Cruisingforsex.com Gets Its Best Exposure Ever

When it rain, it pours. And for the web site, http://www.cruisingforsex.com/, the whole Larry Craig thing has given it new exposure. Read it for yourself.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20529609/site/newsweek/?from=rss

But thanks to cruisingforsex.com (which boasts some 30,000 visitors daily, its operators say) and its competitors, such information is easily accessible around the country—and the world. And the information is precise; some listings direct readers to visit a location between, say 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. How convenient.

Here are more exerpts from the article:

Has craigslist.org put a dent in cruisingforsex.com's business? Do chatrooms pose a threat?

Craigslist certainly has changed the field. A lot of strictly younger people tend to turn first to hookups online. But my impression—based on what I am personally experiencing, not any research I’ve done—[is] that people may be tiring of the hookups online and wanting to get back into the real world. There’s some benefits to both ways of meeting. Certainly craigslist, which by the way is often used to hook up in public locations, certainly has taken a lot of men who now meet online and go to each others’ house.

With all the information on cruisingforsex.com and on craigslist, do you feel that law enforcement is more aware now? Or are they less likely to crack down than they were 10 years ago?

In all of our years of doing this, there has always been a constant crackdown and a constant drumbeat of harassment. What Senator Craig has experienced is not unfamiliar to a lot of sexually active men out there.

But, whatever your orientation, is engaging in sexual activity in public okay?Most cruisers don’t want to engage in sex in public. They want to meet someone in a public space and then try to be discreet—maybe in a stall or a cubicle or maybe behind a bush.

As you know from my previous post, I am not sympathetic at all to Larry Craig. And even if he fights to retain his seat, he is facing an uphill battle. Gay groups are out to squeeze his nuts and the right wing has already gotten a noose ready for the lynching.

Hot topics such as this keep the blogging world with enough topical subject matter to write about for days. I would really like that this publicity move to the more important topic of safer sex between two consenting gay men. What we need are more play spaces around the U.S, where guys can meet and not have to take unnecessary risks of public sex. Sure, all of us love hot protected sex, but I feel that "spur of the moment" sex is probably a lot more risky than motivated, intential, pure buddy body bonding. Right here, right now sex, public cruising sex, may be exciting, but it doesn't have lasting benefits. It is just a fix, and sometimes a risky one, at that.

Example Of Hypocrisy At Its Finest-"I'm Not Gay" or "I Am Not A Crook". What Bold Face Lying Politicians Are Saying.

Events of this past week only prove to me how important it is for gay men to be proud of engaging in healthy buddy body bonding, and pity poor trolls like Larry Craig, who are compulsive sexoholics, love bathroom sex and can't accept being gay.

The following is an excerpt from a Washington Post article this past week about bathroom stall cruising. I was floored when I first read it. What every gay guy and the general public more than need to know about anonymous sex. Check it out for yourself.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/29/AR2007082902435.html?hpid%3Dtopnews&sub=AR

In this article, the authors are very thorough in their research. An early reference to foot-tapping is made in the 1975 book "The Tea Room Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places," by Laud Humphreys, a sociologist. It is based on Humphreys's 1960s study of public sex.
"In tea rooms where there were doors on the stalls, I have observed the use of foot-tapping as a means of communication," Humphreys wrote. He added that "doors on stalls serve as hindrances rather than aids to homoerotic activity."

Consider the bathroom stall, that utilitarian public enclosure of cold steel and drab hue. And then you can imagine the following.

"If you are in the stall, you tap your foot, and if the person next to you taps a foot, you keep going back and forth until one person makes a move," he says. "Someone will then stick their hand underneath. Or they will pass a note on paper. Or, what I've heard is, when they think it's safe," they will move on to sexual contact in the space beneath the partition.
"Some people are absolutely blatant" about showing arousal in public bathrooms, he said. "I've seen this in malls and witnessed that myself."
The reaction? "That depends," he said. "For people who are not of that same persuasion, they yell and call names. I've seen people escorted out by security, and I've witnessed people gesturing back, reaching over and grabbing them. That's when you roll your eyes and walk out."
This behavior violates the "unwritten code of conduct that men observe in bathrooms," said John Davidson, legal director at Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund

Well bathroom sex, has never, ever turned me on. When I enter a public men's or gent's room, I'm there to take a piss and wash my hands, never more than that. Besides the risk, it fucking demeaning.

I would never deny a guy's pleasure of cruising openly. It happens all the time. But as I have written in previous posts over the years, any one doing it is taking some big risks.

I don't feel a bit sorry for the old fart. He hates us, as gay men, and has voted many times for legislation which denies us our right to marry and live without fear or retribution. The reason he hates us, is that he hates himself. He has created this great fuckin lie, and he despises us for the freedoms we both enjoy and seek.

That said, I want to wish you hot studs a great weekend. And a special mega hairy muscle salute to working men everywhere. WOOOF.

Tidbits and Factoids

Here are some interesting items I have collected recently. Let me know what you think.

ITEM: Based on interviews with more than 12,000 gay men and 10,000 lesbians across the country, San Francisco's Community Marketing Inc. claims the survey provides the most comprehensive view yet into psychographic and demographic data on the gay community.

For instance, with regard to family life, the survey found 46 percent of gay men and 65 percent of lesbians are partnered or live with a significant other. While 20 percent of lesbians have children under the age of 18 living at home, only five percent of gay men do.

For gay men, the median household income is $83,000 per year (gay singles, $62,000; gay couples living together, $130,000). For lesbians, the median household income is $80,000 per year (lesbian singles $52,000; lesbian couples living together $96,000).

Regarding media choices, gay and lesbian publications were read most often by both genders, although national "mainstream" publications also fared well. Favorites were The New York Times, Men's Health and GQ among gay men, and People, AARP The Magazine and O The Oprah among lesbians. The top three most watched television networks for both genders were NBC, ABC, and CBS. For gay men, the next three were Fox, Bravo and Logo; for lesbians, Showtime, Fox, and Logo.

