Non-ghetto gays: a sociological study of suburban homosexuals

This ethnographic study is focused upon the lifestyles of white, suburban, middle-class homosexuals. Interview data on some two dozen individuals obtained in the spring of 1982 was increasingly supplemented and supplanted by continued field observation and other techniques of data-gathering through the summer of 1985. The data on the coming-out experiences were largely congruent with models of homosexual identity formation, especially those of Plummer (1975) and Troiden (1979). As expected, older subjects generally progressed through coming-out stages at a slower pace than their younger counterparts. The middle-class orientation and the suburban socio-cultural environment were also seen as inhibiting homosexual identity formation. The advent of AIDS seemed to have little obvious impact on behavior until the last months of the study. Suburban homosexuals in this study were strongly oriented to their work and career-building, to suburban home ownership, and to obtaining a long-term love relationship with another male. Suburban homosexuals were also strongly individualistic and assimilationist, rather than oriented towards collective action or organizational membership based on shared sexual identity. While the fortunes of the two friendship groups differed, friendship bonds among suburban homosexuals compare favorably with male friendships in the general population. The findings in this study suggest that suburban homosexuals, like many other Americans, are finding suburban life increasingly attractive and that the lure of large cities and gay ghettos has faded.