I should know: As an openly gay man living in central Illinois, blanks are a troubling constant of my daily life.įor those who’ve never received a “sup” at 2 a.m., a bit of background: The two most popular gay dating apps, Grindr and Scruff, feature a GPS grid that shows profiles of nearby men. But in rural regions of the country, the faceless profile-calling card of the forever “discreet”-takes up an unavoidable amount of real estate. In general, this mixing is fine: Ignore the closet cases if you’re not into that. Any number of hookup apps afford them the safety of an anonymous, blank profile in the same sexual ecosystem as the most out-and-proud among us. Will the NFL Finally Support Gay Players?Ĭontact with gay sexuality used to look very different for closeted gay men: parks at night, porn stores, and rest area restrooms that bore the signature punch-out between two stalls just big enough to fit one’s dick through-the storied “glory hole.” More recently, instead of cruising in these secretive physical gay spaces, they have become able to scratch their itch online. How Republican Demagoguery Brought Us the Anti-Gay Truck Full of Nazis “To Hold My Boyfriend’s Hand … Is Still Revolutionary”Įvolutionarily Speaking, Do Men Need to Exist? This post is part of Outward, Slate’s home for coverage of LGBTQ life, thought, and culture.
