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ELEVEN Constructing a Gay Life A ccording to sociologist Laud Humphreys in his work Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places, the Morgan rest area would easily qualify as a tearoom. A tearoom, used here in the context of what Humpheys calls “a homosexual subculture,” is a place forged by reputation and facilitated by gay men seeking anonymous sexual encounters without further involvement emotionally. Functioning tearooms can be found in a number of settings. Usually, they are found in spaces where the line between public and private is less distinguishable, that is, public spaces that can afford a great deal of privacy for an individual : a created space where one could remain for hours at a time without being asked to leave. They can be, for example, a dark movie theater, deep within the stacks of a public library, or the steamy corners of a public sauna or bathhouse. Indeed, of all the places, public toilets—particularly roadside rest areas—are the most desirable locations for those wishing to engage in anonymous sex. They remain so for three reasons. First, in keeping with the American fascination with the automobile and the resulting drivethrough craze, not to mention the freedom of movement and the desire for community by gay men in Arkansas, public rest areas are easily accessible to those with cars. The Morgan rest area, though only serving eastbound Interstate 40 traffic, was merely twelve miles from Little Rock, the state’s largest urban center. Also, the rest area offered ample parking spaces, many that were connected to private picnic pavilions in remote settings throughout the grounds of the rest area. Second, rest areas are easily recognizable to any passing motorist. Signs are posted in numerous and highly visible locations telling interstate travelers not only where a particular rest area is located but also how much farther one can expect to travel before finding it. For those who lived near rest areas, their 121 intended and unintended functions would also be somewhat obvious. The third and perhaps most important reason for the popularity of rest areas and their public toilets for private sexual encounters is that though they are considered public space, they often offer little public visibility. Cruising the tearoom offered a chance for the man to shed his known identity, to travel beyond the prying eyes of his neighbors, the watchful eyes of his family, to a public place that afforded him more privacy.1 The Morgan rest area not only was surrounded by dense woods and overgrown brush but also lay a few yards from endangered wetland protected by environmental law. This isolated the still-accessible rest area, and indeed the tearoom forged there, from any other space. There was no chance of little-leaguers wandering off from a baseball diamond, no chance of a family spotting sexual activity from an area playground. The Morgan rest area offered none of these things. More than that, the space only succeeded in confusing public and private. Families could choose far-removed and secluded picnic areas, affording them an amount of privacy within a public space. Also worth mentioning, the rest area was set off of the interstate an irregular distance for facilities of that type. The building that housed the public toilets was high atop a hill that overlooked the busy thoroughfare. One could observe passing automobiles whizzing by, but there was little chance of a passing motorist spotting anyone or for that matter recognizing any particular automobile as at that of a neighbor or coworker. Unbeknownst to the Arkansas Highway Department, they had constructed a space ideal for someone to engage in impersonal homoerotic activity. However, the same reasons that led to the creation of the tearoom for those who wished to use it for sex also attracted those who wished to close it down. Given the statutes regarding sodomy and loitering for sexual purposes, the Pulaski County sheriff’s office had a full range of laws with which to arrest possible offenders. Humphreys offers three possible avenues for police involvement in tearoom activity. The first is spying, used at the Morgan rest area in the form of hidden cameras . Given the unfavorable publicity surrounding their use, hidden cameras are no longer used in public toilets by either local law enforcement or the highway department. However, all rest areas in Arkansas, down from thirty-six to thirty-two, are now equipped with cameras mounted outside the buildings housing public toilets to monitor criminal behavior 122 CONSTRUCTING A GAY...

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