ago, BootmanLA said:

"The history of my people". LOL

Now I feel marginalized. 

[raw773]

22 hours ago, BootmanLA said:

No, the nickname for a neighborhood isn't like slavery or discriminatory laws. But the point is, a significant number - a minority, but nonetheless a significant one - found the name exclusionary. And given how that minority - females - have had a long, long history of being excluded from pretty much everywhere that matters; and given that nobody's actually HARMED by changing the name - a name that (as noted) is not particularly grounded in history; it seems to me to be awfully churlish to insist on hanging on to it, even more when it's under the dubious rubric of "women ruining everything".

Thank you for your comments from Louisiana. As a Chicagoan and Boystown resident, I can tell you that the name change was what was "churlish."

The "new" name of "Northalsted" is generic to the max. You may not know it, but Halsted is one of our longest streets, and so "Northalsted" could refer to a point anywhere along a 5-mile stretch through DePaul, Goose Island, Greektown, and down to Madison Street. In trying to please this cranky minority and its identity concerns, we've surrendered our own local identity.

Giving up Boystown in exchange for nothing does matter and was not harmless. The person most publicly associated with the proposal complains that the name minimizes trans womens' roles in the "queer spectrum." But gay men have a strong identity here, stronger than anybody else's -- sorry 'bout it -- and it was wrong to smear us into the alphabet soup of G-L-B-T-Q-I-A-etc. The G's and T's can be here together, but we can honor the T's without dumping out the G's. And if the T's want to have Trans Town, good for them. Our city is well known for its lumpy stew of identities.

Donna Edwards had a similar argument in the Post recently, when she said people should stop smearing her experience as a Black woman into a larger and supposedly more-friendly "people of color" umbrella identity. I invite you to read it. [think before following links] https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/09/14/we-are-black-women-stop-calling-us-women-color/ It's the same principle. You tarnish each thread's vibrancy when you say it's all just so much of the same fabric.

For my part, I'm doubling down on Boystown (BBoystown is even better), and I'm with @chibtm2breed on sticking it to our local business community's leadership. If they want to make this change without community support, then see if I support them. It was short-sighted to try to un-name America's most vibrant gay neighborhood, and I have a feeling they'll be coming back soon enough.

[BootmanLA]

5 minutes ago, raw773 said:

Giving up Boystown in exchange for nothing does matter and was not harmless. The person most publicly associated with the proposal complains that the name minimizes trans womens' roles in the "queer spectrum." But gay men have a strong identity here, stronger than anybody else's -- sorry 'bout it -- and it was wrong to smear us into the alphabet soup of G-L-B-T-Q-I-A-etc. The G's and T's can be here together, but we can honor the T's without dumping out the G's. And if the T's want to have Trans Town, good for them. Our city is well known for its lumpy stew of identities.

Kinda like how the heterosexuals have a stronger identity than any of the LGBTQ community, and therefore their experience should be honored instead of any of ours?

Gay men rightfully protested and demanded change when gays were excluded from virtually all of society. We demanded recognition and the right to associate freely in what had historically been hetero-only spaces. Until we achieved that (to the extent we have; there's still work to be done), we were relegated to a handful of "safe spaces" in major cities, this being a prime example. We now have far more freedom to go anywhere "as we are", with the list of exceptions, where we're not welcome, shrinking every day. And yet some of us are wanting to be exactly that exclusionary towards other marginalized groups - telling them to "have Trans Town", as though Balkanization is what we need more of. Sad.

[raw773]

5 minutes ago, BootmanLA said:

Kinda like how the heterosexuals have a stronger identity than any of the LGBTQ community, and therefore their experience should be honored instead of any of ours?

I respect your view and your freedom free to miss the point. But if you think the straights are running the show here, you don't know Boystown.

[BootmanLA]

Just now, raw773 said:

I respect your view and your freedom free to miss the point. But if you think the straights are running the show here, you don't know Boystown.

I don't think the straights are running the show in Boystown. I think that gay men ran it for many years just like straights run most of the world - with no concern about how their choices affected people who weren't like them. The fact that gays are - clutch their pearls - having to learn to deal with other parts of the LGBTQ community the same way that they themselves made the straight community deal with them, is ironic and delicious.

[raw773]

2 minutes ago, BootmanLA said:

ironic and delicious

Come up and leave us some money any time!

[Guest bluecollarotter]

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[11bi11guy]

On 9/29/2020 at 5:03 PM, chibtm2breed said:

80%!!! said they had no problem with the name.

False. 80% said they did not personally feel unwelcome by the Boystown name. 20% (!!!) said they personally felt unwelcome by the name. Mischaracterizing facts to fit your argument is tantamount to lying.

I understand that there’s probably a large self-selection bias in those who took the survey, but even still, 20% of people saying they feel unwelcome in a specific neighborhood is likely statistically significant. Political correctness is annoying, particularly when it demands rapid and largely symbolic/ineffectual change constantly, but it’s less annoying when you redefine it as “respect for other people.”

[wood]

1 hour ago, 11bi11guy said:

False. 80% said they did not personally feel unwelcome by the Boystown name. 20% (!!!) said they personally felt unwelcome by the name. Mischaracterizing facts to fit your argument is tantamount to lying.

I understand that there’s probably a large self-selection bias in those who took the survey, but even still, 20% of people saying they feel unwelcome in a specific neighborhood is likely statistically significant. Political correctness is annoying, particularly when it demands rapid and largely symbolic/ineffectual change constantly, but it’s less annoying when you redefine it as “respect for other people.”

You are incorrect sir, 20% felt unwelcome by the name “boystown”  
 

[think before following links] https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/ct-life-boystown-name-change-tt-09232020-20200923-wv2z5wyounau3owtjvcc6ac4dy-story.html

I used to live in Chicago, and speaking to my friends there, no one really cares, it will still be known as boystown, just like the sears tower. 

 

[FFPuppigboi]

I personally was confused the first time I heard of Boystown in Chicago since the name of the juvenile correctional facility where I grew up was boystown so the name never stuck to me but I can totally understand the reaction of people who connect to the name and whatever meaning they have attached to it. 

I find the reasoning behind the change has an air of 'I'm a bored retiree and need something, anything to do' more than the buzz words and phrases they attached to the decision. Basically like saying we need to change the name San Francisco because it's name has a religious affinity and alienates the non-religious so now it's named Tip-of-the-peninsula-ville.

[Guest 123]

If it had been named 'girlstown' there would never have been an issue raised.  Just sayin.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[BootmanLA]

6 hours ago, 11bi11guy said:

Political correctness is annoying, particularly when it demands rapid and largely symbolic/ineffectual change constantly, but it’s less annoying when you redefine it as “respect for other people.”

Most things that can be called "political correctness" can be redefined that way (and usually should be). Denigrating something as political correctness, to me, always comes across like the segregationists who never quite got over black people eating in the same restaurants as them.