The "casualness" these pictures show would have been amazing to have lived though.
As a kid in health class they talked about STD's - but they were all curable (as far as we knew).
I clearly remember one buddy saying "It's safer with a guy - no chance of anyone getting pregnant" because at that age that was the message we got from the adults - DON'T HAVE KIDS!
But as I was getting ready to go to college you started to hear more and more about "gay cancer" and eventually it was named AIDS. It was a real curve ball - right at the age I was trying to grapple with the fact that I was not "outgrowing" my interest in guys like I thought I would suddenly being gay could kill you.
It was a quick step back in the closet and lock the door! But I would hear about places where strangers would meet and just go for it - bathhouses where people would just walk around naked and have sex not even knowing each others names - a very weird concept but also exciting!
Society by making gay sex so forbidden it was easier to have an anonymous no strings hook up that try and forge a relationship.
Funny how a time when you could have been shunned by family and society - could have been fired - could have been arrested - now looks carefree and simple!
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