By Joel P. Engardio -- Gays are discovering the historically conservative San Francisco Westside as a nice place to settle down. “A traditional neighborhood is blending into a 21st Century version of Mayberry,” said Mark Norrell, a business owner on West Portal Avenue. “We haven’t lost our small town feel. We’re just updating it. You could call it Gayberry.” But there’s some resistance to Norrell’s push to modernize the area's shopping experience. "Our meetings can be soap opera dramatic," said Maryo Mogannam, president of the West Portal Merchants Association. "Get the popcorn."
Read MoreJoel Engardio introduces end-of-life care topic for the Harvard Law School negotiation workshop as an example of handling a difficult conversation. January 2012.
Read MoreJoel Engardio's NPR essay "Learning True Tolerance" broadcast on Weekend Edition Sunday as part of the "This I Believe" series.
Read MoreWhen Gilbert Baker set out to create the first gay pride flag in 1978, his vision of the rainbow was a little different than what everyone else sees in the sky. Baker saw fuchsia. And turquoise, too. So he went to his sewing machine and made an eight-color rainbow flag with hot pink at the top. But for two decades, Baker's famous flag only had six colors. Find out why and what the flag — regardless the number of stripes — means for LGBT history.
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