London's gay scene in crisis
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By Paul Burston. Illustration Barry Falls
Posted: Tue Nov 27 2007 -
The hedonism of London's gay community has taken a self-destructive turn, with hardcore drug use and unsafe sex leading to levels of death and disease unseen since the '80s. Worse still, no one is talking about it. Time Out reports on the biggest threat to the scene in 20 years
Something scary is happening on the gay scene. Doctors know it. Club promoters know it. Clubbers know it, too. But nobody is talking about it, at least not openly. Twenty-five years after Aids was first identified, much has changed in the fight against the disease. A generation has grown up with the message that safer sex saves lives. So why are new infection rates so alarmingly high? And why do some gay men seem so hell-bent on destroying themselves? On Friday, the day before World Aids Day, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern is hosting a night called 'The Biggest Suicide Cult in History'. Strong words, and no less than you'd expect from the man responsible, performance artist David Hoyle. But the flyer goes even further. 'All over Vauxhall they are fucking without condoms', it reads. 'All over Vauxhall they are dancing till Tuesday morning. All over Vauxhall they are taking G, K, C, V and E [that's GHB, ketamine, cocaine, Viagra and ecstasy]. All over Vauxhall they are dying.'
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'I truly believe that a lot of gay men would prefer to be dead,' says Hoyle. 'They clearly have deep-seated self-esteem issues and they go out seeking oblivion because, deep down, they don't believe their lives are worth living.' Hoyle is an outspoken critic of the commercial gay scene, and his words are clearly designed to provoke a reaction. But you don't have to look too far on the scene to find people behaving in a manner you might describe as 'self-destructive'. In the past eight years, the number of gay men with HIV in the UK has almost doubled. Partly this is due to an increase in the numbers coming forward for testing since the advent of lifesaving combination therapy. But partly it's due to a rise in unsafe sex or 'barebacking'. Dr Sean Cummings of Freedomhealth is a leading expert on gay male sexual health, and has warned for years of a second epidemic. Today he confirms that sexual health clinics 'have reached crisis point with rocketing rates of new STD diagnoses'. And where there's syphilis and gonorrhoea, HIV often follows.
'I get offered a lot of unsafe sex,' says Simon Casson, promoter of Duckie. 'I'm completely open about my HIV positive status, and I meet a lot of men who want me to fuck them without condoms. I used to go to gay sex clubs and saunas and there was always a lot of unsafe sex. People in those environments tend to be off their faces on drink and drugs. Why else would a gay sauna in Vauxhall be open for 24 hours, unless people were on drugs? I think there is a significant constituency of gay men in London who use a lot of drugs and who are into unsafe sex. It's actually not that socially taboo. It's quite accepted. Just look at all the men advertising for bareback sex on Gaydar.' Alternatively, walk into any gay sex shop and the evidence is all around you. Bareback porn is outselling all other forms of gay adult entertainment. And I don't mean the 'pre-condom classics' made in the days before Aids and reissued by studios like Falcon. I mean films produced now, often in the UK.
For years, the focus was on eroticising safer sex. Now it seems the reverse is true. Barebacking is portrayed as just another gay lifestyle choice, like living in a loft-style apartment or shopping at IKEA. Surely this must be having some effect on people's behaviour? As one gay porn producer wrote in a letter to the gay weekly Boyz recently: 'Porn does influence the kind of sex you have in reality, and bareback porn contradicts all the good work on HIV prevention being carried out by health promotion charities.'
Incidentally, it was in Boyz that I also read about the British gay porn actor who contracted HIV on a porn shoot. Which begs the question: how many gay men will get off watching the film in which he became infected? And how many will imitate that behaviour the next time they have sex? Several younger gay men I've spoken to in the past few months have argued that HIV is no big deal. They've heard about combination therapy, they've seen the ads with muscular men climbing mountains and they've jumped to the conclusion that life on anti-retrovirals is one long picnic. There are even the fatalistic few for whom contracting HIV is seen as some sort of rite of passage, or a stepping stone towards having lots of unprotected sex without having to think about the consequences.
