FIFA's Gianni Infanto says he feels like a gay migrant worker

Contents:

• FOR GAY MIGRANTS, CISG SPOTS AREN’T JT SHADOWS AND SHAME
• ‘I FEEL GAY, DISABLED … LIKE A WOMAN TOO!’: INFANTO MAK BIZARRE ATTACK ON CRICS
• ‘I FEEL GAY.’ FIFA BOSS BLASTS HYPOCRISY OF WTERN NATNS STARTLG TIRA

FOR GAY MIGRANTS, CISG SPOTS AREN’T JT SHADOWS AND SHAME

In the dark, tightly packed urban villag of a South Cha dtrial zone, Garn Park is an oasis for ral migrant gay men like Meilan. Around one hundred gay men — many of them migrant workers who lived nearby — were stg on the handrails of a rock bridge, lookg down at the artificial lake below; some had brought tradnal moonk and other snacks to share wh iends the moonlight.

Soon, Meilan joed the gay muny members that ngregated the park. At s peak, this muny nsisted of hundreds of queer men, most of them ral-to-urban migrants livg nearby, but also some accintal visors or people who had heard about the park om other gay men or on social media. Prr to the late 1990s, when male homosexualy was still crimalized and classified as a mental illns Cha, cisg spac — known as “spots, ” “fishg grounds, ” or “floatg grounds” — were important settgs for urban gay men to meet and get to know each other through agreed-upon s that would not publicly reveal one’s sexualy.

‘I FEEL GAY, DISABLED … LIKE A WOMAN TOO!’: INFANTO MAK BIZARRE ATTACK ON CRICS

But over the past few s, as smopolan nsumer spac and gay bars have sprouted up across urban areas, the act of cisg public parks has shifted om beg a shared secret to an outdated practice — one that embodi the shame and danger associated wh homosexualy earlier eras.

The rultg emergence of a nsumptn-based gay inty has promoted gay visibily and improved public perceptn of the gay muny. But has also facilated a dichotomy between “good” and “bad” homosexuals, where supposedly cent homosexual sire is rtricted to private spac and visible ditns of homosexualy are nsired cent and associated wh sexually transmted diseas. This stereotype has been ternalized: On foms and social media domated by middle-class gays, public cisg s are universally picted as unsafe, unhygienic, and promiscuo; those who equent them are stigmatized as dulgent and obscene.

‘I FEEL GAY.’ FIFA BOSS BLASTS HYPOCRISY OF WTERN NATNS STARTLG TIRA

The stigmas ter most middle-class gay men om equentg cisg s.

Few migrant workers are willg to vis upsle gay bars and clubs downtown areas, where entrance alone generally sts at least 100 yuan ($15. ” Although most gay men e datg apps, regardls of class, gay migrant workers tend to feel margalized on the apps due to their emphasis on appearance.

In this environment, cisg parks rema one of the few plac where gay migrants n meet and socialize wh each other. Gay men Garn Park n be divid to two groups: those there to hang out wh other gays and those there to have sex.