The Gay Chat Room" name="scriptn
Contents:
THE GAY CHAT ROOM
* chat gay 1998 *
It ed to be that gay men who wanted to meet other gay men had limed optns. Now, lns of gay men wa le--not to pay a ver charge or orr a drk, but to get to the men-for-men chat rooms on Ameri Onle. Acrdg to timat by Inter mographers, 20% of AOL's 21 ln subscribers are gay, and at nearly all hours, the men-for-men chat rooms are filled wh guys lookg for Mr.
) "Unls you're John McCa, you n't always look at someone's face and know they're gay, " says Inter-privacy expert John Aravosis, jokgly referrg to the ndidate's remark about his abily to spot gays the ary. "It's changed the world, " says Peter Ian Cummgs, publisher of XY magaze, a tle aimed at young gay men. "If you ask gay men unr 25 how they meet people, I thk 99% would say they've met people onle, and the vast majory of them would say they e AOL.
While the chat rooms are fillg a void for lns of men, the gay muny's relatnship wh AOL is more of a love-hate affair. In 1998 an AOL employee let slip the inty of gay naval officer Timothy R. AOL issued a public apology, but plats have persisted that AOL holds gay ctomers to different, stricter standards, both chat rooms and on personal profil.