I first started noticing a pretty noticeable increase of obviously straight Asian people entering the Castro, the most famous LGBT neighborhood in San Francisco, a couple of years ago as tour buses would drop tourists off, take pictures of all the gay people, then leave. Apparently, I haven’t been the only one to notice, as SFgate.com has reported that the increase in tourists is being seen as a nuisance in the Castro, primarily since they’re seen as gawking, and not adding to the Castro economy.
It’s funny to see how these tourists react when they see queer Asians, particularly queer Asian men. I think there’s a perception that being queer is still seen as a white thing, despite the increasingly politically and socially active queer rights movements that are occurring all over the Asian continent. I remember when the husband and I happened to run into friends of ours who are also a queer Asian male couple right in front of Castro & Market along with their newly adopted son. The look of utter shock and disbelief on the tourists’ faces was pretty amusing, and they were doing their best to be sly as they tried to take pictures of us. Of course, we deliberately hammed it up for the tourists, kissing in front of them and acting stereotypically gay in front of them.
It’s funny to see how all the white people are reacting to this, thinking that the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence could put a stop to it. If anything, it’s exactly what the tourists wanna see. Really, all you need to do is have a whole bunch of queer Asian boys who are fluent in Chinese to start coming on to all the guys who are of legal age — in front of their parents. That would put a stop to the tourists real quick.