Then of course there's the other kind of 'combination therapy', the cocktail of recreational drugs in common usage on the gay club scene. Ecstasy has given way to a combination of drugs including coke, crystal meth and GHB. Clubs in Vauxhall even have 'recovery rooms' where people are left to 'sleep off' the effects of GHB – assuming of course that they don't develop breathing difficulties or have a cardiac arrest. Several prominent gay DJs have told me that 'GHB is killing the scene in Vauxhall'. It's killing the customers too. Earlier this year, there were reports of three deaths related to GHB at a well-known after-hours club. A barman I know has had seven friends die from GHB in the past 12 months. And to echo that famous Aids warning from the '80s, that's just the tip of the iceberg.
'GHB is a nasty, poisonous drug which is killing gay men on a regular basis', explains Dr Cummings. 'We've had a number of deaths of our patients resulting from use of the drug, either together with other drugs or alone . Death often occurs during or immediately post-sex and so the victims are found in humiliating circumstances. The scenarios are usually awfully upsetting for all concerned, especially partners and family members. Coroners will frequently be coy to spare the feelings of loved ones [by recording accidental death], but this has the inadvertent effect of concealing the likely real numbers. There is nothing glamorous about finding a young man dead in a harness, having fallen, struck his head, inhaled his own vomit and suffocated.'
'I understand the connection between sex and drugs,' confesses Casson. 'I experimented in that area for years, and I ended up HIV positive. Do I regret it? Yes I do. The gay world told me that it was okay to live like that. It's not. You can't go out clubbing for three or four days at a time, necking every drug you can lay your hands on, and not expect something bad to happen to you. Gay men tend to meet each other in drink-fuelled, drug-fuelled environments, and it's killing us. People are dying and there needs to be a wake-up call.'
In the early '80s, before Aids really hit Britain, there was a hi-NRG song played each week at Heaven called 'So Many Men (So Little Time)'. What few of us knew then was how prophetic these words would be. Twenty-five years on, how many men must contract HIV or die from drug overdoses before we change our behaviour? How long before we call time on a lifestyle that's killing us?
'The Biggest Suicide Cult in History' is at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern on Friday.- Add your comment to this feature
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28 comments
ive commented on this site many times thank god this infomation is there,..RIGHT NO I,M GONNA BE HARSH...and becouse i,m a gay man and i love gay men .realy ,realy do,....BUT GET UP OF YOUR GOD DAM ..KNEES AND STOP BEING SO F......G WEAK,WHERES YOUR ..BALLSWERE OBSESED BY BEING..MEN ..WELL THEN BE ..MEN WITH ALL THE RESPONSABILITYS AND STRENGHTH THAT IENTAILES STOP BEING FUCKED UP PUSSYS,...i,m saying these things becouse i love gay men and i want us to be healthy and happy ,leading good lives,loveing ourselves ..AND EACH OTHER..i am sick of seeing gay men trying to fuck each other up...wot the hell is wrong with you ...cowards..stop it its destructive ,negative and boreing..it makes us not trust our own kind...no more ofthat shitty behaveiuor..no more..come on lets get our game on and be a united gay community,..somepeople will find this offencive...but it needed to be said....oliver68.xxxxxx
Brilliant article which as much as it pains me to say, i think is very accurate. Anyone on the "scene" will also agree. Does anyone know where I can find a copy of the ad that was used in the past creating awareness on the danger of GHB? I think it followed the lines of "would you like to end your night like this (showing a pic of 2 sexy guys in bed) or like this" (showing a guy on life support. If anyone has any info please email adam.hanwell@hotmail.co.uk
Many thanks
Sadly true:
Keywords: having lots of fun in combination with close sub-culture, no or limited family responsabilities, skare of getting old; once you try it you have the feeling that sex without drugs is boring or even worse, that normal, intellingent, responsable things (excluding sex) are boring and your life end up being only SEX, DRUGS AND ROCK EN ROLL; escape the problems, fear of death...........and actually heading quicker towards it.