Eighty-five percent of gay men and 85 percent of lesbians agreed advertising in gay media favourably influences their purchasing decisions;

Eight-nine percent of gay men and 92 percent of lesbians reported that the way a company treats its gay and lesbian employees impacts their decision to do business with that company, with the majority (52 percent and 59 percent respectively) saying this was strongly positive;

Eighty-eight percent of gay men and 91 percent of lesbians report that their purchasing decisions are favourably influenced by corporate sponsorship of gay events and participation in gay charities.

ITEM: In the current issue of Out magazine, there are 65 individual nipples featured in articles and in ads, including Marky Mark's 3 nips.

ITEM: According to a press release from Equality Forum, 463 of the 2007 Fortune 500 companies voluntarily include sexual orientation in their employment nondiscrimination policies.There is currently no federal workplace protection based on sexual orientation, and only 20 states include sexual orientation nondiscrimination in their workplace statutes.

ITEM: Las Vegas magicians Siegfried & Roy are coming out of the closet in a highly anticipated autobiography soon to be released. It may not come as a big surprise to most people that the two performers are gay but it will be the first time they admit to this officially.According to details from the upcoming book leaked to the National Enquirer, Siegfried and Roy were once very much in love but have since transformed their relationship into a working partnership and a deep friendship. (Oh brother, do they have to state the obvious?)

Hoping all of my body bonding buds in the Northern Hemisphere are enjoying these last weeks of the summer season. I know you studs are making the most of it. Hey, if you're heading to the beach, help out a fellow hottie who needs some assistance spreading some sun block on his back. I'm sure that helping hand will not go unrewarded. You'll be making a lasting friend. That's what buddy body bonding is all about.

You guys in the Southern Hemisphere, I know it will be spring there soon. And I know you dudes are ready for some springtime buddy body bonding as well. WOOF.

If Michael Musto Wrote About It, It Must Be True

Fellow gay boy and all around great guy, Michael Musto, the celebrated columnist for the Village Voice, has something to say about the scarcity of guys who identify themselves as bottoms:

The weird news in gay land is that no one's a bottom anymore (except for a certain downtown Manhattan promoter with a flair for double penetration). Tragically enough, a whole generation of bottoms passed on some time ago, and then came a whole new generation that learned from day one that being a wide-end receiver is risky, so they've always been testy and squeamish about it. That's perfectly understandable, but as a result, virtually every gay on the market today is a versatile top—or "vers top," if you prefer—"though I'll bottom for the right guy," they always add with a noble flourish. So unless you happen to have pulled up in a golden coach and have 300 condoms rubber-banded to your crotch, no one's gonna bottom for you and sex will undoubtedly consist of twiddling thumbs and bumping pussies and being more frustrated than if you'd stayed home alone with your fleshlight (the male sex toy whose site generously invites you to "select an orifice"). Somebody take it up the ass, please!

I totally agree with what Michael writes. No one seems to want to be a bottom anymore. How many times have we come across that double talk phrase, "bottom for the right guy"? I think bottom boys must reassess their fear of being fucked safely. There has to be gay public education showing how the top guy can coaks the squimish bottom guy into be fucked, and really liking it. I say, give 'em some buddy bonding. Be it in a pup tent under two zipped together sleeping bags, or in a secluded hallway, we guys have the responsibility to reverse perceptions that guys can fuck each other, and do it pleasurably, without fear. While I rather see guys having some fears about being fucked, hell, you can be a fuck pig and do it safely. Think condoms, guys.

Mega hairy muscle hugs of fucking til the cows cum home.

Harassment. The Illinois Gay Rodeo is experiencing it

The Gay Rodeo season is in full swing now, and not without some controversy, from straights.

There is such a thing. Its Web site is http://www.ilgra.com/. (The pink cowboy boots are a nice touch.)

The Windy City Rodeo, sponsored by ILGRA, is scheduled for Aug. 25-26 in Crete. The rodeo has been held in the Chicago area for years, but about five years ago, an inquiry was made about bringing it to Springfield.

"I called and they said you stay out of it, we'll handle it," said Buff Carmichael, who inquired with the non-fair events office. "I haven't heard a word since.

"They'll catch a plane to Colorado to lure the high school rodeo here, but they won't do anything to get the gay rodeo."

No doubt, offering the fairgrounds' Multipurpose Arena for this would be a hot potato for the state, probably too hot. Picketing protesters. Horrified homophobes. Scandalized Springfieldians. The only reason a serious bid hasn't been made to bring it here is easy to see. Hint: It's a three-letter word that begins with "g."

For about 10 years, Michael Cunningham Jr. has been co-director of Illinois' gay rodeo. Cunningham is a 1985 graduate of Lanphier High School. He used to compete before he became co-director. Bringing the rodeo to his hometown would be great, Cunningham said.
The Windy City Rodeo attracts about 100 competitors and 5,000 spectators, according to Cunningham. That translates into tourism and bucks for local merchants.

We are always looking for events to bring to Springfield. This would be one controversial event, but an event just the same. Last time I checked, a gay person's dollar was worth 100 cents, same as a straight person's dollar.

Cunningham foresees a couple of problems with having the rodeo in Springfield. Most of the rodeo's sponsors are in Chicago, for example. And then there is travel.

"Logistically it would be difficult," he said. "People come from all over the U.S. and Canada to compete. It would be a challenge to get people to the rodeo in Springfield."
But, I said, the high schoolers manage to get here from all over the country, and farther.

"That's true," Cunningham said. "And the great thing is the facility there is world class."
Humane treatment of the animals is always a concern at a rodeo. The ILGRA has adopted guidelines that it (hopefully) adheres to. They are on its Web site. But anytime you have a rodeo, animal welfare will be an issue for some.

