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One Out Gay Cop: Gay Moderates, Proposition 64, and Policing in Early AIDS-Crisis Los Angeles, 1969-1992 For poor and working-class people unable to hide their homosexuality - such as full-time drag queens, castaway street youth, sissies and fags with limp wrists, and bulldykes with butch personas - state expansion exacerbated mainstream social isolation, employment discrimination, and housing insecurity in mixed-race "vice districts."[12] However, mostly white and middle-class gay and lesbian moderates in Los Angeles who passed as "straight" and learned to hide their homosexuality at work, at school, in the military, and with friends and family managed to B b enjoy some of the benefits of privacy and property conferred to straight citizens under an expanded straight state. B I b n Late 1992 the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Police Advisory Task Force (hereafter the Task Force) unveiled a victory more than fifteen years in the making: the publication of a gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) awareness training manual for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). Through tracing the troubled history of gay moderate activism around hiring an out gay cop, we highlight the limitations of the "single-oppression model" of gay and lesbian politics critiqued by Cohen and the urgency of building transformative queer political coalitions.[118] Footnotes 1 For more on the LAPD's criminalization of homosexuality, see Emily K. Hobson, "Policing Gay LA: Mapping Racial Divides in the Homophile Era", in I The Rising Tide of Color i , ed. [Extracted from the article]

In lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) spaces, gay male practices, sexualities, and priorities often dominate. I argue that in mixed-gender LGBTQ festival spaces in the South, gay aesthetics are normative, which often minimizes the contributions of lesbian, bisexual, and queer (LBQ) women. I compare two festival events run by the LGBTQ community—Cornyation, a mock debutante pageant that is part of Fiesta in San Antonio, Texas, and Osiris Ball, a formal Carnival ball during Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama. This research is based on participant observation data collected at both events over several years and 38 interviews conducted with event participants. I argue that at these events, gay aesthetic power is exerted through the expectation that LBQ women should master these aesthetics, a dynamic that often relies on gay men as arbiters of successful mastery. These processes were more dramatic in organizations and spaces where men were a numerical majority. This marginalization fits within a pattern of androcentric bias in both the arts and the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When viewed over time, many gay men's relationships are not static, or firmly fixed to monogamy or non-monogamy. This paper uses in-depth interviews with 61 Australian gay men to explore how monogamy and non-monogamy are experienced over time, expectations of what constitutes the norms regarding gay men's relationships and how couples experience and practices change. Although some gay men may idealise monogamy, particularly at the beginning of a relationship, it is often experienced as temporary. Non-monogamy is often seen as a likely prospect for gay relationships owing to the social and cultural norms that operate in gay communities. These expected trajectories are reflected in practice - many relationships begin monogamously and then become non-monogamous over time. While the application of 'rules', experimentation and flexibility can facilitate change, couples may struggle to navigate new territory as their relationship structures shift. This is particularly the case when partners value monogamy and non-monogamy differently, or when one partner's values change. These findings shed light on how gay men approach change to the status of 'fidelity' within their relationships, and the tensions and opportunities that change can produce for couples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented which offers a panel discussion on the subjects of queer cultural activism and gay marriage in the U.S., which derives from the "ImageOut: The Rochester LGBT Film and Video Festival" and the exhibition titled "ImageArt" in Rochester, New York. Topics, including the history of the gay rights movement in the U.S., the disease AIDS, marriage equality and the gay community, are discussed.