Reason: taking drugs is a totally accepted "fun" in the gay scene, nearly a value: "you don't do drugs!!ยจ???"
Solution: make big adverts showing the statistics relating to deaths taking g, heard attacks taking coke etc,....maybe with pictures as they do it for the sigarettes now. An example is, as some Mid-West States in the USdid tackling the problem of Crystal Meth: they put big adds on the street and newspaper of the physical devastating effects of the drug; and it worked!!!!!
A gay guy that has experienced it to close.
(if there are any mistakes is because I am Italian)
Kind regards
like i said before,I LOVE GAY MEN,but why have we split into such ridged cliques and gangs,ie mascle marys,bears twinks ect ect....we are all gay men and we all have something to bring to the table....the gay table....its funny looking back at the past we seemed so united[i hope i,m not looking through rosy tinted specticals]..we had a real fight on our hands a fight to be accepted,a fight to not be queerbashed...we had to stand united. has the monster that is aids ...BRUTALISED US SO...made us give up...sometimes it seems that we were we have become mercenary and cruel to ourselfes and each other,sometimes we are more homophobic than the worst homophobes could ever be...and deep down NONE OF US WANT THAT,...SO LETS TRY CHANGEING WE CAN DO IT,lets stop treating each other as sexual OBJECTS to be disgarded when bored with ,lets stop needing addictions,and lets stop the maddness and insanity of UNSAFE SEX,if we stop these negative harmfull things,WE .....WILL... all start to become stronger,we will start to rediscover love for each other and ourselves,we will onces again have a pride in our community,being there for each other whether there ,tall,short thin,fat muscles or no muscles ....old...young white ,black,yellow,red, brown ....or pink..A STRONG GAY COMMUNITY IS A HEALTHY GAY COMMUNITY ONE THAT ACCEPTS AND LOVES WITHOUT QUESTION ...IT ...IS..OUR NATURE TO BE LOVEING AND ACCEPTING..AND IT WILL BE AGAIN.....HOW WONDERFULL IT SHALL BE...COME ON LETS DO IT..I LOVE YOU ...DXX
i ...LOVE GAY MEN THEY ARE MY SPECIES...but it saddens me to see so many being recless and destructive,yes we all love a party and yes we love sex and yes we have all taken drugs ,but even if we do all these things we must keep an eye out for our...FUTURES..ie not haveing unsafe sex...period...calling time on drugs...without being prechey...its so much easier to be clean..you can get things together....and enjoy things better..seeing and investing in our future and our fellow gay mens futures ,liveing nice lives,or at least trying.Yes its hard after 40 i,m in my 40s and single and yeah i,m makeing ..peace ...with that,peace within myself to accept that i could be alone,but at least ill have an army of freands who love me and things to do...you know just simple things,simple joys.There is an alternative future for gay men one that dosent concist of self destruction.....I LOVE YOU GAY MEN
I would have more respect for the views expressed if Paul Burston was not so hypocritical. A couple of years after writing this article, Mr. Burston posed as a cover boy for Boyz and indeed he refers to this magazine in his article. Ironic then that Boyz holds a lot of responsibility in London for promoting the drug fuelled hedonistic lifetyle commented on in the article. The gay equivalent of the Daily Star, each weeks issue features a parade of body beautifuls dancing in the Vauxhall druggy club scene with numerous articles about how to get a great shag/be fantastic in bed etc. In the world of Boyz,everyone is smiling, every venue on the scene is wonderful and no-one suffers addiction, loneliness, come-downs or low self-esteem. How I long for a scene publication that tells things how they really are instead of this superficial and in my view dangerous publication. Come on Paul, show the courage of your convictions.
I must admit I find my self very alienated from the gay life in general. Many may say I have not lived, or need to get a life, but certainly this dangerous lifestyle is NOT my thing.
I do desire a social life and sexual fun, but I'm so deprived because I take the more "middle" ground away from the senseless extremes.