As for local protesters coming out to tell the gay cowboys and cowgirls they will burn in hell, Cunningham says that is not a concern. It's true, he said, that the Chicago area is more diverse than Springfield, and as a result, more accepting of a gay rodeo. But he believes his hometown would be all right with it.

Events in the gay rodeo virtually are the same as in a straight rodeo - bull and bronc riding, roping, barrel racing and bulldogging, for example. There also are special "camp events." Those include a timed event in which competitors put underwear on a goat, a three-person team (one of whom must compete in drag) herding a steer, and "steer deco" in which competitors attempt to tie a ribbon on a steer's tail while teammates remove a rope from its horns.

"The camp events are the most competitive events," Michael said, "because a lot of people enter those, and so the prize money can be substantial."

The Illinois Gay Rodeo Association is part of the International Gay Rodeo Association. The international's finals rodeo is huge. This year it will be held in Denver in October. It has been held in Las Vegas many times. Springfield might be too small for that one. Anyway, the IGRA's bylaws specify that its finals must be held in an indoor arena.

Look, you don't have to agree with the lifestyle to support bringing the gay rodeo to Springfield. That expensive rodeo arena at the fairgrounds sits empty most of the year. Why not try to get something/anything out there that will make some money?

They are going to hold Illinois' gay rodeo somewhere. It might as well be here.

Well, my heart goes out to Michael Cunningham for fighting the good fight. I, myself, love the IGRA circuit and try to support it every chance I get. It is a great event, plenty of fun and lots of hot cowpokes. WOOOF, who could want anything else?

EDGY MY ASS. Barebacking Is Just " FUCKING STUPID' !!!

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How Sad Is This?

The Life and Death of A Young Gay American

By: PAUL SCHINDLER
07/11/2007

In October 2003, Michael Glatze, then 28, sat in Manhattan's Union Square Virgin Megastore, enthusiastically explaining Young Gay America, the organization he helped launch with a mission to "save lives by educating and informing queer youth about their importance to society."

With his co-founder and boyfriend Benjie Nycum, (That's Benji on the left, and Michael, in the middle) Glatze had made an award-winning film and launched a Web site, both of which enabled queer youth across the U.S. to tell their stories. They would later start a magazine bearing the group's name. But, the heart of Young Gay America was a series of five, two-week road trips Glatze, Nycum, and several others took across the U.S. and Canada, in which they met with scores of queer youth, almost all of them remote from major urban areas. Detailed interviews and photos from those encounters were posted on the group's Web site, and served as the model for the stories other youths submitted themselves. In a tribute of sorts to their efforts, a right-wing Christian group named younggayamerica.com one of the nation's "Ten Most Dangerous Websites."

Glatze and Nycum met working at XY magazine in San Francisco, but hoped to move beyond that publication's slick appeal to urban gay youth, and reach LGBT young people in small town America who had the least resources and support. "I'm talking about the ones who are not going to send us e-mail," Glatze said of those most isolated and in need of outreach. "They are not going to show up at the doorstep of a halfway house or a home. They are not going to e-mail anyone. They are stuck."

The Michael Glatze who devoted his life's work to help those gay youth is no more. At some point in the past three years, he had "a born-again experience," which he announced to the world in a July 3 confessional on WorldNetDaily.com, a Christian-right Web site that has long been a forum for extreme anti-gay views.

In a 90-minute telephone interview with Gay City News the evening of July 9, Glatze talked in detail about the crisis he said led to his Christian rebirth, how that experience motivated him to reject his self-identification as a gay man, his feelings of "repulsion" at the thought of sex with another man, and his conclusion that his work at Young Gay America was all about "peddling homosexuality to youth."

But Glatze's story is not simply one of rejecting his own homosexuality. It is also about the mission he feels today - one he termed "evangelical" - to alert society that "the homosexual mindset is that they always want to find more homosexuals."

Most startlingly, Glatze said that America needs to "examine whether homosexuality should be legal" or if gay sex should instead be punished by "imprisonment."It is of course child's play to point out the contradictions across the board between the Michael Glatze of 2003 and the 2007 model.

He remains impressively articulate, precise in his choice of words, passionate, amiable, even gentle, despite his harsh words about what he calls the "false gay identity." In fact, he emphasized not the discontinuity apparent to almost everyone else, but instead the seamlessness of his transformation.

"This is a fruition of all that I have believed in my life," Glatze said of his current thinking on God and homosexuality. He explained that his rethinking began with an unexplained illness he feared might be the same heart condition that killed his father suddenly when Glatze was only 13.Curiously, though, it was disillusionment with his father, even as a young boy, that he said led to his embrace of "the gay identity" as a teenager.

His father flagrantly cheated on his mother, Glatze said, and as a boy he became her comforter and protector, and also vowed to never hurt a woman in the same way. By the time of his father's death, Glatze was experiencing his burgeoning sexuality, but he claims that energy was free-floating, "not focused on any object." It was only when a friend told him at age 14 about people who live their lives as gay that he connected his feelings to same-sex desire. "I was already shy and introverted," he said. "I thought, 'Well, that's what I am.' It sealed my fate. I wanted that masculinity and my sexuality was there. And it crystallized into gay identity."

In a WorldNetDaily.com posting accompanying his essay, Glatze was quoted referring to his "darkest days of late-night parties, substance abuse, and all kinds of things when I felt like, 'Why am I here, what am I doing?'" Even then, he said, "There was always a voice there." But in this week's interview, he conceded that was a reference to years earlier when he was a raver in San Francisco, before he and Nycum moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where his ex-partner's family lives.

The voice Glatze says he heard didn't fully reveal itself until his health scare passed and he said, "'Thank God,' and it was the first time the word God made sense to me." What resulted he said was "freedom." Studying the Bible, "came to open my mind to ideas I had not looked at before... I was making peace with my God instead of him being my enemy."As a result, he explained, "I was seeing how powerful sexuality was and that I should not take it flippantly."

