A Gay/campy chronicling of daily life in NYC,with individual kernels of human truth. copyright 2011 by The Raving Queen
Saturday, February 10, 2018
A Warning To All My Girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As a not so tired, but old, queen, I can remember the days when Christopher Street really was the gay mecca of Manhattan. It still has that reputation, due to history, but these days it has become so straight and seedy that even Amy Sedaris moved out of there years ago.
To prove my point, consider what happened on the evening of February 3, of this year. The man pictured here struck a 22-year-old young woman in the face, near 78 Christopher Street.
I really became aware of all this, yesterday, while in the area, on my way to Three Lives Bookstore, where, of course, I made out like a bandit. On lampposts along the way were posted, by The Guardian Angels, a sign, with a different photo, and an explanation of the situation. When I saw that, I said to myself, "I have to warn my girls!"
Further down the street, near 81 Christopher, the guy punched a 35-year-old man in the face, causing a cut in his nose that left him bloody.
Lastly, on the same evening, a 60 year old man was punched in the face, causing a cut on his mouth to bleed. Two were wisely taken to the hospital--Northwell Health Lenox Hill, Greenwich Village--while the third person declined medical treatment. The wounds of all three were treatable, and not serious.
But that they were attacked is. I can hear the cynics or bigots saying, "Well, at least they are not bashing gays exclusively." In the first place, to these idiots, I say, the sexual orientation of these people is not known, and, secondly, it does not matter. What matters is that people, out for a relaxing, evening, are being attacked by this nut job, and I don't care who they do or do not have sex with. No one deserves this.
If you ask me, this is not the first time this guy has struck. Nor, if not apprehended, will it be the last.
The queen in me cannot help musing that the straighter Christopher Street has gotten over the years, the more dangerous it has become. One night, after drinking or whatever, I walked up the street, and looked to my right--this was in the Summer, back in the 80's, now!--and a guy was bent over the front of a car, being fucked by a guy in back. Just another night on the town, as we used to say. Now, no one does anything on Christopher Street; so many businesses have come and gone over the time I have spent on it, that I do not go near the area any more. There really is nothing for gay men, on this street, now, but its name, and the associations it conjures up.
It is a little more seedy, One, in the day, never ventured below the former porn store on Greenwich, unless one wanted a rough and raunchy evening at Badlands, or The Dugout. Badlands no longer exists; I am not so sure about The Dugout, as I no longer go near this locale.
Everyone has the right to feel safe walking on Christopher Street. Even Leonard Bernstein referenced it, in the opening number of his 1953 musical, "Wonderful Town."
As the Comden and Green lyrics went, "Interesting people, on Christopher Street."
Now, it's nut jobs. Hey, NYPD, catch this guy fast. Just because the locale is Christopher Street, don't go marginalizing the general populace, like was done with the pre-Stonewall gays!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't want this city to revert to the 70's, when one was afraid to even go out of the door!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sadly, this is what comes of elevating "individual rights" to a neurotic extreme, with no grounding in the reality of human nature and mental illness.
ReplyDeleteMost of this violent behavior, not to mention the skyrocketing homeless disaster, is directly traceable to the misguided (and venal) decision to shut down all the asylums forty years ago. Despite so many finding the very concept distasteful, when one's mind is permanently shorted out into the functional level of a decaying grapefruit, one needs to be removed from free society and forcibly treated.
Refuse to take the meds? Then you don't even leave your room to attend the cafeteria. Period. End of story. No "compassionate release", no " respecting your right to control your own body". Wallowing on the subway in your own filth, creating a biohazard for everyone else, is not a rational or acceptable "lifestyle choice". Neither is slashing random people in the face, punching them, or throwing lye.
#timesup indeed.
BTW, the Dugout became a lesbian/trans bar some years back, then briefly reoriented with all the other dives on that block to service an influx of aspirational African American clientele, then mutated into the current "RockBar". Which is just another of the 4000 rotating theme bars that overrun the city now: each night panders to a different demographic, from Irish drunks to Somalian drag queens to Mexican day workers to straight dull fratkids from Jersey. Of course the patrons tend to confuse which night is "theirs", leading to a tense melange more often than not. It hasn't been a low-key, friendly bear bar for more than a decade: a real loss.
ReplyDeleteOh, honey, you said it!
I so fear the city is reverting
back to what it was in the 70s,
with all of us afraid to venture
outside again.
As for the Dugout, I had no idea.
A lesbian bar? How disrespectful?
It used to a friendly place, and
this was before the piers were
converted into parks. Beautiful,
but the dangerous areas one has
to walk through to get to them
make the trip not worth it. And
I have heard of things happening there.