While running through a predominantly gay neighborbood in Los Angeles yesterday, I saw a sign which struck me as so ridiculous that I did a doubletake, and returned to take a photo of it.
What that means is that residents who leave their homes and return (whether to go to local stores or whatever) more than once in a six hour period are committing the offense of “cruising.” (I guess I never realized it before, but according to LA law, I’m a serial cruiser!)
What astounded me more than the sign was the reasoning behind it. Wanting to be careful before shooting off my mouth in my blog, I asked my friend (who is not gay) about the signs, because I assumed the idea was to prohibit low rider types from drag racing or something. Amazingly, he told me that the idea was in fact to prohibit, um, traditional gay cruising! In a gay neighborhood! Not only that, but he told me that an obviously gay police officer was enforcing the law in a discriminatory manner — against gays! (Talk about homosexual self oppression!)
The straights would never get away with such blatant bigotry.
What a world. What a world.
(No idea whether there’s a Valentine’s Day exception….)
Bigoted gay double standard
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18 responses to “Bigoted gay double standard”
It says “two times past same point.” Seems to me if you pass the point on your trip to the store, then pass it again on the way home, you are in violation!
Ahh, reminds me of my days in North Hollywood. There was a gay bar up the street and a lot of cruising in the local neighborhood as a result.
These signs were everywhere.
Never got hassled by the police, though. They were pretty good about separating the cruisers from the locals.
“Never got hassled by the police, though. They were pretty good about separating the cruisers from the locals.”
Nothing says “Freedom” like discriminatory enforcement.
I’m sure only the brown speeders get stopped too.
I’m surprised no one added: “For a good time call….” and then the number of the local police station.
Six hours?
Hah! More like six minutes.
Why shouldn’t law enforcement discriminate between those who have legitimate business in the area and those who are cruising? Makes sense to me.
I find it preferable to blind “zero tolerance” policies. Nothing like suspending a kid from school for a drug offense for bringing in a bit of Tylenol for a headache in the name of blanket enforcement of an abstract principle, eh?
A lot of cruise ships dock at San Pedro. Are you sure the purpose of these signs isn’t just to redirect lost tourists and seamen trying to find their ships?
Definitely a case of profiling.
I am completely disgusted that these signs (and the laws behind them) exist. Damn……
One could not possibly out walking for their health or to the nearest convenience store (or in my case, liquor store! Ha!)?
This is for real… you’re not kidding me are you?
Sheesh, I’m as straight a female as there ever was and I’m horrified !!!
Are there similar restrictions where female prostitutes “cruise”?
A number of years ago, the City Council of Mt Vernon, OH, decided it didn’t like teenagers cruising Main St, the town’s main drag, all 5 blocks of it. So they built an actual gate on the southern end of Main St, and actually closed off the street after 5 pm Fridays and Saturdays.
Of course, the teens had to go somewhere else. Probably did drugs and sex.
Nowadays, no one cruises Main St. It’s dead, with several vacant stores. The action moved out of town..
Can we agree to see this as a grand example of the “Theory of Unintended Consequences”? Finely tuned legislation, appropriately policed and NOT YET REALIZED for its wondrous…shall we call it “heft”?
Personally, I hesitate to refer to anything or anyone’s “heft” these days. The FAT police are watching!
(Laughs out loud.)
Did you get cited? Seems to me you’re confessing…
.
Yet another example of Pink Fascism.
Scary.
Gaycism!
What’s the illegible scrawl at the bottom of the sign? Witty retort? Words of defiance?
Having lived near that neighborhood and visited it frequently, it isn’t what you think.
In the late 70s/early 80s, that area became a cruising ground 24/7, most especially after the bars closed at 2:00 am (the numero uno gay hotspot, Studio One, was around the corner). There are a number of t-rooms in the area as well, and the neighbors got fed up with it, and folks driving around looking for Mr. Goodbar so late at night.
It’s difficult to describe that lifestyle and activity in a post HIV/AIDS world.
They weren’t cruising in the sense of walking around looking for someone to meet for lunch tomorrow, and driving around enjoying the scenery. There were guys walking very late at night “loitering,” striking up “conversations” with cars cruising the area, and often using their cars as bedrooms.
The problem isn’t that it was gays in a gay neighborhood, is was that it was becoming something akin to a red light district, and locals couldn’t walk their dogs without 20 cars cruising by, offering them BJs. It isn’t ALL gay and families couldn’t let their sons out of doors.
Those signs have been up for decades, but I suspect that it isn’t what it once was so they’re likely superfluous now.
The street isn’t a night club. Or a hair salon; or a Gap Outlet; or any other place that a stereotypical homosexual man might frequent.
For that matter, the street isn’t a sports bar or a boxing gym. It isn’t anything except a street. A means of getting from here to there.
Getting from A to B is what it should be used for – and nothing else.
In my town, Orlando, there is a no cruising sign down the main drag down town also. That street, incidentally, is the location of the birth (no pun intended) of more HETEROsexual activity than anywhere else in the city.
The street isn’t a night club. Or a hair salon; or a Gap Outlet; or any other place that a stereotypical homosexual man might frequent.
For that matter, the street isn’t a sports bar or a boxing gym. It isn’t anything except a street. A means of getting from here to there.
Getting from A to B is what it should be used for – and nothing else.
In my town, Orlando, there is a no cruising sign down the main drag down town also. That street, incidentally, is the location of the birth (no pun intended) of more HETEROsexual activity than anywhere else in the city.
Connie, thanks for that insight. What fascinated me most about this was that after staying there for an entire week, I failed to witness what I would consider gay cruising for sex. The signs are obviously a holdover from another era.