Yet Glatze and Nycum were in a long-term relationship, and though he would not discuss their intimate life and whether they were monogamous, he acknowledged that he loved Benjie and that their union was, in his view, "divinely inspired." So what was flippant about that love?"

In the homosexual desire, there is a craving that has a sense of need and along with it the sense that we are doing something wrong," Glatze responded. "That comes from the knowledge of right and wrong and of life. That is different from what I am calling a normal relationship." The potential for procreation is critical in appropriate sexual relationships, Glatze now believes. "If I tried to have sex with a guy, it would steal his sexuality," he argued.

"We have within us the power and important ability to create life." Asked about all the heterosexual coupling that has nothing to do with procreation, Glatze conceded that there is considerable "lust-based" straight sex. He was not able, however, to articulate precisely why then his new Christian right allies focus their ire so disproportionately on homosexuality.

His experience is his past homosexuality, Glatze said. "I can only tell my own story."Glatze's decision to speak out after several years of evolution in his beliefs was, he said, "The obvious thing. I had already come to the conclusion that not everyone who has same-sex desires has to have a gay identity. I got rid of both and I felt more true to myself. Anyone else could do it."

But Glatze is interested in more than simply spreading the good news of his rebirth. He warns that homosexuality and heterosexuality cannot co-exist."The more homosexuality is accepted, the more homosexuals there are," he said. "The more we perpetuate the gay identity to children, the more homosexuals there are. The homosexual mindset is that they always want to find more homosexuals."

Asked to explain a statement at the core of traditional right-wing fear-mongering regarding homosexuality's threat to children, Glatze mentioned what he said was a common gay fantasy about seducing straight men, and his own determination as a younger man to "queer up the world."

Speaking of his youthful embrace of his homosexuality, Glatze asserted, "If it was a world where no gay identity existed and if you had same-sex behavior punished, then a) I would not have done it, b) I would not have had a gay identity that does not exist, and c) I would have seen myself as a normal heterosexual and sought the help of the numerous support groups to deal with my feelings." In mentioning the criminalization of gay sex,

Glatze amended his choice of words from "imprisonment" to "punishment" and then emphasized that he was not endorsing the idea, but only saying that America needed to discuss the question - that is, whether the freedom he has found might need to be enforced on others.

As for his success in dealing with his now-troublesome homosexual feelings, Glatze said the idea of having sex with a man makes him sick, and that he is attracted to women.

Still, he acknowledged, "I lived with the habits for so long, there are times when I can see habitual reactions. Something you might have looked at all your life, you can see yourself notice it, but it does not have the same result in terms of desire. I don't crave or want anymore."His attraction to women has not led him into a relationship, and Glatze emphasized he is not interested in any "lust-based sex." Asked how he will be drawn into a sexual relationship with a woman without lust, he responded, "It's part of the great mystery of life," and said that through prayer he had learned from God that a relationship is probably at least a year off.

Glatze - attractive, intelligent, and committed - could become a formidable anti-gay leader, but there are signs that after dipping his toe in the water, he has found it disagreeably cold.

Scheduled to appear this week on Paula Zahn's CNN program and the Sirius Radio show hosted by Michelangelo Signorile (whose producer passed on Glatze's current contact information to Gay City News), he backed out of both. "I've actually been trying to cut down on talking to people," Glatze said. "I had prayed about going on 'Signorile' and CNN and decided not to. Many people I've spoken to have been not so nice to me."

This guy is so messed up, it isn't funny. I only have pity for him. Again this is another case of a gay guy who somehow feels that turning straight will make his fucked up mind feel better. It's not his sexuality that is the matter, it's his mental state of health. I am so sorry that he feels that his life has been wasted. And now he is in the hands of the Christian Right to make him their latest ex-gay poster boy in their endless propaganda drive to turn the non gay American public against our cause for equal rights and the legal ability to marry.

Just Chillin Out

Not much going on with me today. But I'm looking forward to another great summertime weekend.

Seeing this pic reminds me how much I enjoy nipples. I return to this topic, from time to time, but it's worth repeating.

There is nothing more enjoyable to me that man to man nipple play. It just gets me aroused big time.

The response of the nipple to touch is pure pleasure, almost like an out-of-body experience. Tweaking another guy's nips connects me with his pleasure. It seems like nipple play is the ties that bind some guys together. It's just a big fuckin turn-on.

Hoping you guys are having a super day and are gearing up for a great weekend. These lazy days of summer don't last long. So enjoy some shirtless pleasures. Hey, I'm going to do just that.

And I couldn't think of any better summertime pleasure than to lick some creamy chocolate flavored Readi-Whip cream off a hot guy's hairy muscled pec and filling up my beard with yummy pleasure. Now, that's nipple lickin good.

We Never Can Change Who We Love, Who We Are. Yet Another Positive Affirmation Of Why We Are Gay

(CNN) -- After five years of trying to date girls and to conform and conceal his sexuality, 18-year-old Steven Field told his friends and family that he was gay.

Steven Field, now 25, came out to his friends and family when he was 18.

"I wasn't being honest to myself," Field, now 25, said of his closeted high school years in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois.

Being gay was natural for him, Field, who lives in Washington, said in a Thursday phone interview. "I didn't choose to be gay anymore than straight people choose to be straight."
To those who would disagree with him, Field said, "You don't choose who you love."
Field is not alone in thinking that sexual orientation is a fixed element of a person. Whether homosexuality is innate or whether it is acquired -- the age-old nature versus nurture debate -- has long shaped the political and social discussion over gay rights.

Over the years, the genetically based argument has found increasing support among Americans, according to polls. More and more people now believe that homosexuality is a permanent, immutable part of a person, much like fingerprints or eye color.

According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Wednesday, 56 percent of Americans believe that gays and lesbians could not change their sexual orientation even if they wanted to do so -- the first time that a majority has held that belief regarding homosexuality since CNN first posed the question nearly 10 years ago.

