Boystown in Chicago used to be seen as one of the safest neighborhoods in Chicago. With the hit of the Great Recession of 2007-2009, people started channeling anger and hatred toward the LGBTQ youth of color of Chicago for the decreased rent and property values and an alleged increase in crime (even though police records show an apparent decrease from the previous years). Social media played a large roll in this channeling of racist fears and (white) homonormativity. Facebook groups like Lakeview 9-1-1 and Take Back Boystown frequently saw posts with photos and videos taken of queer POC demonizing them with racist, classist, and transphobic ideologies, blaming them (the others)for the apparent increase in crime and decline in property value in Boystown. [1] Noise complaints, loitering, drug possession, and other petty crimes were used to blame the queer “street youth” of color of Chicago for more violent crimes like assaults and muggings. What was neglected, however, were the loud drunk white gays outside bars, the white drug dealers, the white ‘trouble makers.’ Anecdotes from trans women of color indicate an increase in racism and a willingness of residents to be more open about their racist/transphobic/bigoted attitudes in Boystown, which they mention used to be a place of acceptance and safety. Not that there wasn’t racism in Boystown before, but the effects of social media creating an echo chamber of bigoted hatred toward queer POC were such that these previously suppressed attitudes became more mainstream.
[1] Blair, Z. (2016). Boystown: Gay Neighborhoods, Social Media, and the (Re)production of Racism in E. P. Johnson (Ed.), No Tea, No Shade: New Writings in Black Queer Studies (pp. 287-303). Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.