“Only a few voices have dared to speak out. James Hannaham, in a Salon.com article called ‘Why Bathroom Sex is Hot’ unabashedly defended the hotness of public sex. His point: men are sluts, gay men have been particularly good at embracing their inner slut, and public sex is, well, as the title would suggest, hot.
“More gay folks need to join in this chorus. The flight to more respectable issues — marriage and china patterns — has made it all too easy for gay folks to join in the sex panic, rather than fight against it.
“Regardless of whether you like public sex, or have public sex, it is a part of the gay community’s history and remains part of its present. It isn’t just closeted Republicans who cruise for public sex. And it isn’t just closeted men. Lots of folks still cruise, or if you’re British, cottage. The popularity of websites like Squirt is a testimony to the fact that this is still part of our culture, and our practice.
“A sex panic swirling around gay sex can never be good for the gay community. But, the answer is not to try to distance ourselves from it, but to take it by the horns. We need to condemn the panic, not the sex. Anything else is a sell-out to who we are. And we risk losing sight of a crucial legal issue: consensual sex shouldn’t be a crime. Even with closeted self-hating Republicans.”
Also: “Gays take over straight bar”
”The aim of the group is simple: reclaim public space and get gays and lesbians to mix with heterosexuals. Campbell plans to stage a takeover at least once a month.”
Of course, the right to private property isn’t enshrined in the Charter, so bar owners who don’t find these pranks that amusing can’t do much about it.
