Home / Gay Blog / Paris / Between the Marais and the Village, the gay district dissected

Oct.

2014

Between the Marais and the Village, the gay district dissected

Oct. 21 2014
by Marc Dedonder

Both a refuge and a place of life for an entire community, the "gay district" is an almost inescapable point of passage for many homosexuals living in an urban environment. Today, it has become commonplace in the general public's imagination, just like Chinatown and Jewish Quarter, but it is still an object of curiosity and fantasy. For a few years now, some people have even been predicting its disappearance.

Colin Giraud, a lecturer and researcher in sociology at the University of Nanterre, devotes a large part of his work to the study of these neighborhoods. After a three-year investigation between the Marais, the gay district of Paris, and the Village, the gay district of Montreal, he published "Quartiers gays" at the Presses Universitaires de France. Interview.

Can you compare the gay neighborhoods of Paris and Montreal?
ColinGiraud: These are two neighborhoods that have concentrated a large number of gay businesses for the past thirty years, and that have each progressively received the label or image of "gay neighborhood" in their city. Both appeared at the same time, in the early 1980s.

From a morphological point of view, the two neighborhoods are not similar, because they take place in very different cities. Montreal has a typically North American urbanism, very rectilinear, with a gay district that is more extensive in terms of surface area than the Marais. As for the latter, it takes place in a very old neighborhood with a rather concentric, European-style urbanization.

Then to summarize, I would say that the Village of Montreal resembles more the North American community model than the Marais. There are LGBT institutions, beyond the shops and bars, that developed very early in the neighborhood, which is not the case in Paris. We had for example associative structures, militant structures and municipal representatives of this district. In Paris, the militant dimension, beyond the businesses, exists less. We waited a long time for the gay and lesbian center of Paris to be established in the Marais, whereas very early on in the Village, militant structures had a place and played a role in the life of the neighborhood.

The last important difference is that in Paris, the Marais is a very privileged neighborhood, very selective from an economic point of view, whereas it was not so at the beginning. In Montreal, it was also a very popular neighborhood at the beginning, but it has become less gentrified*, so it remains a neighborhood that is more mixed today, with more modest families and social housing.

*Gentrification is the trend towards gentrification of a once popular neighborhood.

Sainte Catherine Street East, the main street in Montreal's gay neighborhood

As a sociologist, what is your definition of a gay neighborhood?
It's a neighborhood that concentrates commercial and associative establishments that are primarily intended for gays. But it is also a neighborhood that is adorned with certain symbols, which provoke media coverage of the neighborhood, which in turn gradually acquires an image of a gay neighborhood among the population and the media.

Finally, there is a third dimension, the residential dimension, which is more difficult to establish and is not systematic. It is difficult to prove statistically, particularly in the Marais. But it is nevertheless present overall.

Will the advance of LGBT rights and the acceptance of homosexuality cause the disappearance of gay neighborhoods?
Thereis an assumption that gay neighborhoods will attract fewer gay populations and be less central to gay urban life. Another hypothesis is that gays will invest the city in a more fragmented way. I'm not sure that this is related to the advancement of rights. I think there is a sense of neighborhood fatigue among gays. It's particularly visible among the younger people. From that point of view, we can say that it is partly the acceptance of homosexuality that makes the younger people live less hidden and have less need for this refuge. It is also a question of social position. Gays who live well may have less need of the gay district than those from a more working-class background, especially those from the suburbs or the provinces, who cannot afford to live in Paris.

The facade of Paris City Hall on the day of the 2014 Pride March in June.

What are the characteristics of a city that has a gay neighborhood?
Historicalexperienceshows that there is a size threshold, that is, a gay neighborhood is more likely to arise in a metropolis. Of course, there are examples outside of Paris in France, in Lyon and Lille. But overall, these neighborhoods always appear in the same type of urban environment. That is, in neighborhoods that are undergoing a process of gentrification. Gay neighborhoods always settle in popular neighborhoods that nobody wants, in order to transform them. This correlation exists in every big city that has a gay neighborhood.

Can we consider that there is a phenomenon of displacement of the gay district in Paris?
TheMarais continues to gather most of the gay establishments. There are a few scattered in other districts, they have always existed more or less. For example, the geography of sex places is more fragmented than that of bars and restaurants. There have always been saunas outside of the Marais, which is not a hot spot for sex.

But there is also the phenomenon of occasional parties, which take place in other parts of the city. This phenomenon developed in the 2000s. I think of the parties that have reinvested Pigalle or the 11th arrondissement with the "Mort Aux Jeunes" or "Trou aux Biches" parties. It's not a coincidence, these parties were innovative compared to the existing ones. Same thing with the Black Blanc Beur parties, which is an introduction of mixed homosexuality, which was quite new at the time. Obviously, it doesn't erase norms, it creates new ones.

The Gay Village of Montreal

More and more gay establishments closing in the Marais, very few opening, is the Marais dying?
First of all, these establishments have always had a high turnover, they have a fairly short life span. There are counter-examples, like the Duplex, which has been open for thirty years. But globally, LGBT establishments, like all night establishments, have a rather short life span. So it can give the impression that there are a lot of closures.

Secondly, merchants talk about a "crisis" of the gay business and the fact that the Internet and social networks have contributed to the emptying of establishments. But I am not totally convinced. Both practices can coexist. We don't go to bars for the same reasons we go on the Internet. And then the arrival of Grindr has reintroduced the spatial dimension. It makes it easier to meet people. So I think that the decrease in the number of people going to bars is not due to the Internet. It's primarily economic issues, with establishments that are still much more expensive than in the past. At the beginning of the 80's, these establishments were very affordable, with a very mixed frequentation. Today, going for a drink in the Marais represents a cost that can be dissuasive. This is one of the explanations for the drop in attendance.

There is also a renewal of the modes and practices of consumption.

Could a new gay district emerge in Paris?
Ican't play Madame Irma and say "in ten years, the new gay district will be here". But we can bet on certain places, like Rosa Bonheur and the Buttes Chaumont. this can be taken as an example of gay gentrification or "gaytrification", in an environment that was originally a working-class neighborhood. Thirty years ago, 60% of the population of this neighborhood came from working class backgrounds, and we can see that this has changed a lot today.