Tag: cruising

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Two Gay Men Arrested For Cruising On The Internet

Two men are facing charges in Dubai (UAE) for allegedly offering sexual services on the internet. They faced Dubai’s Criminal Court of First Instance on Tuesday. The National reports that one 22 year old man is charged with prostitution, consensual homosexual sex, producing pornographic material, cross-dressing and insulting religion, while the second, an 18-year-old student, is facing prostitution charges. Homosexuality is illegal in the United Arab Emirates, and if found guilty both face a minimum of three and a maximum of 15 years in prison. According to the prosecution, the 22 year old man was arrested at Dubai International Airport in July 20 in possession of homemade pornographic material. He has denied the charges. It’s alleged that he circulated images of himself in make up and dressed in a hijab-like veil, reading the Quran. He’s being held in solitary confinement at Al Qusais police station, to protect him from other prisoners. He is due to appear in court on January 20. The 18 year old is accused of soliciting men for sex using internet chat rooms. He has also denied the charges. According to court documents the accused was discovered by an undercover officer in an online chat room.

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Boston Police Crack Down On Cruising

Boston’s Fenway Gardens has recently seen a markedly increased police presence. Witnesses suggest that the round-the-clock patrols are working to eradicate gay cruising, for which the area is well known. "The police presence is unbelievable," a witness, who did not wish to disclose his name, told Bay Windows. As both a gay man who has used the area for cruising and a plot owner in the Fenway’s Victory Gardens, he has noted the increase in patrols and believes that their aim is to put a stop to the gay cruising. "Over the years, it’s been an incremental, systematic -- it seems like to me it’s been a planned thing," the witness said of the increased police presence. "The mayor [Thomas M. Menino] couldn’t come out and just, boom, close [the gardens] -- he’d get too much bad press from the gay community -- so it’s been just little by little. It’s more or less a harassment, wanting to get rid of the gay cruising."

"The [police] presence is just for the safety of all who visit and use the Gardens," said Sergeant Kevin Power of the Boston Police Department. "That’s what our presence is for, has always has been, and will continue to be that way."

The area is a popular cruising spot because of the tall reeds, or phragmites, that grow in the Gardens. Because the reeds are so secluded, an expectation of privacy exists for those who seek to use the area for sex. This expectation means that any sexual acts committed there cannot be considered ’public sex.’ Trespassing, littering, and drug use, however, are punishable by law. City Councilor Mike Ross suggested that the heightened police presence is in response to the activities that occur in the Gardens after hours, including the gay cruising. "It’s obviously a long and complicated issue that goes back to a time in Boston’s history when members of the GLBT community were forced underground, forced out of licensed establishments -- literally had to hide out," Ross said. READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE: Bay Windows - New England's Largest GLBT Newspaper

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Gay Man Targeted By Police Awarded $45K

A Broward County, Florida schoolteacher accused of interfering with a law enforcement sting in a state park in 2003 has finally gotten his park pass back, and a $45,000 check from the state. Attorney Norm Kent hailed the settlement as a victory for domestic partnership rights, because the teacher and his partner sued the state for loss of intimacy in the aftermath of the arrest. Kent, an attorney and local gay activist, said he and the state settled about two weeks ago after mediation. The $45,000 check is dated Aug. 10. Kent alleged Claude Lessard was targeted by officers because he was gay, and subjected to false arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution, and he sued the state for, among other things, loss of consortium with his partner. The state agency was the Department of Environmental Protection's law enforcement division. Lessard was in John U. Lloyd Beach State Park in 2003, when Lessard warned another parkgoer that police were making an arrest elsewhere in the park. He said in a news article below that he'd read about police harassing patrons, in their operations to stop sexual activity in the park. The other parkgoer, though, was an undercover officer, who arrested Lessard for obstructing an officer. Lessard said he was just being a nice guy, warning the person of what he thought could be a dangerous situation. Click here to read a 2007 story about it in the South Florida Blade. Click here to read the lawsuit, with details on what happened. Read more on the jump. Kent said Lessard declined to comment, but Kent's comments are on the jump. Kent's comment on the settlement:

"Everyone can sympathize with law enforcement officers who want to protect the integrity of our beaches. But when gay men are unjustly targeted, falsely arrested, and improvidently prosecuted, the State has to pay a price. And that needs to be not just an acquittal on criminal charges that should never have been initiated, but financial consequences as well.   "The case also sends a message that the Broward County Domestic Partnership ordinance had teeth, and but for the anti gay marriage amendment passed by the legislature, domestic partners could recover as married spouses do when their partners are injured by the negligence of another."