The sampling error for the results is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

Six years ago, 45 percent of Americans responding to a CNN/USA/Gallup Poll said gays and lesbians could not change their sexual orientation. And in 1998, the number was 36 percent, according to a CNN/Time poll.

The latest poll results affirmed what many gay and lesbians see as a shift in attitude across the country toward homosexuality. Even in the face of state legislation that denies gays the right to marry or to form civil unions, more Americans are now accepting of homosexuality, gays and lesbians say.

The term, feeling natural being gay, is the best way to sum up who we are. So if we can't change, the only thing left is to change the perception straights have for us. And that is slowing changing to our favor.

Hoping everyone had a super spectacular Canada Day, and Independence Day. Anyone shoot off extra fireworks that we should know about?

Being Gay Isn't for Sissys, and No Study Can Prove Otherwise

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Can you tell whether someone's gay just by the way he or she walks?

David Sylva wants to know. He straps bright red lights to people's bodies and videotapes them walking in the dark. He then shows the videotape to observers (who won't be biased by clothing or hairstyles since the walker is in the dark) and asks them to guess the walker's sexual orientation.

(Watch Video 1 , Video 2 , Video 3 , and Video 4 and see whether you can tell if the walker is gay or straight. For the answers, click here).

Sylva's observations focus on the physical characteristics of the individual's stride, such as the closeness of the knees. (Watch how Sylva uses traits to identify gay people )

Why does Sylva, a graduate student at Northwestern University, care so much about how gay people walk? Because he's one of a growing number of researchers who think sexual orientation may be as basic as how you walk, something inborn that you don't choose.

His premise reflects a growing belief among Americans, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll. (Poll majority: Gays' orientation can't change ) For the first time a majority of respondents -- about 56 percent -- said they don't believe a person can change his or her sexual orientation. In a similar poll in 2001, 45 percent said orientation couldn't change. In 1998, 36 percent held that belief. The sampling error for Wednesday's results is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

A growing number of psychologists and geneticists are working on the "nature versus nurture" question -- a question that's set off a highly charged political debate about whether people choose to be gay, or whether gayness is determined by their DNA.

Take Richard Lippa, a professor of psychology at California State University at Fullerton. His studies show that gay people are twice as likely to be left-handed. He also collects photos of hair whorls -- those circular swirls you see atop a man's head. He says about 10 percent of the general population have whorls that rotate counter-clockwise, but about 20 percent of gay men have counter-clockwise whorls.

Lippa acknowledges that studying hair patterns sounds strange. "It sounds a little like the 'Twilight Zone' or voodoo science," he says. But to Lippa, a link between sexual orientation and something that's clearly inborn (like handedness or the way hair grows) speaks volumes. His theory: You can't choose your whorl, and you can't choose your sexuality, either.

"You're born with either a clockwise or a counter-clockwise hair whorl. It's fixed, it's biologically determined. No one's going to argue that your hair whorl is influenced by learning or culture," he says.

Lippa says his next step is see whether there are specific genes that control sexual orientation.
Douglas Abbott thinks Lippa won't find a thing.

"There is no evidence of a 'gay gene,' " says Abbott, professor of child and family studies at the University of Nebraska.

Abbott points to studies that look at the sexual orientation of the offspring of gay people. "If homosexuality was caused by genetic mechanisms, their children would be more likely to choose same-sex interaction," he says. "But they aren't more likely, so therefore it can't be genetic."
For Abbott, the answer to the nature-vs.-nurture question is very clear. "I think the primary causes of same-sex behavior are environmental and personal choice and free agency," he says. "Can someone change their orientation? The definitive answer to that is, "yes.' "

That makes Gerulf Rieger laugh. "Ask a bunch of straight guys [if they could switch to being gay] and they would tell you, 'Are you kidding me?' " says Rieger, a lecturer in psychology at Northwestern University. "So the other way around doesn't work either."

In his research, Rieger shows videotapes of men and women talking about the weather. Observers have been able to predict with great accuracy whether the person talking is gay or straight. "Even within seconds, people are pretty good at figuring out who's gay and who's not," he says.

Like Sylva with his illuminated walkers, Rieger thinks his research points to genetics, and not choice, as the source of sexual orientation.
"It doesn't seem to be the social environment, it doesn't seem to be the parents or peers that make you gay," he says. "It seems to be something that comes from within

You know, the more of this bullshit that surfaces, the more pissed off I get. Hell, we are gay men. We are PROUD of that. None of us would have it any other way. So why is all of this shit face, so called science resurfacing again, especially as Gay Pride Month draws to a close?

So maybe I have the true test if a guy is gay or straight. Suppose I give him big hairy muscle hugs. If he raises his left hand to give me a hug in return, I can probably determine that he is gay. If he gropes me, then there is more of a certainty.

Such foolishness. But yep, it's more of a certainty than guessing when Paris Hilton will get married, settle down and raise a kid or two, without a nanny in tow. Odds of being left handed and gay might be better. Go figure.

Gay Rape, Something That Must Never Be Tolerated

SAN FRANCISCO

Campaign to raise awareness of gay rape

San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, Supervisor Bevan Dufty and Police Chief Heather Fong unveiled on Wednesday a new public awareness campaign intended to shine a light on a rarely discussed yet increasingly common crime: gay rape.

Posters will start appearing on Muni buses reading, "I thought he was a great guy until he raped me." A hot line -- (415) 333-4357 -- is available for reporting the crimes, and a new Web site is up at http://www.mensurvivingrape.org/. The campaign comes just before people converge on San Francisco for gay pride weekend.

City officials gathered on the steps of City Hall to discuss the importance of reporting gay rape and sexual assault to authorities -- and doing so quickly so physical evidence can be preserved.

"Rape is wrong not matter the gender, no matter the sexuality," Dufty said. "Our city is prepared to come forward and extend a hand."

