Gay male diaspora…gay man’s psychogeography…..cruising (in the city)…..city connection/city DISconnection.
Pace Mark W Turner’s averring(in “Backward Glances:Cruising the Queer Streets of New York and London”,2003) that gay men/bi men/men who have sex with men make a (?loose) community of sexual comradeship via signalling(glances/THE look) and one-off sexual encounters: despite this, I think there are parallel(dare I say) DEEPER communalities between these men, particularly amongst those who (relatively) strongly identify as being a gay man( i.e as a strong signifier back to themselves-the signified- AS the gay man, the “gay man” signing being intrinsic but not exclusive to their self hood).
These (stronger) links between us(which point to a more secure, less diasporic sense of individual-wholeness-in-community) would include:
social groups
relationships/relational affects, be they longterm or for one night or friends-with-benefits
shared enthusiasm groups( sexual fetish to book/walking groups!).
Gay men walking the city, sitting in cafés, making municipal spaces THEIRS (again), creating safe(r?) spaces, right there in front of their eyes/down their throats.
Gay male space, therefore, INCLUDES sexual meeting places-cottages,woods, parks- and clubs (“the scene”) but it is also these additional, sometimes transitory but REAL and empowering, places/spaces where we can be ourselves and work towards community. They do not just happen , however; we have to CARVE them out.
towardsutopia 