It Was More Fun Underground

In his conversations with elderly gays, FuelMix was left with the strong impression that M2M action was more fun when it was illegal and much more dangerous. At first, FuelMix thought such sentiments were infused with nostalgia - the elderly gays were reminiscing about the "good ol' days". But the more FuelMix listened, the more he compared their observations to his own.

Slowly, FuelMix came to the conclusion the elderly gays might well be right. In those days, there wasn't much technology, except the phone or coded hand written or typed notes. There was less opportunity to manipulate a lie, or to contemplate a lie in advance, or to post a fake stats and pic, or to bail out without warning. There was no virtual world to pixelate or fabricate. No opportunity to leave a lame voicemail or a terse message via WhatsApp.

Instead, it was real time action or nothing. The locations were either well hidden, or operated discretely alongside straight establishments. Those who found them, found them by word of mouth and knew exactly where they were when they entered. They also knew the risk they were taking - the secret spies, having their names entered on the dreaded "Pink List", the undercover cops, the entrapment, the personal and professional wreckage.

On entering, there was nothing to hide. You were hunting for sex, period. No fancy labels like "bi-curious" or "straight but curious" or "mostly straight". There were unwritten codes like the notorious hanky code (whose history goes much further back into the 19th century) and codes of conduct. If you said you were going to show up, you showed up. You might be lying to society, but you didn't lie to another gay man who was assuming just as great a risk as you, by being there.

The sex was secretive, surreptitious, anonymous and intense. Personal truths confessed in the heat of the moment, were kept confidential to the grave. Sometimes lasting friendships were made that spanned distance and world wars. Threats of criminality, treason and blackmail were understood, negotiated and navigated. 

As those men aged, they became mentors to the next generation, advising and helping them with nearly all aspects of living as a young gay man under constant threat.

FuelMix was impressed by the elderly gays' passion and integrity. When gay became mainstream, legalized, glamourized, franchised, politicized, politically correct, polarizing, suppressive and intrusive, something very real yet ephemeral and indescribable, was lost. 

What crawled out of the woodwork was the inferior, urban, generic fag. Tupperware compared to the Wedgwood before it. Bred on left-wing fag propaganda, trained to become "outraged" on command, the daily pursuit of perfect pecs and abs, pay-as-you-go sex, circuit parties, Viagra, chems, cheap words and even cheaper ethics, they were on the long road -but fast track- to terminal superficiality.

 Originally published 15 June 2006. 
Amended and Republished 6 November 2011 | 31 March 2017

Copyright © 2006 – 2017 FuelMix All Rights Reserved
ON A MOBILE DEVICE, VIEW THE WEB VERSION OF THE BLOG