CAAH hunts beat patrols
Community Action Against Homophobia has launched a project to defend the beat users.
CAAH spokeswoman Rachel Evans said the activist group had already received several reports of harassment at beats, and was concerned by claims of regular police patrols.
Although public sexual activity is illegal, Evans said beat culture had long been a significant part of our queer history and identity.
Beats are important outlets for men who have sex with men to explore their sexuality in an anonymous way, helping many with the sometimes fraught process of coming out, she said.
NSW Police corporate spokeswoman for GLT issues, Donna Adney, said the guidelines for policing of beats had recently been reviewed and allow for different strategies depending on the local issues.
Generally we find a range of activity can occur at beats including crimes ranging from wilful and obscene exposure, theft from motor vehicles, assault and malicious damage type offences, Adney said.
Local Area Commands use their intelligence and information gained from the community to develop strategies specific to the issues they are addressing at a particular beat in their area.
Environmental design in conjunction with local councils was also used to improve safety in public spaces, she added.
Beat Users need to be mindful of their activities given that beats are most often public spaces accessible by varying members of the public, both young and old.
info: CAAH plans to hold vigils at beats to defend them from police patrols on 15 and 29 November. Email [email protected] for more information.
As an obviously much more comfortable gay man than your -˜restricted along with the straight collective’ selves to clearly advise you of the choices a gay man is allowed to make in our world, and yes I have had ok experiences in beats years ago coming out and finding my own way into the gay community. I am pretty sure at 40 years old that I have come to accept many people’s choices whether I like them or not, this is called acceptance, as we broad minded gay people know that tolerance is not enough. Keeping things behind closed doors is -˜tolerable’ to say the least, closeted and hidden to be completely honest. As through human history, many straight sexual practises have been publicly displayed and on show and our -˜beats’ having this derogatrory name is now known to be due to hate and discust of our sexual practises, all be it publicly. Whether we sexually play behind a tree or -˜in a room’ does not stop many still finding discust in our choices, so in knowing this, we must deliver any forms of sexuality in an open and comfortable manner-¦not caring about the sexually frigid or immature that continually try to stop anything comfortably sexual, be it gay, straight or of one of the many varied spices of sexual life that exist and has always existed in our human world. To have an opinion is not law…law is not correct or fair at times…and luv ur work Mark & MPK ;)))Please stay alive and keep it up…
Yours sincerely,
A Comfortable Gay Person (finally, after all of these wasted years on the uncomfortable one’s attitudes-¦and there are many, even internal…very sad)
I don’t care what the sexuality is of men are who hang around public toilets. It’s nothing but pure filth.
Do not goto Deepwater Park, just recently there has been an incedent where the police did a raid with spot lights, everyone ran towards the exit where the rangers where waiting – people where arrested.
Alexandria (not sure what the name of the park) – Again, police raids with people arrested.
Oliver..supporting Hitler is nothing to be proud of.
I thought this was about “Beats” How did Mr Hitler get into this conversation Hmmm Chris? Andrew? Um, Chris, I wouldnt know what a Lavender Bag or a Doylie even looks like? I was born in the early 70s. I do remember Toilet Dolls and Optic fibre lights. Im also entitled to my opinion and proud of it? Isnt that what this section is all about?
Yes, well, Oliver…hmmmm. But back on topic, I have to say I find this latest CAAH action a little bewildering. Surely the point of beats is that they are discreet. I can just hear a voice from the toilet block: “Hey, you CAAH people outside, can you keep the noise down, we’re trying to have sex in here.”
Oliver..you are a disgrace and I bet your lavender bags have swasticcas on them ! How dare you defend the greatest mass murderer in history..you are deeply sick or just plain evil .like your hero Adolf Hitler.
FYI- Oliver, Hitler’s Nazi regime was responsible for the deaths of over 50,000 gay men in concentration camps across Germany and other occupied countries.
Thousands more were castrated or subjected to cruel medical experiments, were worked to death in work gangs, or were simply executed without trial where they were found.
The war he started lead to the slaughter of countless thousands of gay and lesbian soldiers and civilians on both sides of the conflict and the deaths of nearly 80 million human beings.
Forty thousand Australians were killed and over half the casualties in the entire war were innocent civilians.
Hitler was in no way shape or form, “like us Gays today”.
Oliver,
that would probably explain your negative attitude then. It comes out of a negative experience that you now associate with beats. That is not everybodies experience, just yours.
Please accept that many other people have had many wonderful and fuffiling experiences at beats, with guys, and not just sexual!
Andrew,
If a beat is being used late at night, with nobody around, out of sight of any of those apartments or houses, whats the problem??