Within certain conservative narratives imposed upon the events of 2005, New Orleans has been demonized as a site promoting gay licentiousness and therefore meriting divine retribution. In queer narratives, New Orleans has been valorized as promoting that same licentiousness but lamented for having those hedonistic excesses tempered by the widespread destruction of the city. Especially in the latter scenario, there is a significant degree of nostalgia, an element that also marks other queer understandings of the city that focus not so much on the hedonism as on the day-to-day warp and woof of pre-hurricane gay communities. The main focus of this essay is on how, as gay communities have been reconfigured in the aftermath of the hurricane by temporary and permanent evacuations, job relocations, and other alterations, gay responses have continued to evince a range of emotions, including anger, bitterness, resignation, and optimism. This essay focusses on gay literary production responding directly to the hurricane to examine essays and poems published as Love, Bourbon Street : Reflections of New Orleans (2006) and Blanche Survives Katrina in FEMA Trailer Named Desire, Mark Sam Rosenthal's off-Broadway show structured around a parody of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire that, as a result of this structure, faced legal action instigated by the University of the South, owner of the intellectual rights to Williams's literary production. The collection and the play are sustained queer responses to Katrina's flooding of the city that showcase both the energizing and problematic aspects of these responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research demonstrates that methamphetamine is a serious problem in gay communities. This study examined the framing of methamphetamine in nine gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) newspapers. Results showed that methamphetamine was framed as a “gay problem,” that sexual health and solutions frames were prevalent, and that GLBT newspapers covered methamphetamine in a way that is similar to how they covered AIDS in the 1980s. Implications for health campaigns are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Images depicting the (gay) Village in Montreal, Québec, and efforts to control its urban development, are moulded in the interests of local economic development. This empirical research examines imagery produced by the local community, government, and corporations, and contrasts it with spatial patterns of gay establishments, municipal planning, and the alliance of economic players. Images in local publications and promotional materials have increasingly targeted mainstream tourists and created a space that is palatable for their consumption. Interventions in Montreal's gay space and imaginary have mainstreamed the physical environment and constructed a homonormative impression of the Village and of the diverse gay individuals that frequent it. These branding efforts prioritize profits over other forms of local community development. In addition to charting the changing image and corporatization of gay space in Montreal, the research provides evidence for theories addressing the importance of marketing in place creation by illuminating modes of imagery production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses data from twenty-one online and in-person qualitative interviews to examine the meaning and use of chat rooms located on men for men (M4M) websites from the perspectives of men seeking men on the Internet. This research is inspired by recent public health and social sciences literature on gay websites and chat rooms. The data indicate that these online sites help expedite learning about sex and sexuality and, for men who are shy or geographically isolated, to interact with metropolitan gay communities. There is, however, a measure of stigma associated with use of these chat rooms, particularly by men who are older or in coupled relationships. Using these data, the paper argues that M4M chat rooms play a vital role in fostering the sexual autonomy of many men who frequent these venues and that sociologists should devote more study to the complexity of online social interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on older lesbians and gay men in Great Britain and two projects related to increasing services and support for them. These initiatives would create positive change for sexual minorities and give them a stronger voice for having their needs met. The article discusses health and social care for older gays and notes that they face discrimination, have limited resources, are underrepresented, and face ageism. Information on inclusion, rights, sexual identity, and local lesbian and gay networks and reference groups is presented as well.

Just as the creation of the information society has allowed for the expansion in e-commerce and online communication, so too has it allowed for the expansion of online sites and communities that support minority sexual practices and activities. One such activity is the cottaging phenomenon, which involves men seeking sexual satisfaction in public lavatories with other men. Like many other groups, participants in this online community have embraced the emerging technology, utilising message boards and online discussion to offer advice, spread awareness of locations, arrange sexual meetings in the physical world and share cautions and warnings. Such sites can be and are additionally used for law enforcement purposes both as a surveillance tool and as a means of preventing the criminal practice of cottaging taking place. This article will seek to consider these technological and sociological developments alongside the emerging law in this area together with an exploration of how these technological developments have changed the operation of this phenomenon in the physical world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychological Sense of Community (PSOC) theoretically comprises four components (Membership, Influence, Fulfillment of Needs, and Shared Emotional Connection), but existing measures of the components are psychometrically lacking. The current study sought to develop valid and reliable measures of the four theoretical components by building on and conceptually tightening items from existing PSOC measures, including the Sense of Community Index. Twenty-six items were administered to 348 gay and bisexual men living in Arizona. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, a three-factor model with Influence, Shared Emotional Connection, and Fulfillment of Needs/Belonging achieved the best fit; it was impossible, empirically, to distinguish between the Fulfillment of Needs and Belonging factors. Measures for these three PSOC components and the combined PSOC measure evidenced high reliabilities. Validity testing results supported the three component measures and the combined measure. Implications of the results for PSOC theory and research are discussed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes a bisexual relationship between women. This is what you must know about bisexuals: lesbian isn't the only way to be gay. Lesbian is not the only dyke. You can be 50-50. You can be 70-30. You can choose this. And this is what you must know about the gay community: transgendered people are the second-class citizens, and bisexuals are below even them. They are the white trash of the gay world, a group whom it is socially acceptable to not accept.

