abbreviation for 'truly gay environment.' A city, town or other general area where any and all sexual preferences are celebrated and encouraged, though not necessarily gay. For example, a person who spends enough time in a TGE such as the Castro District of
San Francisco or Greenwich Village in New York
will have a fuller opportunity to explore and understand his or her true sexual orientation than someone who lives in an environment where heterosexuality is the
one preferred norm.
While
San Francisco is thought of as being an ultimate TGE, as recent as the
late 1970s it was a struggle for
the city to elect its first gay mayor.