Back Bay Emerging as in Place to Be "Out"

As Dartmouth Street nears Boylston from the South End, the Back Bay's arrival is signaled by modest red brick homes giving way to large hotels and canopied storefronts. Past the upscale shops and hair salons, sunken below street level on Commonwealth Avenue, a comfy café welcomes patrons inside with a small rainbow sticker pasted to the door. To outsiders, it's a displaced gay bar. To regulars, it's become the local neighborhood restaurant, a sign that what is often seen as a conservative and exclusive neighborhood is increasingly becoming more sexually diverse. CONTINUE

Back Bay Quotes

With more and more businesses and social groups that cater to gays opening up in the Back Bay neighborhood, the community shows more signs of sexual diversity among its friends and neighbors. We ask residents, gay and straight alike, to share their opinions regarding the effect the expanding gay community is having on the neighborhood as a whole. CONTINUE

Back Bay Demographics

The Back Bay community has long been stereotyped as a traditionalist, privileged neighborhood. While it continues to maintain an elite atmosphere with median household incomes that almost double that of the city of Boston, data from the 2000 Census reveals signs of burgeoning diversity in the community, at least as far as sexual preference is concerned. CONTINUE