Gay men London, om persecutn to Pri | Welle Collectn

Contents:

• THE RISE OF GAY 'CHEMSEX' PARTI VOLVG LIBIDO-ENHANCG DGS
• GAY LIFTYLE IS FUELLED BY DGS, REARCH REVEALS
• TA: THE DG VASTATG THE GAY MUNY
• GAY MEN LONDON, OM PERSECUTN TO PRI
• COE ADDICTN AND THE GAY MUNY
• KEV SPACEY DEFENDS COMG OUT AS GAY AFTER BEG ACCED OF SEXUAL MISNDUCT: ‘I WAS UNR A LOT OF PRSURE’

THE RISE OF GAY 'CHEMSEX' PARTI VOLVG LIBIDO-ENHANCG DGS

Stay ahead of the trend fashn and beyond wh our ee weekly Liftyle Ed newsletterStay ahead of the trend fashn and beyond wh our ee weekly Liftyle Ed newsletter It's Friday night and a group of gay men is gatherg London for a party one of their hom. More and more gay men are gog to parti like this to dulge “chemsex”, or sex unr the fluence of dgs. But if we the gay muny thk this is a problem that n be obscured om the world at large, pretendg that affects only a rogue subset among , we are wrong; chemsex is merely the most extreme ditn of a hidn burn many of still rry, spe the rapid velopment of gay rights over the past and a half.

However, the staff at 56 Dean Street, London's pneerg sexual-health clic, timate that 3, 000 gay men who e recreatnal dgs sexual ntexts e through their doors each month. It's also difficult to obta reliable evince for the lk between chemsex and risg rat of HIV, but a study missned by three south London boroughs, published 2014, found that three out of four gay men who had attend chemsex parti had engaged unprotected sex, wh a potentially high risk of passg on the vis. ”The film's portrayal of the chemsex phenomenon will no doubt shock straight viewers who've been sced by the visn of a newly emancipated muny of proud and happy gay men that many of have been so willg to project.

What I learnt durg that time was that my experience of homophobic bullyg as an effemate and obvly gay child had left part of me believg I was jt as disgtg as everyone had said – and was this self-loathg which was motivatg my urge to urse, there n be all kds of reasons why people, both gay and straight, try to stroy themselv – and this is somethg I like to explore my fictn. ) But I'm particularly terted the shared experienc that n drive gay men to self-stct through practic such as chemsex.

GAY LIFTYLE IS FUELLED BY DGS, REARCH REVEALS

However happy we like to thk we are as adults and however much progrs has been ma the field of equal rights, the realy is that most gay men over a certa age have grown up experiencg homophobia.

TA: THE DG VASTATG THE GAY MUNY

Even those who haven't will have seen happeng to others and sublimally absorbed the msage that beg gay is wrong.

Perhaps most tragilly, many younger men who have grown up an apparently much ls homophobic society now seem to be fallg to the scene almost accintally; anyone loggg on to Grdr need ntact only a few ers before beg offered “chems”. And although younger gay men general might rry around ls shame attached to their sexualy, they may have had other personal experienc that motivate them to self-stct – or may simply be stgglg to unrstand their masculy or sexual inty.

GAY MEN LONDON, OM PERSECUTN TO PRI

There are a handful of support works for men affected, such as the Facebook groups A Change of Scene and Let's Talk About Gay Sex and Dgs. And next year Matthew Todd, the edor of Attu magaze, will publish a book that exam the damage homophobia has done to gay men, wh a signifint foc on the issu around if we are beg more open about all aspects of the gay experience, I hope people om outsi our muny won't react agast .

And I hope people won't start dividg to two distct tegori: “good” gays, who assiate and have relatnships and children, and “bad” gays, who go to chemsex parti and ntract HIV. Bee on the surface I'm a “good” gay but at tim I've behaved like a “bad” gay. Young gay men are much more likely than straight men to take dgs, cludg ecstasy, e and marijuana, acrdg to two studi Bra and one-third of men surveyed the Uned Stat who had sex wh other men said they ed dgs at least once a week, and lifetime e of e was nearly twice as high as that of the general age-group.

'New rearch by the mental health chary Md showed that the trend is replited Bra wh dg e nsistently higher among gay men and lbian women. 'The gay scene is bar and club orientated, ' said Monty Moncrieff, project -ordator at Antidote, a dgs service for gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr people. 'That is where people go to meet other gay people and there is a lot of e, ecstasy, ketame and GHB around.

COE ADDICTN AND THE GAY MUNY

'Jason, 23, is a gay man livg London who spends most of his weekends partyg. 'It is still a haner om the ecstasy hoe mic boom which did to some extent start the gay clubs of London, ' says David Smh, a senr health promotn officer for gay men. Gay men also ntue to take dgs for much longer than heterosexuals, long after others have chosen to settle down wh a fay.

KEV SPACEY DEFENDS COMG OUT AS GAY AFTER BEG ACCED OF SEXUAL MISNDUCT: ‘I WAS UNR A LOT OF PRSURE’

'But while much of the dg e is club-related, wh recreatnal dgs beg taken as a liftyle choice, there are ncerns that dg e among gay men n be a form of pism om difficult liv.

'The study by Md shows that gay, lbian and bisexual people are more likely to suffer psychologil strs than straight people, wh gay men 13 per cent more likely to harm themselv and lbians 6 per cent more likely. This is Part 4 of a BuzzFeed News 1: Revealed: The Hidn Epimic of Abe, Overdose, And Death Csed By The Sex Dg GPart 2: The Sex Dg GBL Is Beg Sold Through FacebookPart 3: He Found His Hband Dead From A GHB Overdose But Is Now Fightg To Unver The Tth About What HappenedGay men are beg dgged whout their knowledge g GHB put to lubrint orr to rape and sexually asslt them, BuzzFeed News and Channel 4’s Dispatch n a documentary to be broadst on Sunday night, Stephen Morris, who ns the only specialist un the Prison and Probatn Service for offenrs who m crim amid chemsex suatns, warns: “One of the most recent velopments is that GHB n be admistered wh lubrint.

”The crimal technique volv dggg victims by jectg the mixture anally, g the chemil to be absorbed more quickly to the bloodstream, therefore triggerg a more immediate or heightened ’s warng a BuzzFeed News–Dispatch documentary lled Sex, Dgs and Murr, which reveals how GHB is beg weaponised by rapists and murrers, and maps the abe, addictn, and aths has ed among gay victim, who rpond to a survey nducted for the documentary, said he had been unknowgly overdosed on the dg through lubrint and later was sent photographs of the two men rapg him. His acunt was one of dozens of survey rponnts’ who also reported beg dgged wh GHB through method is particularly beg ed on gay and bisexual men and often chemsex suatns — where crystal meth, GHB, and mephedrone might already be prent — and has prompted LGBT health chari to highlight the ser health risks pos as well as the numero crim n unique danger of GHB and GBL, which turns to GHB the body, is how easy they are to overdose on: Jt half a lilre too much n e ath, and when mixed wh alhol, the danger is even higher. That mixture uld then be put to a syrge and jected anally or “would be ed the body the way that you would e lubrint to facilate sexual behavur peratn” is often referred to the media as a “date rape” dg, but reference to beg slipped to people’s drks, and ually relatg to female ’s warng, however, cid wh the rults of the largt-ever survey of gay and bisexual men’s experienc of GHB and GBL, the two almost intil dgs ually referred to simply as “G” effect of this dg, like crystal meth, n crease the chanc of an offence, said Morris.