Gay public bathroom sex

Once any kind of sex in public might have led to arrest and prosecution. Now police across much of the UK take a softly-softly approach, writes Julie Bindel. Decades ago, the police in the UK did their utmost to stop gay men having sex in public toilets and outdoor "cruising grounds".

Men were frequently arrested, prosecuted and often jailed. Today bathroom gay changed and the police take advice on "sensitivity and fairness" in dealing with those who have sex in public places. A Freedom of Information request, submitted last year, revealed specific sex, published in by the Association of Chief Police Officers Acpo on the policing of sex in public.

And indeed public sex has been on the agenda in Britain since at least the late s, according to some accounts. In the decades prior to the Sexual Offences Actgay men rarely "came out". Cruising was one way that - albeit with a fairly high level of risk of persecution - men could meet other men in a way they could not in ordinary life.

Hampstead Heath in north London is a very well-known cruising ground. Sir John Gielgud was arrested for "importuning" in in Chelsea, and Peter Dudley, an actor in Coronation Street, was arrested in in a public in Didsbury. The singer George Michael, famously arrested after an incident a Los Angeles public toilet, has said he has no shame about engaging in cruising.

Almost 50 years after the decriminalisation of gay sex in the UK, cruising is still popular.

Definitive stats are difficult to come by, but anecdotally at least, the British do not seem to be that squeamish about outdoor sex, and it appears to be more commonplace than one might think. In general terms, the police now only tend to get involved when bystanders complain. The issue doesn't public affect gay people.

For centuries heterosexual couples have had sex in secluded spots, often referred to as "Lovers' Lanes", seeking privacy unavailable at home. And a decade ago footballer Stan Collymore admitted to "dogging" - having sex in a public place watched by onlookers - in a Cannock Chase country park, having been spotted by tabloid journalists.

It placed in the public consciousness a hitherto shadowy subculture. In a shift from the previous legislation and police practice, which focused only on sex between men in public toilets commonly known as "cottaging" the latest guidance makes reference to sex by a wider variety of people, and includes dogging, sex in parks, beaches, and beauty spots.

Behaviour that is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to other users contrary to the Public Order Act Offences of exposure - if the person exposes themselves to someone intending that someone will see them and be caused bathroom or distress. Sex in a public toilet Section 71, Sexual Offences Act, The above applies to England and Gay although there are some similar provisions in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

It's a complicated issue. Outdoor sex in the middle of a forest is clearly sex the other end of the spectrum from sex on a crowded beach. But both can be interpreted as sex in public places. The Acpo guidance focuses on those who stumble across it as well as those that indulge in it.