Jovida Guevara-Ross, director of Community United Against Violence, said most gay rape goes unreported and that victims' trauma typically lasts well beyond the time of the actual attack. They often experience panic attacks, flashbacks, physical pain and stress.

"We're here for you," she said. "Please call."

Nine cases of gay sexual assault were reported in the city in 2006, but in the first half of 2007, that number is already up to 18. Officials said they believe more attacks are happening this year, but that increased awareness of the importance of reporting the crimes may also contribute to the higher number.

The attacks are almost all happening in the Castro. Anti-crime volunteers began patrolling the neighborhood last fall wearing orange clothing and carrying whistles after two men reported being raped in the area.

One of them, Mark Welsh, spoke up at the press conference Wednesday. He said he was raped by two men on Sanchez Street in September, reported the crime and worked diligently with police -- but that his case went nowhere. He said he had no idea 18 sexual assaults have already happened this year, and that city officials need to do a better job of alerting Castro residents of danger spots.

"I'm appalled and astounded that I'm unaware of all these," he told Harris during the press conference. "There is a lack of communication."

Fong said the Police Department provides maps of where sexual assaults take place, but does not break them out by gender. She said the department will start providing crime maps by gender this week so gay men can see exactly where and at what time of day other men have been assaulted.

Under no circumstances can gay rape ever be condoned or tolerated. Gay male sex is always consensual. Never can a gay guy think that he can force himself on another guy to have sex. If a guy isn't interested in sex, that must be the final word. There is no grey area.

Our Egos and Other Things Have Just Been Deflated. We Aren't the Fashion Queens We Think We Are.

The following is from the current issue of Details magazine.

Who Says All Gay Men Are Stylish?

The idea that all gay men are fashionable is bull—just look at all the friends of Dorothy who dress like they're still in Kansas. Tell us what you think about the myth of gay style below.
-By Katherine Wheelock-

The following article puts us down a peg or two. However to me, it's not the clothes that make the man, but how he wears what little he can get away with. WOOF.

According to a perception that clings to popular culture like a sparkly barnacle, a visit to a predominantly gay neighborhood should yield style enlightenment. Going to the West Side enclave of Chelsea in New York should be like strolling the via Montenapoleone, in Milan. Fashion-challenged men and women should flock to these places and take notes.

Tracing the roots of this myth is easy. The Stylish Gay Man is at least as old as the Magical Negro, and older than the Nerdy Asian. Since time began, homosexuality has been associated with aesthetic acumen. It's a reasonable generalization—one that Edward II, Quentin Crisp, Liberace, and others did little to weaken, and one that understandably sashayed into the late 20th century and the early 21st; most of the openly gay men American society first accepted as public figures were clothing designers.

"This idea comes from how awareness of gay men grew over the last 40 or 50 years," says designer Isaac Mizrahi. "To someone who only knew of three gay people, it looked like all gay men were stylish."

In movies and on TV in the eighties and nineties, gay sidekicks gave sartorial and grooming advice to their messy-haired, mannish girlfriends. The Verdis and the Cojocarus of the world emerged in their wake, and on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Carson Kressley and company began gussying up men. As long as the tip was offered with a cock of the hip and a Mary Lou Retton grin, it was fabulous.

"The conventional wisdom has always been that effeminate men were concerned with style and appearance," says Simon Doonan, fashion pundit and creative director at Barneys New York. "If a movie script called for a character to be fluffy or superficial, they made him a fashion designer. This gave rise to the erroneous idea that all gay men are fashion-obsessed."

But even now that the confetti from the gay-makeover party has settled, the myth of the Stylish Gay Man persists. William Sledd, a 23-year-old Gap manager from Paducah, Kentucky, just signed a deal with Bravo to do an online, critic-at-large—style show based on his video blog, "Ask a Gay Man." This spring it blew up as the fourth-most-subscribed-to video blog on YouTube. Sledd has a side-swept haircut like Clay Aiken and often wears a tight argyle sweater or a slogan T-shirt. He says things like "What's up with all the black? I don't think there are enough pink ninjas in the world." He's entertaining. But what makes him a style expert—besides the fact that he's gay?

"Schooling and exposure determine your ability to say what looks good and what doesn't look good, not your sexual preference," Mizrahi says. "It's like saying all black people have rhythm."
And as a walk through Chelsea demonstrates—in the spring, it's often a visual smorgasbord of pink polo shirts skimming potbellies, patch-bedecked denim jackets, and silvery sneakers worn with an 11-year-old girl's naive enthusiasm—the idea that homosexual males have more style sense than any other category of human beings is patently untrue. If you were picking teams, kickball-at-recess-style, for a fashion championship, who would you call first dibs on? Lance Bass, George Clooney, Alan Cumming, Jay-Z, Rufus Wainwright, or Brad Pitt?

Take your time.

Gay men, unlike supermodels and rock stars, have no more knack for looking good in pretty much anything than the rest of us. And while there might be (just barely) fewer gay rumors circulating about the painstakingly groomed, French-cuffed Ryan Seacrest than there are about the black-T-shirt-clad Simon Cowell, it's hardly risky for a straight man to demonstrate an appreciation for fashion these days.

The Stylish Gay Man's days may be numbered. And when he dies, the playing field will be leveled. Entertainment-show hosts and best-dressed-list compilers will stop treating straight men who simply combed their hair and put on a well-cut suit as if they were paraplegics who just completed an Ironman. And the average gay man, saddled with unrealistic expectations for his personal presentation, will breathe a sigh of relief.

"There have been so many times when I wished I was a lesbian and didn't have to care about what I wore," says Michael Macko, vice president of men's fashion at Saks Fifth Avenue. "Why can't I put on dirty sweat pants, a pair of Birkenstocks, a flannel shirt, and think, Which baseball cap will I wear today? It must be nice to buy all your clothes at outlet stores."

Thanks, Details.