We systematically review quantitative research relating to the sexual behaviours of MSM in PSEs. We examine the methodological rigour of these studies to determine an appropriate framework for future PSE-based research and quantify sexual behavioural trends therein. Medline, BIDS, Web of Science and recent HIV/AIDS conferences were searched according to a systematic inclusion criteria. Nine papers were included for review. Recruitment of participants' outwith PSE settings, and low response rates (6%) of participants contacted in situ , question the validity and generalizability of current evidence. Most PSE users were gay or bisexually identified and half of men in the gay community reported recent PSE use. Around 10% of men reported casual status-unknown/serodiscordant unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) within PSEs. HIV testing rates amongst PSE users were similar to the wider gay community, though the proportion of men who tested positive was twice as high. Rates of casual UAI suggest that PSEs represent important sites for HIV prevention. However, since extant evidence is scant and methodologically flawed, further research is urgent. Such work must recruit participants in situ, and obtain satisfactory response rates, to be generalizable to the wider population of men who cruise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an interview with gay psychologist Charles Silverstein. Silverstein's argument in favor of withdrawing homosexuality from the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders"; Overview of Silverstein's activities; Observation that many of these activities have had a lasting impact upon the gay and lesbian community; His experience training as a psychologist and coming out as a gay man in the late 1960s; How he became involved with The Gay Activists Alliance (GAAA); Account of how Silverstein sought the help of therapists; Silverstein's fear of bringing shame on his family; Relationship with his family; Why he believed his parents were at the root of his homophobia; Attitude about gay liberation; Accomplishments as a leader in the gay psychology movement; Influence of his Jewish heritage on his fight against so-called sexual ethnic cleansing; Interests in art; Relationship with his partner, William Bory, who died of AIDS; How Bory's death affected him; Changes in patient relationships during Bory's illness and after his death; Thoughts on what more he would like to accomplish personally and professionally.

The complex relationships between recreational non-injection drug use and HIV sexual risk behaviors have been documented throughout the epidemic. The purpose of this study was to (1) assess the extent of non-injection recreational drug use among gay and bisexual men frequenting gay social venues, as well as to assess recent initiation of substance use, especially "club drugs"; and (2) document the interaction between drug use and risky sexual practices. Street recruitment methods were used to administer a survey to 202 gay or bisexual men recruited at ten gay social venues in New York City. The majority of participants reported substance use, and more than half reported the use of drugs other than alcohol. Participation in gay social venues such as bars, dance clubs, and bathhouses was associated with more substance use. Polydrug use, participation in gay venues, and HIV status were found to be associated with unprotected behaviors while under the influence. In multivariate analyses, the use of inhalant nitrates and alcohol were found to be the two substances that best predicted unprotected oral and anal sexual behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of an exploratory study of the leaders of a group of lesbian and gay radical street activists in a northwest metropolitan area. The characteristics of the activists and their motivations for participation in high-risk activism are examined. The results indicate a number of areas in which the activists showed similarities, including a family history of activism, personal characteristics, pioneering, and awareness of oppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of hostile and neutral or favorable religious discourse on gay community strength, as quantified by the efficiency of six types of gay colonization of public space, was examined in 200 American cities. Baptist and Holiness-Pentecostal membership was negatively correlated with most types of colonization, pro-gay Protestant and Catholic membership was mostly irrelevant, and Jewish membership was positively correlated at significant levels. In a logistic regression on dichotomized strength, only Jewish membership was a significant covariate. Results are discussed in the context of cultural studies and queer theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explores the reasons underlying the relative absence of research on the leather/levi community in gay and lesbian studies. History and special collections of Chicago, Illinois' Leather Archives and Museum; Social structure created by the leather community during the homophile era.

Alternative or gay tourism is receiving greater attention in both the business and academic worlds. This segment of the tourism market is found to travel more frequently than the 'straight' market and is more recession-proof in their travel behaviour. Studies have indicated that gay tourism is, however, rather spatially concentrated in the United States and Western Europe. This research focuses on gay-orientated infrastructure as opposed to tourists. The paper looks at the spatial distribution of gay tourism and recreation establishments around the world. It was found that even though the clustering of such infrastructure does indeed occur in the USA and Western Europe, certain places exist as 'islands' of regional importance in the gay travel network. These 'islands' could be marketed as emerging gay centres in efforts to broaden the gay travel market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the barriers to foundation funding of gay organizations in Massachusetts. History of the gay community; Implication of the emergence and rapid growth of gay, lesbian and bisexual service organizations for philanthropic support from foundations; Expansion of the funding bases of gay groups.