Personally, I’ve found the environment far more relaxing and enjoyable than being sqished inside four dark walls!
And its not only just gay men, or straight men who like to play with guys, that have sex in parks at night, there is plenty of straight people who also go to parks at night, away from other people where they are not going to offend anyone, who enjoy the outdoors sexual experience too…
Why is it that just the gay men are the one’s being targetted as being dirty and disgusting? Why aren’t the straight people who have sex in public, sex in parks, (again, away from other people) being called dirty and disgusting?
Maybe our own community has an element of self-homophobia that denigrates the sexual activiities of certain elements of our community?
Sex at beats, in public, in parks, is away from other people, not disturbing anyone. Its a victimless crime that has no sense in being in force, or enforced!
Just because the law says one thing, it doesn’t make the law right! Laws can be changed!
Chris, Adolf Hitler was a target just like us Gays are today. People dont know much about him. I remember going to a Gay Youth Meeting back in 1990 when I was just a spring onion, and all the Guys in the Group were talking about was “Doing Beats” and raving on about their night prowls around Parks and toilets. That was my introduction to the Gay scene. Thats why I havent much sympathy to somebody being attacked at a beat. I was smart enough not to attend the next meeting as I was so sickened at what I was hearing.
Interesting to note in all these posts no one has admitted to being a beat user (as directly as this). I am. And I’m an out gay man, who socialises on and off Oxford Street and I have no qualms in going to any one of a number of beats in Sydney to and from work, or near my home (and for the safety of all I won’t tell you where any are). I’ve been using beats for over 20 years -¦.. got a start as a school boy.
Some are stinky public toilets, some are nice public toilets, some are beautiful pieces of Australian landscape, some offer a great outlook (over the city, rivers etc).
At some of them, I have met and chatted to some of the nicest people you will ever meet. At some of them I have acted as almost a counsellor, like the 38 year old guy I met a week or so ago, who had no gay friends and no idea what to do or who to turn to. And yes at some (many) I have just participate purely in the pleasures of the flesh.
Growing up in regional Australia, Beats were the ONLY social outlet for men to meet. Why do I use them now? It’s a bit of a social element, and its also about the ability for anonymity of sex in a place, where you are far less likely to be judged by the clothes you wear, the people you know, or the substances you have. So they will always have a place in society. And yes, some people may not agree with it, but if beat users follow simple guidelines (discretion and clean up after yourself being the major two), how are we hurting anyone? There are worse things any of us could be doing, and probably worse things many of us have done. So don’t deride us, we’re not hurting you so leave us be.
As for CAAH’s -œactions -“ I kind of don’t get it. Yes, I have seen Police being heavy handed in years gone by, but in most cases if the Police see you there (and not having sex in public), they very much leave you alone, and just let you know that there have been reports of bashings / car vandalism etc and to be careful. Remember, some police are beat users too! I think that CAAH wil just inflame the situation, and besides, I can’t see any of them travelling out of the 2010 postcode, where the real beats are!
Thank you to SSO for at least not advertising the location of these beats for the benefit of bashers.
Mark, surely it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that the difference is that Headquarters is surrounded by walls, isn’t a public place, children don’t play there during the day, and it isn’t directly across the road from hundreds of peoples’ houses and apartments.
No one is suggesting that beat users aren’t a part of our community- just that they’re embarrassing, are inconsiderate to others, are putting themselves in potentially dangerous situations and are breaking the law.
Oliver..Personally I find your admiration for Adolf Hitler ( as stated in a post you made on this site recently) far more offensive than consenting adults having sex in a public toilet.
Jason,
How is a bunch of guys wandering around the park, looking for and having sex, different to a bunch of guys wanding around the halls of headquarters (or similar), looking for and having sex??
The only difference I can see is that alot more straight guys and closetted guys feel comfortable because its NOT a gay venue!
It seems to me that you purhaps are a bit of a prude, or romantic monogamous type. And thats ok! You’re allowed to decide how you live and who you fuck. But so is everyone else!
Diversity in our community has been essential in building our community and enabling safety. Just because YOU dont like dirty sex, just because YOU dont like sex outdoors, just because YOU dont like group sex, just because YOU dont like anything other than missionary position. PLEASE dont degrade others who may enjoy alternatives to heterosexual style missionary sex between (only) two consenting males.
Some of us enjoy a bit of bondage, a bit of role play, a bit of variety and excitement in our sex lives!
Your false assumptions about the nature of “beat users” shows your complete lack of knowledge and experience and bigotry about the gay community you profess to belong to and care about.