I'm afraid that there will always be a little of the fashion queen in most gay men. We tend to buy clothes that dictate fashion. Where we go wrong is buying stuff out of the International Male catalog, that may look good on the model, but would look absolutely terrible on mere mortals such as us.

I got this one hard and fast rule about buying clothes. Buy for comfort, but especially, if you are catalog shopping, buy clothing that looks good on a guy model that most resembles you, your features, your build. Doing otherwise leads to mockery and bitter disappointment.

All of you daddies and dads out there, I wish all of you mega hairy muscle hugs in honor of each of you this Sunday, Father's Day. Even if you aren't a Dad in the traditional sense, you are one in my eyes.

2007 GAY PRIDE Events, A Partial List

Show your pride this year. And if some guy comes up to you bearing hairy muscle hugs, embrace him. That's the best way to celebrate pride.

Below are some of the places and dates when various cities are celebrating Gay Pride.

Partial List of Pride Events

Happy Pride to You and Yours!
Get out and celebrate your pride!

This is a Partial Listing.
There are more events that are not on this list.

Toronto Digital Queeries has been listing Pride events for free since 1996. Michael is the founder of Gay Toronto's - Queer West Village and Gay West Community Network (a GLBTQ community centre) in the queer west-end of Toronto, Ontario
Canada - Pride by Provinces, cities 2007 (updated May 11, 2007)Calgary, Alberta - Single day events June 1, 8, 10 and 16, 2007 Edmonton Alberta, June 15-24, 2007 Halifax, Nova Scotia, Date not set, 2007
Saint John, New Brunswick August 12-19, 2007 Montreal - Divers/Cité et la Fierté August 1-5, 2007Okanagan Valley, Date not set, 2007 Ottawa Pride - August 17-26, 2007Prince George , June 30 to July 8, 2007Vancouver B.C.Pride Parade, August 5, 2007Winnipeg, Manitoba, Sunday June 1 to 10, 2007Yellowknife , North West Terrorities No Pride event, 2007
Pride Events - Province of Ontario, Canada 2007 (update May 11, 2007)
Barrie, Ontario, Simcoe County - No Pride events since 2004?Cambridge , Kitchener and Waterloo, Ontario, Pride postponed until June 2008. Cornwall Ontario - September 1-2, 2007
Durham Region, Durham Pride Weekend, June 8 to 10, 2007Guelph, Saturday May 26, 2007Halton, Ontario, Milton, Oakville, Georgetown - Fall Pride for Halton on September 8th, 2007 Hamilton , Burlington, Niagara Region, Ontario - June 9th to 17th, 2007 London,Strafford, Woodstock area, Ontario - July 19 until July 29, 2007. Peel. (Mississauga, Ontario) No Dates set for 2007 Peterborough, ON No date set for 2007 Sarnia-lambton, Ontario - No pride day plans 2007Sudbury, Ontario- July 16 to 22, 2007 (new website) Sault Ste. Marie , ON No pride day plans 2007Toronto ON - (old gay village) Pride Parade on Yonge St., June 24, 2007 2 pm.Queer West Village - Toronto Home to largest queer festivals in North Ameica - Queer West June 15-22. & International Q Fest Oct.
Windsor Ontario - July 23-29, 2007
United States of America -Pride Events by city and state 2007 (Completed Saturday June 2,)Allentown PA Saturday June 16Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA - June 8-9 Annapolis, MD, USA - Wednesday August 25Arizona, USA Phoenix - April 14 & 15 Atlanta, Georgia USA - June 23-24Austin Pride, TX, Austin Pride Parade June 2ndBaltimore , MD, USA - June 17 & 17Bangor Maine, USA - Southern Maine Pride Saturday June 16 Birmingham, Alabama, USA - Central Alabama Pride June 1-10 Boise, Idaho, USA Boise Idaho Pride (nothing planned since 2004)
Boone North Carolina, June 8 & 9 Brooklyn , New York , June 9Boulder Col, USA (no event planned 2007) Boston, Mass., USA - June1-10Buffalo, N.Y. Burlington, Vermont - Parade June 3rdCape Cod - August 25 - Location: Mallory Dock/Club 477 Cedar Rapids PrideFest, Iowa, June 2Charlotte, North Carolina, USA - Charlotte Pride (no date set, 2007) Chicago, Illinois, USA - 38th Annual Parade, Sunday June 24Cincinnati, Ohio, USA - June 9 & 10Cleveland, Ohio, USA - Cleveland Pride Saturday June 16Columbus, Ohio Columbus Pride June 22-24 Columbia, South Carolina, USA September 22-24 Connecticut Pride
- Saturday June 30Delaware Pride , Delaware - Saturday September 15Dallas Texas - Sunday September 16 ParadeDenver, Colorado, Denver Pride June 23 & 24 Des Moines, Iowa - June 3-10Detroit, Michigan, USA Motor City Pride June 2 & 3Duluth , MN, USA Duluth Pride Festival - Labor Day Weekend September 1st, 2007Erie, Pennsylvania, Pride Picnic - June 2, 2007 Flagstaff , Arizona, USA - June 8 & 9Florida, South, USA - March 3, 2007Ft. Lauderdale, Florida - March 10-11, 2007Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA (no glbt pride since 2005) Gainesville. Florida, USA Gainesville Pride (no date set 2007)
Harrisburg , Pennsylvania, USA - Harrisburg Pride, Saturday July 28Hartford, Connecticut, USA - Hartford Pride Saturday June 30 Honolulu, Hawaii, USA - Honolulu Pride Sunday, May 27th thru Saturday, June 2nd Houston, Texas, USA - Houston Pride Saturday June 23Jacksonville, Florida, USA - Jacksonville Pride, Saturday July 28Jersey City , NJ - Jersey City Pride, Saturday August 25 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA - (server down?)Long Beach, California, USA Long Beach Pride May 19 & 20, 2007
Long Island, New York USA- Huntington, Long Island Pride Rally, Parade, and Festival Sunday, June 10, 2007 http://www.liprideparade.com/index2.html Los Angeles-West Christopher Street June 8, 9 and 10, 2007
,Mankato, Minnesota South Central Pride Festival - Saturday, September 8, 2007 Memphis Pride, Tenn., Mid-South Pride June 10Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA Milwaukee Pride June 8, 9 and 10Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA Minneapolis Pride June 15 to 24 Monterey, California July 13 & 14Nashville, Tennessee, USA PrideFest - June 1-3New Haven, Connecticut, USA - New Haven Connecticut Pride Saturday June 30 New Jersey, USA New Jersy - Sunday June 3rdNew Orleans , Louisiana, USA - Southern Decadence August 29 to September 3rdNew York City New York City, central pride - New York City Pride Week - June 17 to 24
North Carolina, USA NC Pride will take place on Saturday, September 29, 2007 at Duke University Oklahoma City , Oklahoma, USA Oklahoma City Pride -June 15 to 24Omaha, Nebraska, USA Omaha Gay Pride - June 8 & 9 Orlando, Florida, USA Orlando Gay Days - May 29 to June 4Palm Springs, California, USA - Palm Springs Pride Festival - November 3 & 4Pasadena, California, USA - Sunday September 17 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA -Philadelphia Pride - Sunday June 10th.Phoenix, Arizona , USA - Phoenix Pride Parade & Party In The Park - April 14 & 15Pine City, Minnesota. 3rd year to celebrate "Pride in the Park" on Sunday, June 3rd from Noon to 5:00 P.M 2007Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA Pittsburgh Pride - June 16, 2007