There is really no hope of any sort of control, reasoning or policing of any sort where the need for morality doesn't even apply.
So, is there such a thing called a "safe gay life" you can actually enjoy, and be fulfilled, as the charities encourage us to lead, anybody? Is there anybody who WANTS to live such a life?
It is very worrying that so many gay men are neurotic about growing old. You can adjust and live a very contented life but not if you are living in fear. If you want help in adjusting I would suggest starting off by reading Gay and Gray by Raymond Berger if you can get hold of a copy
i,m looking forward to being an old queenie fart down here in miss brighton.....SO I TAKE THE STEPS THAT ARE GONNA GET ME THERE. and that means NO DRUGS NO UNSAFE SEX LOVEING MYSELF AND INVESTING IN MY HEALTH AND ...FUTURE..LISTEN THE SCENE DOSENT LIKE A FAIREY AFTER SHES 40 I KNOW THAT AND I PROPABLEY WILL BE SINGLE WELL THERES NOT A LOT WE CAN DO ABOUT THAT. but there is an alternative to self destruction,makeing ...REAL....life long freandships .TRYING TO GET A NICE HOME AND SOME CASH COMEIN IN. BEING FREE OF FUCKING ADDICTIONS.. LIFE IS WORTH LIVEING ITS HARD SOMETIMES ..BUT ITS WORTH IT.......BE SAFE PEOPLE...DXXXX
I have tried this lifestyle, minus the sauna's etc. I have experimented with most drugs and done the who clubbing thing. I moved to london to be with my boyfriend and we went out constantly... Looking back i blame constant clubbing, drugs and come downs the real reason for our break up... I look at all the men on the scene in these area's looking for happiness and a relationship and the reality of this is they will not find it hanging out in these places, taking drugs, and its impossible to have a relationship at all when your even doing the club clean. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt, and glad to say i will not end up 35 proping the bar up, and also dying a lonely old man, with serious mental problems.... People do not realise this but taking MDMA for example stops the re-uptake of seritonin..Yeah it feels great to start, but give it what 3 or 4 years, you will have knackered the receptors and you will feel NO PLEASURE in anything you do, and there fore would be paranoid and obsessed, just like my ex who is 10 years older than me, been on the scene too long, has been badly burned, he introduced me to GHB the second time we met, i was living in devon at the time, so a country boy, and i look at him and his failed relationships and know its him, but he is telling me i need help!! Anyway, rant over, i agree with it all, Vauxhall is a mess and eventually it will com to a grinding holt of G overdoses and people fucking on club dancefloors. Sick.
SG, your comment that "not everyone is high on drugs" in Saunas.......having visited a certain Vauxhall venue recently and it REEKING of Crystal Meth being smoked I wonder how accurate you are. I suspect that the majority at the weekends are on drugs.
However thats what many Gay men choose to do...Why is it so wrong.?..sorry but we are not Heterosexuals who are here to breed the next generation. we do not have the responsibilities to bear ..If lifes all a big party then so what...I say bring it on !!!
I think the articles and some of the comments are excessively negative . Lets celebrate the fact the we have freedom to define our lives as we choose and can throw off the shackles of convention and if we wish opt to have brief and exciting journeys on this planet.
Good article, but some of the insinuations here are just ridiculous. Saunas are open all night because people don't want to have to shuffle out of there late at night and would prefer to spend the night and sleep, not necessarily because everyone there is high on drugs.
I just wanted to thank Mike Darwin for the time he clearly took in formulating and expressing his view; though parts I do not entirely agree with, I think people would benefit greatly from reading his words carefully. Cheers, Mike
Brilliant article which as much as it pains me to say, i think is very accurate. This spurious pursuit of 'pleasure' seems more to be a desperate flight from despair, that fails, as icarus plunges into the abyss. gay men need to grow up, and take a long hard and honest look at their lives if they are to really aknowledge their inherent self destructiveness..
Enjoy life as when we reach our 50's it changes and you will miss so much it.
We can never go back and those memories can haunt you as well.