This article details a study of the geography and intentions of mainstream-oriented businesses that publicly display lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ)-related symbols and signs. The setting for this study was the four-county Durham–Chapel Hill metropolitan area in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Findings show how the distribution of these businesses mirrors various demographic, political, and policy indicators of where LGBTQ and LGBTQ-friendly populations live in this smaller metropolitan region of the conservative southeastern United States. Employee interviews revealed a typology of critical, performative, and managed allies among these businesses. Critical allies had adopted practices that allow a sexually and gender-diverse, although largely White, segment of LGBTQ people to visibly work and consume on their premises, whereas performative interviewees’ ostensible allyship was more purely about marketing. Other businesses are constrained in their potential to more visibly market to LGBTQ people or be critical allies due to their role as franchisees. Given that a majority of these business’s activism was substantive, and building from Ghaziani’s (2014 Ghaziani, A. 2014. Measuring urban sexual cultures. Theory and Society 43 (3–4):371–93. doi: 10.1007/s11186-014-9225-4.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) concept of anchor institutions, I argue that these businesses show how the material culture of a large segment of LGBTQ people takes on a particular geography within Durham–Chapel Hill. Within limitations, mainstream-oriented businesses displaying LGBTQ symbols and signs offer another means of examining how LGBTQ life and visibility extend beyond gayborhoods.

本文详细研究了公开展示女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋、跨性别和酷儿 (LGBTQ) 相关符号和标志的主流企业的地理和意图。这项研究的背景是美国北卡罗来纳州的达勒姆-教堂山四个县城。调查结果显示，这些企业的分布如何反映 LGBTQ 和 LGBTQ 友好人群在美国东南部这个保守的较小大都市地区居住的各种人口、政治和政策指标。员工访谈揭示了这些企业中具有批判性、执行力和管理型盟友的类型。关键盟友采取的做法允许性和性别多样化的 LGBTQ 群体（尽管主要是白人）在他们的场所明显地工作和消费，而表演型受访者表面上的盟友更纯粹是关于营销。其他企业由于其作为特许经营商的角色，在更明显地向 LGBTQ 人群进行营销或成为关键盟友的潜力方面受到限制。鉴于这些企业的大部分活动都是实质性的，并且是从 Ghaziani 的 (2014 Ghaziani, A. 2014 年。测量城市性文化。理论与社会43 (3–4): 371 – 93。doi: 10.1007/s11186-014-9225-4。[Crossref], [Web of Science ®]  , [Google Scholar] ) 锚机构的概念，我认为这些企业展示了大部分 LGBTQ 人的物质文化如何在达勒姆-教堂山的特定地理环境中呈现。在限制范围内，展示 LGBTQ 符号和标志的面向主流的企业提供了另一种检查 LGBTQ 生活和知名度如何超越同性恋社区的方法。