Portland , OREGON, USA Lesbian/Gay/Bi/Trans Parade and Festival - June 16 & 17 Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, USA Raleigh Pride - September 29th. Rochester- New York State - July 14, 2007St. Louis, Missouri, USA St. Louis - PrideFest 2007 will be June 23-24,San Antonio, USA San Antonio Pride - June 16 St. Petersburg , Florida, USA June 30thSan Diego, California, July 15, 21 and 22San Francisco San Francisco 37th Annual Pride June 23 & 24 San Luis Obispo, county California, USA San Luis Obispo Pride July 4 to 8San Jose, California, USA San Jose Pride - June 9 & 10Santa Barbara, California, USA Santa Barbara Pride June 5 to 12 Santa Cruz, California, USA June 3rd
Savannah, Georgia, USA - Saturday, September 15th, 2007Seattle, Washington, USA June 24th.South Carolina, City of Columbia, Black Pride June 18 to 24 Tucson, Arizona, USA Tucson Pride - October 13 Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA Tulsa Pride - June 2 to 8Utah , USA Pide June 1 to 3Washington DC, USA 32 Annual Pride celebration June 9 and 10Virginia State, USA - September 29th 2007
More:
http://digitalqueeries.905host.net/files/world_pride_days.htm

Catching Up on Stuff

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Took some time off and packed some of my leather and headed out to International Mr. Leather in Chicago last weekend.

Really had a great time. A lot of leather studs came out to play and party. Went to all of the events, and for the most part, had a great time.

The leathermart was the place to see and be seen. Also the grand lobby of the Palmer House Hotel was always crowed. Too bad that parts of the hotel were undergoing renovations for this year and part of next year. The work area cut into the lobby meet and greet space.

No surprises at the contest. The favored 3 were chosen, and nobody, except the other 17 semi-finalists went home disappointed. The show moved along with precision and was quite enjoyable.

It has taken me several days to recover, but I now feel ready to resume my normal leather life.

What is fascinating about IML is that you can strut your stuff, bare butt in chaps and booted, shirtless, harnessed, whatever. The confines of the Palmer House was each guy's personal fantasy playground. And most guys took full advantage of that opportunity.

The entrance to the hotel warned visitors that the entire hotel was booked for a private gathering until Tuesday morning. Seeing gay men controling their total environment, if only for a weekend, was empowering to watch and participate in.

This segregation was to the leather communities benefit. It served to allow us to enjoy our fetish and sexual freedom without harassment. The same, you will read below, has just happened in a gay hotel and bar in Melbourne, Australia.

Gay pub wins right to ban straights
Tue May 29, 10:16 AM ET
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - An Australian hotel catering for homosexuals has won the right to ban heterosexuals from its bars so as to provide a safe and comfortable venue for gay men.

In what is believed to be a first for Australia, the Victorian state civil and administrative tribunal ruled last week that the Peel Hotel in the southern city of Melbourne could exclude patrons based on their sexuality.
Australia's equal opportunity laws prevent people being discriminated against based on race, religion or sexuality.
But Peel Hotel owner Tom McFeely said the ruling was necessary to provide gay men with a non-threatening atmosphere to freely express their sexuality.
"If I can limit the number of heterosexuals entering the Peel, then that helps me keep the safe balance," Peel told Australian radio on Monday.

McFeely said that, while the hotel welcomed everyone, its gay clientele had expressed discomfort over the number of heterosexuals and lesbians coming to the venue in the past year.
He said there were more than 2,000 venues in Melbourne that catered to heterosexuals, but his hotel was the only one marketing itself predominantly to gay men.

Victoria's state human rights commission backed the ruling, saying it was in line with equal opportunity guidelines defending the rights of groups subject to discrimination.
Commission chief Helen Szoke said the hotel's gay clientele had experienced harassment and violence. "(They) also have felt as though they've been like a zoo exhibit with big groups of women on hens' parties coming to the club," Szoke told reporters.

McFeely told the radio that the hotel had received homophobic telephone calls since news of the ruling was made public.

I have visited the Peel Hotel on one of my visits to Melbourne. While I never felt uncomfortable, I didn't like straights mixing in with the rest of us. Sometimes it is better to have our own places to hang out and enjoy each other in an inviting environment. I really don't like to give big hairy muscle hugs to anyone other than woofy guys like yourself. That's my perogative. And I am sticking to that preference.