Cruising

If you are a Jew like me (love you Mum!), you will know the importance of Passover. Once a year, my family gets together to dip apples in honey, eat matzo ball soup and fight with the relatives. Sometimes it can get pretty ugly, but it’s usually quite tasty. We do it each year because it’s a tradition—something our forefathers did before us and their forefathers before them. It has been passed down through centuries and it deserves our respect because of that. It also deserves the respect of all those goyim who, although they may not participate in any of the practices still appreciate its significance in the Jewish community as well as its cultural significance.

Which brings me, inevitably, to cruising and I don't mean the movie. You know what that is... You are standing against a wall minding your own business and some bloke smiles or winks at you from across the way. You check him out and then he walks away. You follow him to where he ducks into a side street and viola—you are in the middle of a hot anoymous sexual encounter. In Manchester, the city that brought us Queer As Folk (the original and the best) this age old homo practice is under threat due to some complaints from residents living near the Canal area—or the gay strip. Well, I am just up in arms I tell you! This is as much a tradition in the gay community as Passover is in the Jewish one. Years and years of oppression had lead to the divine necessity to get our cocks out in public areas and fornicate with one another. Sure, it can get ugly, and it doesn’t always lead to revelation but it’s part of the fabric and history of gaydom. It has allowed our forefathers to get their rocks off when there was simply nowhere else to do it, and it has created some of the most fabulous sessions of beachside sex our community could dare hope for. So let’s protect it, as a fundamental right—just like religious freedom. The freedom for gay men to fornicate in pre-designated areas is a God-given right. One as important as a matzo ball, and, in some cases (but not all) just as tasty.

The ever-popular website that seems to send local news crews on a bender every year or so - CruisingForSex.com - has once again decided to perform a very civic duty for all of y'all out there looking for public nookie yet wanting to avoid the long arm (or cock) of the law. According to a company press release, "The website will use a combination of online tools, including Twitter, to warn gay and bisexual men looking for sexual liaisons of sting operations." How nice! For those of you unfamiliar with the site, or those who simply wanna play dumb, the site is a huge database of public places all over - bathrooms in malls, rest stops, The Vatican, etc. - for horndogs to hook up. Or, charity work, as we like to consider it. If you're too scared to try it yourself (that Craigslist killer only went after girls, though), you can always buy the analogous Al Pacino flick and live vicariously!