“The diversity that’s come in in the last 10 years, we embrace,” says Diane, a longtime resident of Wilton Manors in Florida’s Broward County, in an interview with the excellent hyper-local profiling web series One Square Mile. She doesn’t want her town — in the news this week because of the murder of gay couple Kevin Mark Powell and Steve Adams, and soon to be home to the extravagant $80 million G Worldwide complex — to be branded as any one thing. “We share our town. You’ve got to be open minded. This is a whole new geneation. You can’t go back, you’ve got to go forward. I don’t think we need a label. I don’t want it to be a senior citizens area. I don’t want it to be a gay mecca. I want it to be Hometown, USA.” [OneSquareMile.TV]
dispatch
ewe
I love Wilton Manors. Everytime i am there i say to myself “wow, this is where all the survivors moved to.” It’s an older San Francisco. It’s fantastic.
Jonathan
It’s the East Coast Palm Springs. My sister lives in Lauderdale, she has more gay friends than I do and I live in the SF Bay Area. Love it in the winter, hate it in the summer.
hephaestion
What a sweet group of people, gay and straight. This makes me want to move there.
jason
I would hate to live in any area that was defined on the basis of sexual orientation. Couldn’t stand it. The fun of life comes from variety, from meeting people who are different. This gay place is clone central. Please keep it away from me.
zenflo
Jason, we would be more than pleased to keep Wilton Manors away from you, in the earnest hope that you will continue to reciprocate.
Adrian Acosta
awww, I remember Wilton Manors. Georgie’s Alibi had the strongest long island ice teas I’ve ever had. they messed me up good. lol
Jarrett Terrill
This is a nice little video about the place I live and work in, but I don’t think Wilton Manors is THAT GAY. We also have vibrant Haitian, Cuban and other minority communities here too. Also, Georgie’s Alibi (which really has become the center of the gayborhood over the years) did not “start the gay community” in this area like my friend Vincent says at one part… LOL First came the gays and THEN came the bars, and there were even a couple of them before Georgie’s Alibi…
In fact, I’ve worked at/with a few of these places and almost everyone in this video is a familiar face. Many of the people who came here over a decade ago can tell you just how long the gay history is here (it goes back to the early 70’s). But overall, what you see here is pretty much how it is (at least for the gay community). Good video.