OUR gay community includes the guys who like dirty sex, the sex pigs, and BDSM guys, the leather guys, the fisting guys, the beat guys, the asian guys, the lebanese guys, the black guys, the indigenous guys, the lesbians, the dykes, the F2M transexuals, the M2F transexuals, the girly boys, the sex workers, the drug users, and non-drug users, the old guys, the young guys, the deaf guys, the deaf girls, the dykes on bikes, the (you get what I mean)
How DARE YOU decide who is FIT enough to be in our community and who isn’t. Congratulations on knowing what you want for yourself, but DO NOT judge and condemn others for having a different sexual expression to YOU.
That is no different to Heterosexuals condemning ALL gay men for being different. And that is the bigotry that many, many long years of hard work by many, many people have fought hard to overcome.
I suggest that you open your mind to accepting DIVERSITY in our community, in ALL its forms!
I am outraged, visiting several beats, I got on my knees to peer under cubicle doors and broke a nail climbing a wall to look over the top of the cubicles in order to be offended by these disgraceful deviants. Alas, to no avail.
Jason You took the words right out of my mouth. I agree with you and I agree with doofus! peace.
Well, lol I really want to see how it would all pan out, are we all going to have protest sighns in our hands amongst the bushes?? hehe
On a seriouse note I LOVE beats, the grime the mystery the group stuff – I find going to beats to be great! I mean, it beats (hehe) surfing online to establish a meetup!
“CAAH plans to hold vigils at beats to defend them from police patrols on 15 and 29 November.”
How does this actually work? Does CAAH vet proposed beat users? Coppers are harassed and sent on their way while prospective beat users (the closeted married types that they are) are welcomed with chants of ‘we shall overcome’ and “there’s a cute guy in the bushes to the left now go suck some cock?”
By anygays’ low standards, men who loiter around public toilets are pretty creepy and sinister.
Its not homophobic to be wary of a skanky man creeping around a stinky loo who could also be someone who wants to knife me or steal my wallet.
These days it is getting harder and harder to distinguish between the a junkie and the crystal-queen.
Jason, as an out gay man you have no need to use beats. But the majority of beat users, I believe, are not out and many not exclusively gay. That is why beats are targeted for safe-sex information.
CAAH have a point that police need to be enlightened when dealing with this issue. But I’m afraid CAAH’s sledge-hammer activism may produce the exact opposite of what they hope to achieve.
Oliver, LOL, full of surprises… as usual. Knit me a rainbow scarf would you please, ya big nanna.
Jason
I think you are looking at this from an entirely incorrect perspective. In actual fact statistics show it is ‘straight’ men (usually married and in the closet) who use beats becfause they are uncomfortable meeting men in other environments – such as at a club of a sex on premises venue.
While I don’t condone beat use – it is illegal and distasteful – it is important to understand just who is being targetted as a result of such a crackdown. The vast majority of gay men meet at clubs, sex venues or online. Let’s not get too carried away with hysteria here and look at it objectively.
It is clear the police are approaching this in a responsible manner – we should show the same level of maturity.
I dont understand.. so there will be a protest against police at beats on Nov 15 and 29?.. umm is there somthing wrong with this picture?
Oh and I hope that the CAAH (Community Action Against Homophobia) when visting beats picks up and disposes all the used condoms that gay men have just left lying around at beats!!!
Gay men who have sex in public toilets, or as Michael states “wonderful outdoor cruising areas” MUST stop now !!! I find it embrassing being an openly gay man to read in the newspapers stories about gay men being arrested for sex at beats – I feel it gives gay men a bad name who dont take part in those sleezy activities. I worry that people who know Im gay but dont know me to well enough might assume I take part in beats, or when it states in the newspaper a report about how some one or some people were arrested for sexual activities at a beat, and in the news report often the person or persons who were arrested they dont print a name or age so people might think it was me who was arrested. Anyone have the same feelings ?
I agree with you Jason!!
The use of beats is often reduced by non-beat users to the issue of sex only.Lets clear up some misconceptions as to how beats are used and what happens at them.
Many beats are used as social gathering places and places for dissemination of news and safer sex messages.
Furthermore there is a common misunderstanding that sex in public places is somehow anonymous. It may be anonymous or it may be between people who know each other over long periods of time.
Beats may be used to meet potential sex partners, with any sexual contact happening somewhere else, a home for instance.
Country residents may have little option but to use these sorts of spaces to meet other MSMs.
Finally not all beats are toilets, there are some wonderful outdoor cruising areas, that are delightful places to visit even if you don’t meet anybody who takes your fancy.
So when a vicious poofta bashing occurs at a beat, we won’t have any police to call on…CAAH will be there instead with copies of the socialist manifesto to stop attackers.
Gay men who have sex with other men in dirty public toilets are an embarrassment to me as a gay person. I support the police cracking down sexual activity at beats.