Druid Heights was NOT America’s Only LGBTQ Historic District, Misleading Article Puts a Spin on Gay History

There are a few important historic districts in the US for LGBTQ people, which is why this article really bothers me. It’s the worst clickbait I have ever seen. They are claiming that a place in California’s Marin County called Druid Heights is America’s only LGBTQ historic district and that it is falling apart. And that simply is not true. Fire Island is filled with LGBTQ history, and so is Provincetown, MA. New Hope, PA, where Tony and I are from, is filled with LGBTQ history. Real authentic LGBTQ history. This place in Marin County called Druid Heights sounds more to me like an old bohemian art colony where straights mixed with gays. And that does NOT make up an LGBTQ historic district. That’s a place where old hippies used to hang out.  

From the 1950s to the mid-70s, Druid Heights attracted a revolving cast of guests and short-term residents that included some of the biggest names in the American cultural avant-garde, from Beat Generation writers like Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder, to musicians like Dizzy Gillespie and Steve Miller, to prominent feminist reformers Catharine A. MacKinnon and Margo St. James. 

Here’s more. Allan  Ginsberg also lived in New Hope and Abby Hoffman died in New Hope. But they were NOT gay. So while Druid Heights sounds like an interesting part of bohemian history, and beat culture, and I’m sure it had its share of LGBTQ influence, it has little to do with gay history.  Gay historic places like The Village, Provincetown, and even New Hope are well preserved. Hell, I think Palm Springs has more LGBTQ historic significance than Druid Heights. This article should be updated.

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