CRUISING for SEX - Honor George Michael

I want to post something about George Michael, who at age 53 passed away on Christmas day.

For guys my age who came out in the early- to mid-80s, his music first with Wham! and later solo was part of the soundtrack of young adulthood, the music that stays with you all your life. His later arrest in the late 1990s for having sex in a Beverly Hills toilet sort of place his face on the "Mount Rushmore of public cruising," so to speak.

I say that because George Michael was unapologetic and didn't brush it under the rug. He celebrated it in statements to the press and in song.

Please read George Michael Was A 'Filthy' Gay 'F***er' And We Should Honor Him For That by Noah Michelson in the Huffington Post, who explains so much better than I could.

http://web.cruisingforsex.com/bb/cfs...hael_Tweet.gif

Due to copyright restrictions I can't include the entire article, but I can quote an excerpt as "fair use."

Quote:

...as a queer, sex-positive man, this part of Michael’s life ― these moments of queer sexuality and his sex life that were made very public ― helped to reorganize and shape how I saw and embraced my own sexuality, which was nothing short of a miracle considering the homophobic and sex-negative culture we live in.

My tweet wasn’t a joke and it wasn’t rude or disrespectful. If you read it that way you’re implying that gay sex ― public or otherwise ― is shameful. I don’t and neither did Michael.

In fact, after the pop star was caught in 1998, he turned the incident into a celebratory song (accompanied by a splendidly self-conscious video featuring a public restroom that turns into a disco and Michael dressed as a cop) about the joys of having sex outside:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gwZAYdHcDtU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

After his arrest in a public toilet on a drug-related charge in 2008, he opened up to The Guardian about his love of cruising saying, “the handful of times a year it’s bloody warm enough, I’ll do it.” He added, “It’s a much nicer place to get some quick and honest sex than standing in a bar, E’d off your tits shouting at somebody and hoping they want the same thing as you do in bed.”

No shame. No embarrassment. No mincing of words. Just the truth about what he liked and how he liked it.

This is living one's truth, an admirable quality for those who can do it. Many of us cannot or do not wish to in that way, keep private things private, and I completely understand.

To the extent the George Michael made things more OK and helped people understand that cruising was part of life, we owe him a debt of gratitude and appreciation.

Take a minute to read the article in full.

~ Bob S.
Manager / Editor