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Gay Panic Claim In Murder

A 17-year-old boy is under arrest in Puerto Vallarta after confessing to police that he killed a man who made an unwanted sexual advance. According to published reports in the Mexican media, the body of the victim, Sergio Daniel Baltasar Guerra, was found  early Sunday morning, August 9, near the seahorse statue, on Los Muertos beach, just south of the gay Blue Chairs section of that beach. The victim was between 25-30 years old and had been a manager at a local supermarket.    The teen said he met the victim late Saturday night after the man had driven by him and asked him if he wanted to go for a ride.   He said he accepted because he had nothing better to do.  The pair walked south along the Malecon  then along  the beach to the seahorse statue.  The teenager said the man dropped his pants and began to masturbate. He said the man asked him to join him but he refused.  He said the man then grabbed his buttocks and that made him upset. The 17-year-od  then pulled out a knife and stabbed the man in the neck. The teen took a cab home after the killing. He was traced to the killing a suspicious cab driver.

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A Hotbed of Gay Cruising!

If you’re one of the apparently few gay men in Atlanta that hasn’t walked the trails of Piedmont Park, Southern Voice will take you on a tour. The five-minute video, complete with shots of condoms and other debris, moves along the trails that snake through a portion of the park.

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Even in the age of the Internet, Craig’s List, Manhunt and the ability to order up sex and have it delivered to your door like pizza, men still cruise the park late at night looking for relations. At least that’s the argument of the Atlanta Police Department, which dismissed a recent murder in the park as having something to do with “male hustling.” Never mind that investigators haven’t offered any evidence to publicly support the claim. We’re a little dubious of claims that Piedmont remains some hotbed of cruising. Now don’t be mistaken, in years past portions of the park were thick with gay cruising. But we argue it’s taken a backseat to finding booty with a computer or iPhone. There’s an app for that, you know. Regardless, the SoVo video is an interesting, if sometimes humorous, look at the park. But it’s a sidebar to a story the paper also published exploring the question of whether Piedmont is still king of the cruising queens. It’s a thorough look at the question, though it tends to lean on the side of lumping together all gay men who engage in public sex as closeted sex addicts. The story also checks in with Keith Griffith, an Atlanta man who operates http://www.cruisingforsex.com. If anyone knows where to cruise, it’s this guy.

“It’s been off the cruising scene for awhile,” he said. “It’s nowhere what it used to be because so many people are around. My curiosity is if this man who was killed was specifically targeted. As a gay man, that makes me nervous if he was targeted intentionally. There are people out there who are angry about gay people’s existence.”

One specific tip he advises those who cruise a park is to always know how to get out, especially if in a hurry. That means checking the place out in the daytime, he explained, and learning the routes. But why do men still cruise in parks?

“Why shouldn’t they?” he answered. “It’s one of life’s great experiences to have sex in the outdoors. As long as there are parks, especially nice ones like Piedmont Park, there will be people having sex there — and that’s gay, straight and bi people.”

By the way, the May 28 murder of Patrick Boland, 43, inside the park and the stabbing of another man minutes later, remains unsolved. Story By ProjectQ

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Gay Cruising - Murder?

Police blaming victim in Midtown murder? The murder in Piedmont Park Thursday—15 minutes before a second stabbing a few blocks away in Midtown—was first pitched as a robbery attempt by the Atlanta Police Department. Now, the embattled agency hints in an email to an anti-gay nightlife activist that the homicide might have been the result of gay cruising. Huh? Like another high-profile crime in Midtown—the beating of a gay man leaving Blake’s in March—the police department’s take on the case is shifting and quickly. But this time, they don’t have the changing accounts of the victim to explain their changing dynamics.  (NOTE: YOU MAY RECALL I ASSISTED HIM TO BACK TO THE BAR WHILE WE WAITED FOREVER FOR THE POLICE TO ARRIVE) The publicly-known facts of the case seem to undercut their spin—if the victim was out cruising for sex, how does that mesh with a second stabbing 15 minutes later near 6th and Juniper Streets? Some crazed lunatic stabbing guys looking for play late at night? Let’s hope not, but that’s where the police seem to be pointing us. The police explanation, first reported by Southern Voice and picked up today by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, almost smells of blaming the victim. Put another way, it hints at the notion of, well, this dude was in the park after hours and shit happens. Heard that one before? How about this: She was wearing a short skirt and tight blouse, so she was looking to get raped. Maybe that’s a little harsh. But I’ve got a beef with a police commander sending emails about the case to Peggy Denby, a cranky Not In My Backyard activist. She was behind the fight to close Backstreet and wants to run all gay nightlife establishments out of Midtown and away from her high-priced condo that was, incidentally, built after the gay clubs she despises were already in place.

