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London: Gay couple threatened with death in violent late night homophobic assault
141
Government considers watered down same-sex marriage bill to minimise Tory rebellion
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Tory MP Gerald Howarth: 'There are plenty in the aggressive homosexual community who want more than just same-sex marriage'
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France: Far right activist commits suicide in Notre Dame following legalisation of equal marriage
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Philip Hammond: 'No great demand for gay marriage and it's upsetting vast numbers of people'
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Norman Tebbit: David Cameron has 'f**** things up' with his equal marriage bill
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Tory MP Sir Gerald Howarth defends 'aggressive homosexual community' equal marriage slur
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David Cameron: Gay teenagers will stand that bit taller following equal marriage vote
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US church blames Woolwich suspected terror killing on UK acceptance of gay people
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US church blames Oklahoma tornado on gay basketball player Jason Collins
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Robert in S. Kensington 728
GulliverUK 357
Jock S. Trap 336
Mark Y 334
Iris 328
Midnighter 326
Rehan 317
That There Other David 310
Tim 296
D.McCabe 284
http://www.ashbournenewstelegraph.co.uk/News/Toilet-is-a-cruising-hotspot-on-website.htm – dated 28th July 2010! Come on PN, it’s piss-poor journalism to run 2 year old stories as if they are new.
Also at the time of writing the link at the bottom of the page is malformed:
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/12/04/uk-local-newspaper-exposes-public-toilet-as-gay-cruising-spot/%E2%80%9Dhttp://www.pinknews.co.uk/2006/09/01/cruising-the-british-library/%E2%80%9D
should be
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2006/09/01/cruising-the-british-library/
I used to work in sexual health outreach and most of the people we dealt with in cruising areas didn’t actually identify as gay, lots of straight, curious and married men, so it always annoys me as a gay man who has never used a cruising area to find sex, when people talk as though it’s purely a gay thing.
The words you are looking for are ‘bisexual men’ I think?
Propaganda. I used to cruise a lot and 90% of the men I encountered were out gay men who also cruised the scene. That, in any event, is my experience of cottaging & outdoor cruising in London.
If they are looking to have sex with men then they are, to that extent, gay, whether they “identify” as gay or not.
Or bisexual.
No straight man goes cruising for sex in toilets with other men.
If men are actually having sex IN the toilet-then that act is illegal under the 2003 Sexual Offences Act- HOWEVER- It would NOT be illegal to MEET other men at that toilet in order to make contact-prior to having sex ELSEWHERE and then “out of public view”-provided they can’t be seen by at least TWO other people who “happen to be present”.
It constatntly annoys me that the public still think it is illegal for gay men to MEET in order to arrange a sexual liason.
They wouldn’t think twice about straights going out on a saturday night to various venues-hoping to meet a sexual partner there.
It’s also not illegal for a newspaper to run stories on where the cruising or dogging areas in a neighbourhood are.
Cruising in toilets is utterly unnecessary in 2012,
Go to a sauna or on Grindr if you want to hook up.
It’s the phrase ‘unnecessary’ which irritates me the most
Unless you understand why people do something then you can’t actually pass any kind of informed comment on it…
Clearly from the moral indignation in your posting you have a problem with it, but I clearly hasn’t occurred to you that other people could take exactly the same stance about gay men having sex in saunas or via Grindr…
I thought we’d all grown up about sex already…what happened…?
A large proportion of gay and bisexual men don’t have Grindr. Also- they wouldn’t be seen dead at a gay sauna!
How do you explain that to your wife?
What I am clarifying here is the LAW.
It is illegal to have sex in a public toilet- it is NOT illegal to meet men for sex- however much straights would like it to be.
Same rules for all of us please.
And I imagine there’s a clear definition of what ‘sex’ actually means no?
At the time of the debate, MPs were seriously considering only making it illegal to be SEEN having sex and not inside cubicles.
There is clearly STILL enormous confusion surrounding this, and an unhealthy dose of puritanical homophobia tied up with it too
I used to have friends in Ashbourne and used to visit it regularly. Nice little town. But very little happening. I wonder if the people of Ashbourne would allow a gay pub to open, so that some locals, at least, could meet there?
People go in there with their kids just to use the toilet, it’s not right.
Sorry, badly written. Just made me laugh.
“reps, bikers, businessmen, married guys, straight men, and truckers”
This newspaper sounds more like a free advert.
“A worker at a nearby recycling centre told the paper: “We always see cars outside there, there are always people in there doing things. You’ll go in there and if you disturb them they will run out.”
Did this worker explain why his place of work nearby doesn’t have it’s own toilets?
“it would be the same if it was a man or woman up to no good. It’s a public toilet.”
…it’s the phrase ‘up to no good’ which concerns me here
“officers take positive action against anyone found acting in an anti-social way in the area”
The irony for me is calling sex ‘anti-social’ when society wouldn’t actually exist without it…
According to a more recent report in the same paper, this cottage might have been closed.
http://www.ashbournenewstelegraph.co.uk/News/Mayfield-Road-toilets-facing-closure-02102012.htm