San Francisco: Gay Capitol or Dog Park?

Recently I watched a video posted by the AssociatedPress titled, "In San Francisco, Dogs Outnumber Kids." (Linked below) I wasnt all that surprised because the dwellings in San Francisco tend to be somewhat small. San Francisco just isnt that kid friendly. San Francisco does, however, have a good number of quality parks. It made sense to me that dogs would outnumber kids. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acFTTv-0aIA I probably would have just continued on to the next video, but then I read the comments that were posted on the video. Several people said that the reason for this was because gay people cant have children. (I have known several same sex couples with kids, either from previous relationships or through adoption.) I wasnt surprised that San Francisco has a reputation for being a gay community, but I couldnt believe that people would readily correlate that with a topic that had nothing to do with gay people, and much more to do simply with urban living. For the record, San Francisco is a very diverse world class city. Though I do not live in San Francisco, both my father and grandfather grew up in San Francisco, and I have spent a good deal of time both as a child and adult getting to know the city. San Francisco has so much to offer, including a wide array of cultural rich neighborhoods. China Town is obviously well known, as is North Beach which is traditionally an Italian neighborhood, but also credited with being the epicenter of the beat generation. Who doesnt think of Haight-Ashbury (which runs along, a couple of blocks off, the panhandle) when thinking of the flower power generation? The sunset district, especially north of Golden Gate Park is heavily Asian. (I would be more specific, but I am not sure which culture dominates.) There are also neighborhoods that are largely Mexican and others that are mostly African American. Do I even have to mention Pacific Heights? Bottom line, in all this, I still havent covered the whole city and I didnt even mention... the Castro! Thats right, the rainbow district is only one small part of San Francisco, and though I believe it is a well known part of the city, it is far from being a gay city. I read a few years ago that, and I believe it was based on census data, that Los Angeles had the largest percentage of gay people, followed by New York. San Francisco was third! People associate Los Angeles with beaches, movie stars and rock stars. I find it to be rather amusing that people over generalize, label and categorize cities the same way that they do to individuals. Open your minds and your eyes, the world is a richly complex and a diverse place. Stop oversimplifying and just enjoy the complexity of it all. After all, there is a reason no one sells black and white TVs anymore. Thanks for reading. Read all you want, Ill write more. San Francisco: Gay Capitol or Dog Park? By Chris Corsello (NorCalCorsello on YouTube) (Corsello on MySpace) (ChrisCorsello on WordPress) January 2009