Thanks for the response, Bomz.
I was born and raised in San Francisco (Cow Hollow and then the Sunset) and lived through the days of the Beatniks and the Hippies, but I don't recall any sort of a gay community back then.
In fact the only gay people we thought that actually existed in the city were the female impersonators who performed at world famous 'Finocchio's' down there on the Barbary Coast nightclub strip ... and they probably weren't.
And no one in my generation knew whet the term 'bi' meant until much later when the gay community gradually took over the Castro Street area which used be full of bars where you went to get into fights and then have bragging rights at school the following week.
I don't think the word 'gay' was even used as a descriptive term of an individual's sexuality until it first became acceptable by individuals who were commonly called 'queers' back then.
I hate to say this but before that gay community was established in San Francisco some of the local high school kids used to spend their weekend hours looking for and beating up 'queers' in the North Beach area and then coming to school to brag about it.
I, myself, preferred to do my fighting in the schoolyard when some bigger kid tried to steal my peanut butter sandwich and ..... never in my life did I ever pick on someone smaller than myself or jumped a kid because he acted differently.
Then the gay community grew and took over the Castro and everything changed ... and for better or worse .... it depended on what side of the fence you stood on.
But nowadays I doubt if the high school kids go out looking for fights in the Castro area because it's once again a tough neighborhood of gays and lesbians who train at the local Gold's on Market Street and know how to protect themselves.
That neighborhood, the city and the entire world has changed immensely since I knew the city block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, and bar by bar.
I can't say it's changed for the better ..... but it did change immensely and if those who passed away in the 1960's were to return and take a San Francisco tour today, they would'nt recognize the place - especially within the Castro area.
And they'd wonder why that guy holding hands with that other guy needed help crossing the street.