An email sent by Maj. Khirus Williams, head of the police department’s Zone 5, at 1:10 p.m. offered more details. “This morning’s homicide, at Piedmont Park, is ‘likely’ to be ‘male-hustling’ related,” Williams wrote in an email to Midtown activist Peggy Denby. “A person found with blood stains and injuries this morning, in Midtown, is being interviewed by our Homicide Unit. “This person has claimed to have been inside of the park but has not made any confessions,” Williams continued in the email, which was obtained by Southern Voice. “The investigation continues. Our personnel are tasked with park checks throughout the night, to address ‘anyone’ being inside the park, after dark. We will continue the efforts and initiate arrests when there are violations.”

When it comes to Piedmont Park, the police department has little credibility with the city’s gay population. It is, after all, the same department that harassed and arrested six gay men who walked through the park after hours on their way home from a bar. No suspects have been named in the attacks and police haven’t yet linked the incidents from Thursday morning. As the investigation continues, let’s hope they focus more on finding justice for the murder victim and less on blaming him and dismissing the homicide as simply “male-hustling related.” In a sidebar to the case, the normally reserved Georgia Log Cabin Republicans seemed to step off a cliff late Thursday. The group issued a statement calling on Mayor Shirley Franklin, whose term ends this year, to resign.

The group called on Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican, and the Georgia National Guard to take control of the city’s “crime mayhem” and reminded LGBT residents of their right to bear arms and use deadly force to protect themselves.

The full statement, according to Southern Voice:

“It has become obvious that Mayor Shirley Franklin is incompetent to fulfill her duty and obligation to protect the citizens of Atlanta from violence. The latest rash of murders, robberies, hate crimes, and lawlessness are a direct result of her failure to provide proper protection by an effective police force.  Mayor Franklin has recklessly cut the hours of our police force, which has left our citizens in grave danger, and now it’s time for her to cut her own hours permanently, we just can’t afford to wait until a new election and mayor, she must go now.” “We are also urging Governor Sonny Perdue to take control of the situation, and requesting that he order in the Georgia National Guard or Georgia State Patrol into Atlanta to help stabilize the current crime mayhem in the city.” “The Georgia Log Cabin Republicans are avid supporters of the 2nd Amendment to the United States Constitution, and want to remind our fellow citizens that our state currently lacks any effective Hate Crimes law to detour crimes against LGBT Georgians.  However, the Georgia Legislature passed SB396 several years ago that allows all citizens to legally defend themselves with deadly force when necessary, without an obligation to retreat when attacked.  Until our city is safe again, we recommend that Atlanta’s LGBT citizens find a way in which they are comfortable, to defend themselves, loved ones, and families from the latest crime wave out of control.” STORY BY: Blogger Matt Hennie is the founder and managing editor of Project Q Atlanta. He’s a longtime Atlanta resident who’s worked in journalism since his days as a Purple Paladin at Furman University in the early ‘90s

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Go This Way For Sex

A park near Amsterdam has unveiled information signs pointing out spots where officials say gay men are known to have sex, so visitors are not taken by surprise. The signs "clearly indicate what is happening in each zone; also those where gay men are known to practice 'cruising'," municipal spokeswoman Manon Koffijberg said. Cruising is a slang word used to describe the act of trawling for casual sex. The De Oeverlanden park in Slotervaart, south-west of Amsterdam, is known as a place where homosexuals from all over the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe go in search of sex partners. A public official said that while having sex in public was against the law, the park has been used for this purpose for so long that it has become "gedoog", a Dutch word for tolerating unwanted behaviour. The sexual activities of cruisers, kept mostly to the bushes in the park, and the new signs sought to ensure that they stayed there.

"There are various groups of users of the park; people with small children who bathe on the beaches, those who walk their dogs, gays cruising and nature lovers," the official said. "Things are arranged so that each group can relax in their own area without intruding on each other."

There had been recent complaints of gay bashing in the Slotervaart area, populated by a large group of immigrants of Muslim origin, with reports of robberies and violence against gay men in De Oeverlanden park.