A website listing places where men can meet for sex has meant public toilets in a Sydney department store and community centre have been locked in a bid to put at end to ‘rampent homosexual activity' taking place there, the Sydney Morning Herald reports The list, at squirt.org, also includes New Zealand ‘cruising spots'. The SMH says management at Myer's Sydney city department store were forced to close its level one toilet to the public because men were ‘having sex in full view of other horrified users'. When the newspaper contacted the Crows Nest Community Centre to tell them of their listing on the website, the Centre's CEO immediately locked their ground floor toilets. The story has already raised discussion on our GayNZ.com messageboards. One poster named ‘enzedder' called the story “repulsive”. “We all know it happens and that we're not going to change anything,” he writes, “but to save some sort of credibility in our community we need to be vocal by saying that sex in public places like shopping malls is not something decent GLBT people condone.” Neville Creighton from Gay and Lesbian Welfare tells GayNZ.com that cruising spots get looked at my media every now and then – usually when there's been a murder or attack. He warns men meeting men in public toilets might be putting themselves at risk of arrest. “If they're just cruising to meet up, then there's no difference from anywhere else. But if they cross over into having sex in a public place, then it's an illegal activity. “If a toilet cubicle door is closed and locked, the court has ruled on a couple of occasions that that is a ‘private place'. If anybody sees what's going on in there, they've taken considerable effort to spy – either by looking under, or over, through crack or holes or whatever. Therefore they've taken the initiative to invade a private space. But at the same time, we would say that that's not a good practice.” Creighton says a range of men seek out other men in cruising areas. Some are gay, some just curious, some closeted and married. “For various reasons, they don't want to go somewhere ‘public' like a sauna, because someone might see them and report to their partner. Or they may not be able to afford to go to a sauna, or they may be adrenaline junkies, or perhaps it's the only place they know of. They may even just be people on holiday who feel they can do something different from what they can do at home.” The existence of a website listing gay ‘hook-up spots' does not worry Creighton. “There've been lists around for yonks. Even the current Sparticus [gay international travel book] has a list of twelve places in Auckland. Lists like this were around even in Victorian London.” Ref: Sydney Morning Herald, GayNZ.com (m)
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Tuesday, 31st October 2006 - 12:00pm