Examines some of the categories of homosexuality that have been identified in cross-cultural literature and explains the emergence of gay and lesbian identities and communities in Asia. Patterns of homosexuality; Impact of industrialization, economic independence and urbanization; Changes in family structure and ideology; Relation among bureaucratization, socialization and rise of homophobia.

Discusses the ambivalence of gay liberation movement and processes and examines the health and development issues surrounding the emergence of gay communities in the Philippines. Sociohistorical overview of the Philippines and its sexual culture; Amplification of social expectations and construction of homosexuals; Launch of gay magazines.

Presents perspectives and insights from South, East and Southeast Asia on gay and lesbian identities and communities across the region during the final decade of the twentieth century. Challenge of understanding gay and lesbian Asia; Politics of writing about global queering in Asia; Research by Western homosexuals on gays, lesbians and transgenders/transsexuals in Asia.

The rise of the internet has tremendous impacts on homosexual communities in Taiwan. The internet has created a medium where homosexual people can form virtual communities to seek for emotional support without fearing the disclosure of their sexual preferences and causing unwanted negative consequences. The internet has become a medium where homosexual communities can share information with each other and voice their concerns to the public. Thus, the internet may become what Ithiel de Sola Pool (1984) called 'the technology of freedom' for homosexual communities. The purposes of this paper are set to discuss whether academic homosexual individuals perceive the internet to be more fair and impartial in terms of news reporting than traditional mass media and to investigate why they use the internet. This paper employs a questionnaire survey method to collect data for the questions. The quantitative analysis of survey data (N=701), from a self-completed questionnaire using modified snowball sampling of gays and lesbians from Taiwan. Principal component analysis with varimax rotation led to seven factors that account for 66.31% of the variance. These factors are social interaction and information, entertainment and relaxation, personal revelation, preference, privacy and escapism, pass time and, novelty-seeking. Correlation analyses also suggested that respondents' demographics, internet usage frequency and, time are associated with their use motivation. As an exploratory study of an academic homosexual population and their internet use behaviour in Taiwan, this study raised more questions than it intended to answer. The use of individual media by this group needs further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines consequences concerning the misuse of marketing data on lesbian and gay press in the United States. Utilization of the marketing data in representing the entire lesbian and gay community; Determination of the readership data from several urban lesbian and gay newspapers; Changes in the role of the lesbian and gay press in the gay community.

Explores how might the end of AIDS be understood as an AIDS discourse that tells about the relationship of the gay and lesbian community to AIDS. Details of how artists living with HIV/AIDS responded to the calls for post-AIDS identities and cultures; Comments on the new AIDS-as-crisis discourse among the black and Latino leadership in gay community; Discussion of two dancer-choreographers whose work enables people to think through the contradictions and challenges of the end of AIDS.

Investigates a wide range of gay and lesbian histories in the state of New South Wales. Another kind of coming out; Rite of passage in the gay and lesbian communities; Ambivalence towards homosexuality; Race and sexuality.

Focuses on gay and lesbian spaces within the city of Los Angeles, California. Details of how Long Beach emerged as a lesbian haven; Link between urban space and personal experience narrative; Narratives of homosexuals about their city.

The article reports on the operation of gay culture and gay community in Adelaide, South Australia. The aim is to uncover the social and cultural aspects of how the HIV/ AIDS epidemic is operating and being operated upon in South Australia. A study was conducted to find what was the prevailing thinking about HIV and Adelaide's sexual and social formations in this context. The data for the study was collected through twenty-one, face to face, life history interviews, five group interviews and other ethnographic work, including textual analysis of gay community print materials.

Presents a study which examined how the obtaining of community accommodation is affected by the homosexual label in Canada and the United States. What significant factor is the issue of community accommodation; Comparison of the samples from Canada and the US; Method used to conduct the study; Results of the study.

