A gay village is a geographical area with recognized boundaries, inhabited or frequented by many lesbian, gay and transgender people. Gay villages contain a number of gay-oriented establishments, such as gay bars and pubs, bathhouses, restaurants and bookstores. Among the most famous gay villages are New York City's Greenwich Village, Hell's Kitchen, Chelsea neighborhoods. C.'s Dupont Circle. In North America, the following gayborhoods are noted: Asbury Park, Maplewood and Lambertville in New Jersey; such areas may represent a LGBT-friendly oasis in an otherwise hostile city, or may have a high concentration of gay residents and businesses. Much as other urbanized groups, some LGBT people have managed to utilize their spaces as a way to reflect their cultural value and serve the special needs of individuals in relation to society at large. Today, these neighborhoods can be found in the upper-class areas of a given city, like in Manhattan, chosen for aesthetic or historic value, no longer resulting from the sociopolitical ostracization and the constant threat of physical violence from homophobic individuals that motivated these communities to live together for their mutual safety.

These neighborhoods are often found in working-class parts of the city, or in the neglected fringe of a downtown area – communities which may have been upscale but became economically depressed and disorganized. In these cases, the establishment of a LGBT community has turned some of these areas into more expensive neighborhoods, a process known as gentrification – a phenomenon in which LGBT people play a pioneer role; this process does not always work out to the benefit of these communities, as they see property values rise so high that they can no longer afford them as high-rise condominiums are built and bars move out, or the only LGBT establishments that remain are those catering to a more upscale clientele. However, today's manifestations of "queer ghettos" bear little resemblance to those of the 1970s; the term ghetto referred to those places in European cities where Jews were required to live according to local law. During the 20th century, ghetto came to be used to describe the areas inhabited by a variety of groups that mainstream society deemed outside the norm, including not only Jews but poor people, LGBT people, ethnic minorities, hobos and bohemians.

These neighborhoods, which arise from crowded dense, deteriorated inner city districts, are critical sites where members of gender and sexual minorities have traditionally congregated. From one perspective, these spaces are places of marginality created by an homophobic and transphobic heterosexual community. In some cities, LGBT people congregate in visibly identified neighborhoods, while in others they are dispersed in neighborhoods which have less visibility because a liberal, affirming counterculture is present. For example, LGBT people in San Francisco congregate in the Castro neighborhood, while LGBT people in Seattle concentrate in the city's older bohemian stomping grounds of Capitol Hill, those of Montreal have concentrated in a working-class neighborhood referred to administratively as "Centre-Sud" but known as "Le Village"; these areas, have higher concentrations of LGBT residents and businesses that cater to them than do surrounding neighborhoods. Some cities like Austin, Texas did not develop a defined gay village despite the city of Austin being home to many LGBT people with developed LGBT-friendly businesses and a counterculture present.

The neighbourhood of Schöneberg in Berlin was the first gay village in the world, developing in the 1920s. Prior to the 1960s and'70s, specialized LGBT communities did not exist as gay villages in the United States. In New York, for example, the congregation of gay men had not been illegal since 1965; the police raid of a private gay club called the Stonewall Inn on June 27, 1969, led to a series of minor disturbances in the neighborhood of the bar over the course of the subsequent three days and involving more than 1,000 people. The Stonewall Rebellion managed to change not only the profile of the gay community but the dynamic within the community itself. This

Spondylus americanus, the Atlantic thorny oyster, is a species of bivalve mollusc. It can be found along the Atlantic coast of North America; the Atlantic thorny oyster can grow up to 10 centimetres in diameter. The valves of the shell are circular and the upper one is decorated with many spiny protuberances up to 5 centimetres long; when growing in a crevice, the shape of the shell adapts itself to the available space. The color varies but is white or cream with orange or purplish areas making it well camouflaged to hide from its predators; the lower valve is attached to the substrate. When the living animal is lying on the seabed it is not visible because of the algae, marine animals and sediment that cover the shell; the flat tree oyster and Lister's tree oyster are among these epibionts. A diver swimming past may just observe a slight movement on the seabed as the oyster snaps its valves shut. Young animals are much less spiny than adults and resemble members of the genus Chama, the jewelbox clams.

The Atlantic thorny oyster occurs in the western Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico where it is found at depths between 9 and 45 metres. Its range extends from North Texas southwards to Venezuela and Brazil, it occurs on deep water reefs in areas with high sedimentation. It is lodged in a crevice or concealed under an overhang, it is a member of the fouling community, being found on sea walls, man made structures and wrecks. The Atlantic thorny oyster is a filter feeder sifting out plankton and other organic material from the water that passes over its gills. Little is known of its breeding habits but the larvae are planktonic, seeking out suitable locations on which to settle. Areas with suitable calcareous matter for building; the adults are sedentary and occupy the same position for the rest of their lives unless shifted by storms. Photos of Spondylus americanus on Sealife Collection

John Uniac is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey defenceman. He was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the 11th round of the 1990 NHL Entry Draft. Uniac was selected first overall by the Sudbury Wolves in the 1987 Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection and played major junior hockey in the OHL from 1987 to 1991 for the Sudbury Wolves and Kitchener Rangers. Uniac went on to play five seasons in the ECHL where, between 1991 and 1997, he skated with the Winston-Salem Thunderbirds, Wheeling Thunderbirds, Tallahassee Tiger Sharks, earning 11 goals, 60 assists, 125 penalty minutes. John Uniac career statistics at EliteProspects.com John Uniac career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database