Homo Fair and Balanced: Birders v. Cruisers
posted by on October 25 at 9:50 AM
Usually, Homo is the Brother’s category, but his recent screed about the relocation of the Mars Hill Church and the way that the media always seek anti-gay bigots for “balance” in stories about gays, but never gays for balance in stories about anti-gay bigots, was fresh in my mind when the Chicago Tribune went and proved that the local papers can, sometimes, get things right.
It’s a story about a contested urban space, the “Magic Hedge” at Montrose Harbor, beloved by both birders and gay men cruising for sex. The innocent birders—including, oddly, a burly Chicago cop, complain about being approached by lascivious gays, and about the post-hookup detritus of used condoms. Such conflicts nearly always are depicted as straightforward cases of gay men needing to be arrested. So, I nearly choked on my morning coffee when I got to the following passage:
Cruisers have their defenders, who make several arguments: cruising is a part of healthy adult sexuality, police are heavy-handed in pursuit of arrests and crackdowns smack of homophobia.Birders said they have seen scrawled signs in the Magic Hedge saying, “Humans over birds.”
“Historically, these charges have been used as discrimination against homosexuals,” said Jon Erickson, a Chicago lawyer who has defended cruising suspects. “I’ve never seen a straight couple charged with public indecency in Branch 29 court.”
Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), the city’s first openly gay alderman, said police are wasting time by trying to combat an activity “that has been going on a hundred years.”
Several of his constituents in the heavily gay ward have complained about entrapment during police stings, he said. He called those people “victims.”
Police “are playing a game,” said Tunney, whose ward includes the Town Hall police district. “Is this really a priority when we’ve got violent crime on the street?”
Yasmin Nair, a freelance writer who has defended cruising in the Windy City Times, a Chicago gay newspaper, said public sex allows “one to negotiate sexuality outside the domestic and restrictive normative ideas of sex.”
Whether this fair and balanced approach was the idea of the reporter or the editor, it proves that you can get at least two sides of any story, with a modicum of effort. And even the headline is brilliant: “Nature Setting Lures Controversy.” Is that the natural setting (trees, bushes, privacy) that both birders and furtive cruisers are lured by? Or is it the way some men seem wired for promiscuity, their natures set on it?
I always get the feeling that defenders of cruising are doing so out of a position of "gays do it, so we have to defend it, because we like gays" silliness.
@1 Agreed. Would it be different if birders were talking about rampant hetero sex in their favourite bird-watching spots?
I'm hetero, have had sex (and fooled around) in parks. Don't understand the gay cruising controversy. It's not only gays fooling around in parks.
:P
It's not only gays doing it but it is being defended as a homosexual sacred institution. People are making this out to be like an assault on Muslims wearing headscarves or Jews wearing yamikahs.
What about men cruising for sex with birds? What about their rights?
Just hearing Tom Tunney's name makes me miss Ann Sather.
Ann Sather: For Everybody Who Thinks the Food at the Melrose is Too Damn Spicy.
Also--hasn't the Montrose Loop been designated an historic Chicago landmark?
"humans over birds" and "birding" -- that's disgusting! and dangerous
Humans over birds? That might make sense if cruising is somehow responsible for birds dying or leaving the park. In this case, it's humans who like fucking in public vs. humans who like birding, not humans vs. birds.
Ann Sather cinnamon rolls...mmmm.
Melrose roaches...ick.
If only the media made such an effort to balance out stories of drug busts.
Those birders are only there for teh cock.
TFB. For 76 years, Chicagoans used to be able to shoot skeet and trap at the Lincoln Park Gun Club. Non-shooters put a stop to that. I don't remember any gay cruisers fighting for the rights of shotgun shooters, so piss on them.
@1, 4: This is probably one of the most reasonable arguments you've ever made on Slog. I'm impressed.
@3: I am also hetero and have also fooled around in parks, but the difference, as has been pointed out a hundred times, is that I went there with someone I intended to fool around with, we did our business, and then we left. We didn't return to the park, and I have never gone to a park alone to meet a stranger to hook up with. There is no "straight cruising" in parks, and there aren't a plethora of websites naming supposedly family-friendly public places for heteros to meet other opposite-gendered strangers for casual sex.
Acknowledging that there were times that homosexuals had to turn to anonymous outlets to have their needs met is fine, but, in urban areas like this, those times are not now.
If it's a matter of wanting to get your rocks off in a public space, and wanting it to be casual, grab a fuckbuddy met through the normal channels (bar, craigslist, manhunt, whatever) and go to a place that is not known for such things and therefore less likely to be policed. It's not rocket science.
Also, regardless of sexuality, it is NEVER kosh to leave used condoms anywhere other than a trash can. Come on people, have some class.
Yeah, the condom thing is what stayed with me.
Cruise all you want, fuck all you want, thank you for using condoms if anonymous sex is yer thang, but for heaven's sake, don't trash the place with the remains of your encounter. Somebody's going to have to pick up after you, you know - or worse, some critter is going to choke on your used johnny.
I make reasonable points all the time! Im not crazy!
It's true. Bellevue Ave is wise. But he likes miniature ponies. Nobody's perfect, I guess.
Mini Ponies are awesome. I really want a mini hippo cause I think a mini hippo would be awesome (especially for biting kneecaps) but since they are from the same descendant I will settle for horse.
Also, I don't care if they are gay. A lot of things that are gay and I like them. Like Italo Disco, The color Pink and Purple, drinks involving fruit juices, gay and friends of gay sloggers, Capitol Hill, one of my coworkers. Lots of things!
A mini hippo would be cool. Mini horses should be beaten like a piñata over a grill. Yum.
Oh so you are his brother. That explains why you post.
I would eat a mini horse, to be fair. But not after taking care of it and training it to bite people.
@19: Mr. Poe and Bellevue Ave are not brothers.
Err, nevermind. You meant Chicago Fan. And duh.
“I’ve never seen a straight couple charged with public indecency in Branch 29 court.”
That might be because I've never seen a park where men can meet women for anonymous shrubbery sex.
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