Focuses on a research which examined the framework of older homosexually active men which attached themselves to gay community in terms of an analysis of class, in relation to self-construction and masculinity. Information on the impact of the gay liberation movement; Details on compulsory heterosexuality; Indepth look at the social and personal effects of masculinity.

Describes the sources and level of social support of Flemish gay men using data from surveys conducted in 1989. Participation within the gay culture; Socio-demographic characteristics; Sources of support for social support indicator.

Discusses important facts about the relationship between homosexuals and AIDS in the United States, with emphasis on the ambiguities and stakes of the coming together of these two realities. Questions concerning the meaning and place of human sexuality; Room for personal ethic, reflection and a more responsible behavior; Social, psychological and moral reactions to AIDS within the homosexual community itself.

Gay men occupy a strange position in masculinity research and men's studies: neither truly inside nor entirely outside its domains. Right from the start of men's studies, there are accounts of gay men offering an example of their successful dealings with emotionality and with aspects of relating to women. In the most vexed areas of sexual politics at present, the gay intelligentsia is also at loggerheads with sections of the women's movement. Contemporary gay life at times looks remarkably different from those domestic concerns that preoccupy heterosexual social relations. Gay communities are offering a solution to that painful difficulty but the gay option is now definitely available to most homosexual active men. Masculine heterosexuality is already problematized negatively in analyses of rape. There has been a determined effort by men to resist the notion, given credence during the HIV epidemic, that here has been a return to relationships, to meaningful sex, to sex with emotion. Gay men are themselves involved in producing a distanced relationship between gay and straight men, particularly on issues of masculinity. Gay sex has been scrutinized until every nook, cranny, and proclivity has been documented and catalogued.

Discusses the development of homosexuality in Asia. Comparison of the gay communities in countries in the Asian region; Overview of the sexual identity Information on the gay and lesbian movement in Asia; Details on the globalization of gay identities.

Presents the abstracts of articles about homosexuality. 'Aids and the gay community: Between the specter and the promise of medicine,' by R. Bayer, published in the periodical 'Social Research'; 'Law reform in France,' by C. Courouve, published in the 'The Cabirion and Gay Books Bulletin.'

Focuses on psychoanalytic theory and affirmation of the gay lifestyle. Relationship between the American psychoanalytic community and the American gay community; Conception of diagnosis of homosexuality.

I develop a conceptual approach to changes in masculinity that emphasizes the dynamics of the gender order as a whole. Homosexual masculinity is an important locus of these dynamics. After a critique of conventional discourses of masculinity I develop a theorized life-history method for researching gender. Analysis of eight life histories from an Australian gay community finds (1) initial engagement with hegemonic masculinity, (2) sexuality as the key site of difference, and (3) gradual closure based on relationships or on bodily experience that eroticizes similarity. Conventional masculinity is an aspect of the object of desire, yet is subverted by this object-choice; a contradictory masculinity is produced. Though the men in this study do not directly contest the gender order, the reification of "gayness" provides a social basis for sexual freedom, and the stabilization of a dissident sexuality opens possibilities for change in the social structure of gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the author explains certain cautions associated with the homosexual practices. His relationship with the gay community has changed and evolved several times. He knows large number of gay men whom have histories of extreme physical and sexual abuse. Gay men as individuals should take their place in the growing attention being paid to male sexual abuse in the community.

This article focuses on the issue of discrimination. The growing conflict concerning the status of gay men and lesbians in the armed forces has become a focal point in the long, slow struggle toward equal rights for the stigmatized and oppressed segment of the society. Although it is known that thousands of homosexuals serve in the armed forces, as long as they hide their sexual orientation, as long as they neither name it nor claim it, everyone can pretend they are not there, that they don't exist. It appears that it is not being gay or lesbian that brings wrath down on service personnel, but voicing it. Colin Powell, who has led the fight against U.S. President Bill Clinton's commitment to eliminate discrimination against gays in the armed forces, claims that the president's position is very different than that of Harry Truman when he ended the policy of racial segregation in the armed forces. Until the stonewall demonstration and the birth of the gay liberation movement, lesbians and gay men survived through secrecy. The cost was and continues to be great. In the book Gays/Justice, the author explored the relationship between invisibility, powerlessness, and social change. The best way to change heterosexuals' views about gay men and lesbians is for them to interact personally with openly gay people. Coming out, then, is an enormously powerful personal and political act.