Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: National cross-section samples of 21-28 newspapers examined coverage of three same-sex issues – gay adoption, gay marriage, and gays in the Boy Scouts of America -- using a “community structure approach.” Selecting all articles over a certain length published in the sample periods, city characteristics (including an innovative “Gay Market Index” and “Gay Legal Index”) were compared systematically with a composite measure of coverage combining article “prominence” and article “direction, calculating a “Media Vector” with maximum/minimum ranges of +1.00 to -1.00.

Pearson correlations, regression analysis and factor analysis found privilege or its absence significant for all three issues. If children are affected (Boy Scouts or same-sex adoption), a “buffer hypothesis” appears confirmed: The larger the proportion of privileged groups (college education or family income), the more favorable the coverage of (gay) rights claims. By contrast, the higher the “vulnerability” in a city (percents below poverty levels or unemployed), the less favorable the coverage of a gay issue not involving children: Same-sex marriage. Percent Catholic is significantly associated with favorable coverage of all three gay rights issues. Rotated factor analysis and regression of factors reveal two factors each accounted for 56 percent of the coverage variance for gays in the Boy Scouts, 57 percent for same-sex adoption, and 33 percent for same-sex marriage. Regional Media Vectors and public opinion were mostly aligned for all three gay rights issues, with both newspapers and public viewpoints most favorable to gays in the Northeast, both less favorable to gays in the South and Midwest.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Most research about HIV among gay youth focuses on HIV risk behaviors. Many of the studies of gay youth are also driven by a deficit model of development. Scholars have argued that such deficit models may be contributing to their stigmatization while ignoring their resiliency (Savin-Williams, 2001). This paper focuses attention on a subset of the sexual stories told by young gay men interviewed as part of the “Sexual Stores” project. The “Sexual Stories” project was a qualitative inquiry into the lives of forty (twenty white and twenty Latino) young gay men between the ages of 18 and 24. Participants in this study were drawn using a snowball sampling procedure within each ethnic group. The interviewer employed a semi-structured interview method of data collection. The particular focus of this manuscript is to analyze how the interviews collected allow for examinations of safe sex accounts told by the young gay men. The authors illustrate, in qualitative detail, the young gay men’s experiences of sex education at school and the stories they tell about crafting their sexual lives. The text also provides recommendations for meaningful and relevant HIV prevention sex education guided by ‘gay-boy’ talk.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Objectives. This study sought to understand the interpersonal, social, and cultural contexts in which behavioral risk for HIV infection occurs among young gay men. Methods. Forty in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with white and Latino young gay men (ages 18-24) who were purposively recruited using a snowball sampling procedure. Results. Sexual risk behaviors occurred mainly in two social situations: primary relationships of presumed monogamy and sexual coercion. These young men also reported experiencing very little relevant sex education prior to engaging in sexual risk behaviors. Conclusion. This paper builds on previous knowledge about sexual risk for HIV among young gay men by focusing attention on the social contexts within which risk behaviors are reported. Recommendations are presented for meaningful and relevant HIV prevention interventions.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Based on data from 89 in-depth interviews, six years of participant observation, and content analysis of postings from an on-line discussion group, this paper explores the phenomenon of large-scale gay dance parties commonly referred to as, circuit parties. The “circuit” consists of a continuous series of annual, international dance events. Prominent examples include: White Party in Palm Springs, Morning Party at Fire Island, NY, Black and Blue in Montreal, Winter Party in Miami Beach, Hell Ball and Magnitude in San Francisco, Black Party in New York, and the Gay/Lesbian Mardi Gras in Sydney. These circuit events last from 2 to 5 days and often draw tens of thousands of participants to a single party event. Circuit boys, as commonly referred to in the scene, gather with friends, use recreational drugs (e.g., ecstasy (MDMA), alcohol, Special K (Ketamine), GHB (Gamma Hydroxybutyrate), crystal (methamphetamine) and cocaine), dance to house music, and often engage in sex over the course of a circuit weekend. While widely reviled by social conservatives, condemned by law enforcement, and considered pathological by public health authorities, AIDS organizations, and numerous prominent gay intellectuals, my research suggests that circuit events now function to meet a variety of important social and social psychological needs for some gay men. My work also suggests that participation in the circuit culture leads to the development of various patterns of resiliency, and circuit participation frequently also embodies countercultural values and politics.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In recent decades, gay people of color have begun to challenge old assumptions regarding what it means to be “gay,” posing a threat to older notions of “gay” identity. However, much of the coverage in “mainstream” gay publications remains geared toward white readers. Using critical discourse analysis, this paper analyzes the coverage in “mainstream” gay magazines and argues that “gay” publications have marginalize gay Asian men by simply ignoring their existence or employing existing stereotypes about Asian men in general, thereby, maintaining “gay” as largely a “white” category and relegating gay Asian men to the margins of the gay “community.”