City agencies rally to support beleaguered Tenderloin
Brian Basinger, a gay man who serves as the executive director of the Q Foundation, wants readers to know that his neighborhood — the Tenderloin — is the real heart of queer San Francisco."The Castro's a fad.
Polk is a fad," Basinger boldly declared in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter. "We've been a queer community in the Tenderloin for over 100 years. ...
People don't understand just how endemic LGBTQ people are to the Tenderloin, because so much of the other things going on eclipse that, and also how many cool LGBTQ folks and interesting LGBTQ folks are here.
I've been such a booster for the Tenderloin for such a long time, because it's lovely."Indeed the Tenderloin — nestled between Union Square to the east and Civic Center on the west, and Market Street to the south and the slope of Nob Hill on the north — has long been one of the most diverse communities in the United States, which led to a tolerance for LGBTQ people before they could be visible elsewhere.
