Gay Lives, Interests Head West

SOUTH TAMPA, FLORIDA - Mark Bias remembers when his North Hyde Park neighborhood had many gay neighbors.
He remembers when gay-owned and gay-themed businesses proliferated and prospered here.
Things sure have changed.
"To us, there is no feel of a gay and lesbian community left in South Tampa," he said.
Bias was referring to himself and his male partner, Carrie West. They have lived in North Hyde Park since 1988. But now they work and do much of their socializing in St. Petersburg.
Though they continue to live in South Tampa, they've watched many friends head across the bay. "At one time nine gay families lived on our block, and today there are only three gay families left," Bias said.
He is among several gay residents who say South Tampa seems to have less to offer them and that St. Petersburg now has a far stronger sense of community.
Bias noted that South Tampa used to have numerous gay-themed businesses, including Bias and West's gay pride store, MC Film Festival, at Kennedy Boulevard and Himes Avenue.
Today, he said, "they are all gone."
So are the couple. Years ago, they moved the business to St. Petersburg, where it now has two locations.
One is in the Suncoast Resort, an all-gay resort and entertainment complex on 34th Street S.
The other is in the Grand Central District along Central Avenue, an area that has developed a large number of gay-owned and -oriented businesses in recent years.
Bias said he thinks gay people just feel more comfortable in St. Petersburg these days.
One key reason, he said, is the Hillsborough County Commission's vote last summer to ban any official recognition of gay pride. Commissioner Ronda Storms proposed the ban after viewing a library display.
"Since Ronda Storms and the commission have made all gay and lesbian people and their families and friends feel unwelcome in the whole county, we have seen a huge increase in people moving to St. Pete," Bias said.
There, he said, "we feel welcomed as a vibrant part of the community."
Bias also blamed the commission's decision for chilling gay tourism to Tampa.
"Years ago all the tourists would say that they were going to Tampa and might visit St. Pete," he said. "Today they are all saying that they are traveling to St. Pete and are staying out of Tampa.''
That's not to suggest that Tampa lacks for events that spotlight the community, such as the Winter Pride rally and Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
And while Bias focused on the county's action, Tampa leaders have largely supported the gay community.
Mayor Pam Iorio responded to the ban by saying "gays and lesbians are part of our diversity and deserve our respect." Last summer, the city opened the AIDS Memorial Park, conceived and promoted by gay activists.
The South Tampa area offers several popular bars and clubs that cater to gay and lesbian socializing and dating, including Chambers, which is north of downtown, Flirt in Ybor City and City Side on Henderson Boulevard.
But other than bars and clubs, residents contend there are too few gay-themed retail businesses.
When Tomes and Treasures and Different Grind on Howard Avenue closed after steadily declining business last year, South Tampa lost its only major gay-themed bookstore and coffeehouse.
Also, escalating rents and competition for space have made it hard on many independent businesses, gay-themed or otherwise, to survive in the area.
Several gay residents now feel a stronger community connection across the bay.
"It's been that way for quite some time," said Kevin Thomsen, 41, a computer programmer who lives in Palma Ceia. "It's not like you can't have a good time here, but there's much more to do in St. Pete."
If Pinellas County bars were open later than 2 a.m., Thomsen said, "I think you'd see even more of that." (Hillsborough County bars can serve alcohol until 3 a.m.)
When a gay and lesbian community center opened last year, one might have expected to find it in a South Tampa neighborhood.
Instead, the Tampa Metro Center is at 6421 N Florida Ave. in Old Seminole Heights. That's a full 4 miles north of Kennedy.
Amanda Spencer, 27, said the commission's action is hardly the only reason that South Tampa seems less accommodating to gays.
"This has been going on for more than just the past year," said Spencer, who was born in Lutz. "It's happened for a while. The St. Pete thing has been growing and Tampa hasn't kept up."
Spencer, a college student, lives with her partner in Historic Ybor.
"There's not any one thing you can tie it to," she said. "It may be more that St. Pete has been so open and people felt comfortable there and got together and it snowballed."
Spencer said she doesn't consider Tampa intolerant, but the ban, and a debate over the appropriateness of a county school's gay-straight alliance club, "sure hasn't helped."
Jeff Rey, 25, was born in Dunedin. He lives in St. Petersburg and is the activities director at the St. Petersburg Metro Center, affiliated with the Tampa center.
About the gay scene in South Tampa, Rey said, "If you compare it to five years ago, or 10 years ago, it's definitely not what it was. And I think that's also because St. Pete became a little bit more unified."
Rey said he thinks Pinellas County has more gay-themed stores and neighborhood bars that offer a greater sense of community than the nightclub scene.
"We also have the advantage of having Suncoast (Resort), where you can go during the daytime, or on the weekends, and you go to the tiki bar," he said. "In Tampa, there's really not anything like that."
But Rey has been impressed by a spike of activity from gays and their straight friends in response to the headline-grabbing issues. Such events tend to unify communities, he said.
"The stuff that's happening in Hillsborough, I think it's complacency that got Tampa to this point," he said. "But what's happened with Ronda Storms, what's happened with the gay-straight alliances, it's reminding people to get out there."
No one expects South Tampa's gay presence to vanish entirely.
"You're not going to lose everybody to St. Pete or ... Seminole Heights, because South Tampa has a lot to offer," said Thomsen, the Palma Ceia resident.
"I love where I am and I have lots of gay and straight friends here. I just wish there was more here for us."
from The St. Petersburg Times