Efforts Under Way to Create Gay District [View All]

[ClarkUSA]

SPOKANE, Wash. - Gay activists in this staid Washington city are planning to create a neighborhood of gay-oriented homes, businesses and nightlife Ñ a development religious conservatives contend would clash with Spokane's family-centered culture.

Ê"A gay mecca is not what we'd like to see Spokane marketed as," said Penny Lancaster, director of Community Impact Spokane, a network of evangelical Christians. "I'd rather see us promoted as a conservative, family-oriented community without any reference to sexual orientation."

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Spokane Ñ which in trendy Seattle is shorthand for tragically unhip Ñ has long been dominated by conservative politics that stem from its history as a mining and farming center. But it also has a large core of Democrats and libertarians who share the West's live-and-let-live philosophy.

Most of all, the city identifies itself as a good place to raise a family Ñ and opponents contend that's at odds with the image of a gay district.

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The idea for the district has roots in the theories of Richard Florida, an economist whose 2002 book "The Rise of the Creative Class" contends the economy of the future will be created by the 38 million workers who toil in creative industries.

Florida, a Carnegie Mellon University professor, said members of the creative class consider recreation, culture and ethnic diversity, including a large population of gays, as central to where they live. Places like New York, Boston, San Francisco and Seattle have those qualities. Places like Spokane generally do not.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&e=7&u=/ap/gay_spokane