Spotlight on Boston
Boston is ground zero for gay rights in the United States thanks to the Massachusetts legalization of gay marriage in May 2004; the GLBT community here is politically and socially active, and continues to grow. The epicenter of activity remains the picturesque South End, which enjoys the reputation of the country's oldest Victorian brick rowhouse district; pretty and distinctly quaint, it houses growing numbers of gays and young families. As real estate prices rose through the early 2000s, however, an increasing segment of the community has moved just south of the city to the burgeoning district of Dorchester. To the north of the Charles River, which wends its way from Boston Harbor westward, lies Cambridge, housing the state's two most famed universities, Harvard and MIT, along with the lesbian-ppopular residential streets of Somerville. Most of the bars and clubs still cluster around the city's popular Theatre District just east of the South End (Popular nights include De...