I’ll be straight with you. I wasn’t sure if it was OK to use the word ‘gayborhood’, so I Googled to find out if it was considered pejorative. Based on online discussion, the term is mildly offense to few but used ubiquitously among gay and straight writers alike, so, since almost everything is mildly offensive to a few, I’m going with it.
The point is, Dallas Voice magazine recently published a story about a very photogenic gay couple and their equally handsome golden labrador and they call Lake Highlands a gay-friendly neighborhood with quality, yet less-expensive real estate than Lakewood or Oak Cliff.
“I like that Lake Highlands is not as busy as Lakewood — the traffic, the noise, etc. — yet it is just as close to White Rock Lake and the Arboretum,” the homeowner tells the Voice. “Your real estate investment will go much further here, rather than in a lot of neighborhoods that have historically appealed to LGBT buyers.”
One experienced Realtor tells the Voice that Lake Highlands is poised to be the next Oak Cliff or East Dallas when it comes to diversity and the development that brings.
“I’ve been surprised by the amount of gays that do live in, or are moving to, Lake Highlands,” Brian Bleeker says. “Many gay [home- buyers] have chosen to pack up shop and head across the lake … East Dallas is now where Oak Cliff was five years ago, with regards to new restaurants, independent shops and available services.”
Adds the aforementioned homeowner’s partner, “There is a great mix of gay and lesbian homeowners scattered throughout the area,” he says. “We have ethnic and age diversity, and there are several gay-owned businesses located nearby that the neighborhood has embraced and supported.”
They also discuss the architectural, design and convenience benefits of living in relatively newer homes compared to the historic homes of East Dallas or Oak Cliff. Read the whole piece here.
And, by the way, the answer is probably that, no, Lake Highlands is never going to be the so-called “gayborhood,” but rather another “accepting but not necessarily heavy on the rainbow flags in the windows neighborhoods,” as Gawker writer Brian Moylan puts it, to which gay men and women are choosing to make their homes.
