The Death of the Circuit Boy

the nineties will be remembered where the place to be was at The Circuit Party. annually, these parties are being attended by gay men in tight lycra-enforced clothes with disposable incomes and no responsibilities. in the early days of gay empowerment, gay bars and events have been the locus of the queer folk. there was a need for this: the closet engulfed us, we needed to find places where we can escape its confines and express our sexuality. these places created the gay clone and it's younger brother, the circuit boy and with it, the gay subculture.

it might be prudent to point out that today, the "gay subculture" is so ubiquitous that it's part of the mainstream. gay men who are not comfortable with their sexuality and masculinity often say that they don't live "the gay lifestyle", equating hanging out at a gay bar as being a lifestyle. it is true that gay subculture is most concentrated in gay bars, but to say that it doesn't exist in straight bars is disingenous. the aesthetics of camp and retro, postmodernism, musical theatre, "Antiques Roadshow", cappuccino culture, pottery barn, goth and punk, in-your-face activism, "Friends" and movies like "Scream" and "Rush Hour" have gay roots. so if you've been saying that you don't live the "gay lifestyle", stop being so homophobic and accept it, you ARE.

the queer youth that i have been working with in my volunteer work at PRIDE Youth, don't talk about a "gay lifestyle." to them, the gay subculture is so ingrained into the mainstream that they don't recognize it as separate. they do experience their alienation in their lives, but "Will and Grace" or even "Queer as Folk" is part of the mainstream, something they can't really call their own. where older gay men have difficulty with obviously gay signifiers such as pink triangles and rainbow flags, the youth have embraced this because they have nothing to call their own. the youth, having peers who are more accepting of their sexuality, are more accepting of their own levels of masculinity/femininity. they have less latent self-homophobia that men in their late 20s and beyond have about "acting gay." they are more open to the concept of transgenderism.

the death of the Circuit Boy is imminent. the aberzombification of queer youth is a testament to this. bodybodywear and universal gear clothing that are the uniforms of the aging circuit boys are becoming more mainstream. the Jocko and YMLA look so favored by International Male Catalog seem quaint and outdated--a piece of kitsch. queer youth are so much more accepted in underground raves right now, that when they come of age, going to a circuit party would be overkill. and the Circuit Boy will just be another relic of the nineteen-nineties.