Bring Back Beats

Now that it is socially acceptable to be homosexual, it should be socially acceptable to tolerate homosexual behaviour.  In the old days, pre AIDS, there were places called beats, where homosexual men could walk around in public and connect.  Now we have apps so people can do it anywhere in public, but there is a lot to be said for designated public beats. 

From my experience, it is an old Australian tradition that going down to the riverbank at midnight was a place to meet men.  I never did much with anyone I met, and I don't think many of the men wanted to do much either, just stand in a circle and jerk off.  Mostly, however, men paired off, with some treating it as a race and the first to climax would leave immediately, leaving the other man frustrated.

In the cities, public parks replaced river banks, but they were always times and places where people would not go, or even know exist, except for this one, specific purpose.  Public Toilets became infamous, for example the Honey Pot between St Pats and the Parliament.  Sand dunes were a wonderful place.

In those days, 'gay' meant 'happy' and certainly everyone left a beat happy.  When no one obviously was and everyone possibly could be, and no one had concepts like 'homosexual' even, let alone all the diverse gender identities that have recently surfaced like the sub-atomic particles they keep finding, many men who where on the spectrum from 'gay to straight' would regard it as remaining faithful to their wives as such activity was not sex. 

The pay-off for social acceptability is a demarcation, so the sub-set of people who are homosexual becomes a distinct bubble within society, with an impervious outer layer, so people must decide whether they are in or out (though in this case you would be in if you were out)() of the sub-bubble.  The slow gradation between those of different levels of a social quality, such as homosexuality, in all its ramifications, has gone.

However, beats support the principles of personal liberty and acceptance of us being who we are in the public space.  Yet they are separate and isolated places at times.  They should be signposted and protected by the police, not harassed. 

Riverbanks were best.  I think that is where I first fell in love with Country.  Perhaps because some of the guys I met up with (at least three that I knew were) were Aboriginal, as one might expect on the beautiful but remote rivers in Australia, back in the days when Old Australia still existed, unnoticed, waiting for the right conditions of freedom.

Legislation needs to reflect public realities.  The Law is like a structure within the Social Bubble.  It provides rigid relationships between various individuals and persists in space and through time