April 2018 Issue #6 Issue #6 April 2018 B4Y | Page 49

‘Gay men have taken over the town’
Are you more likely to see a gay man in the supermarket line than
a lesbian or trans person?
Yeah. There are lesbians and trans people here. But at the grocery store, the li-
brary or a restaurant, it’s primarily gay men. Palm Springs is taking off as a straight
destination at the moment. But fortunately the gays have maintained their presence
and continue to come. I don’t know why that is.
For a while the lesbians, with the Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend event… I think
it was at one time equally popular. But I’d say now, gay men have taken over the
town. Our city government is run wholly by LGBT counsel people. There’s a trans
person, two gay men and a gay woman… the entire six-person counsel is LGBT.
There’s something so authentic about Palm Springs. It’s
somewhere LGBTI people want to call home, like Fort Lau-
derdale…
I just spent a week in Fort Lauderdale. Sandy and I were introduced as a couple
nearly 20 years ago by a guy who spends his summers in San Francisco and win-
ters in Fort Lauderdale. We got out there once a year to see him. We stay at a gay
guesthouse because we want to support the gay travel community. It’s a very simi-
lar vibe.
Fort Lauderdale is a large city. The population is much larger, and the gay com-
munities are more isolated. Like in New York City with Chelsea, Fort Lauderdale
has Wilton Manors. Palm Springs is small, and the gay area is the whole city. The
whole city is gay. It’s fantastic!
For more information about Inndulge Palm Springs, visit inndulge.com.
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