Revelers party durg the Circu Ftival's Water Park Day Vilassar Mar, Spa, Augt 2016. Josep Lago/AFP via Getty ImagWhen ronavis rtrictns threatened the Whe Party, an annual circu party held Palm Sprgs, California, the anizer, Jefey Sanger, cid to move the ftivi to Jalis, Mexi. Gay partygoers om around the world scend on the small astal state for the New Year’s Eve bash. Stars om Ru Pl’s Drag race ma appearanc, and even some doctors and nurs, h off their first COVID-19 vacce dos, got on the actn. The social media backlash was swift. Mexi, at that time, had one of the hight mortaly rat – measured as aths to s – the world. Others poted out that the flux of tourists uld stra existg hospal rourc. Above all, the partygoers seemed to embody the arrogance, privilege and excs of people who prrized a good time over a global health emergency. While other gay events have also been occurrg durg the panmic, this one particular party seemed to strike a nerve wh the gay muny. For five years, my lleagu and I have been attendg the circu parti to terview atten. We’ve sought to better unrstand the posive ways the parti fluence gay culture, along wh some of the problems they n prent. To me, Sanker’s nt bash – held the thro of the ronavis panmic – epomized a growg divi gay culture. On one si, there are those who ntue to ph the polil boundari and, so dog, embrace the legacy of muny-buildg that emerged om the post-Stonewall era of LGBTQ activism; on the other, a group which seems to reject any notns of solidary nor exprs any sire to know more about the history and polil implitns of their actns. Early parti center on solidary The circu party emerged the late 1980s and me out of the unrground gay club scene tablished by Black and Lato men livg Chigo and Detro. The name “circu” was affixed to a particular branch of electronic dance mic party due to the style of hoe mic, dubbed “circu hoe,” that played almost exclively at the gathergs. Early circu hoe enthiasts subscribed to the valu of P.L.U.M. – Peace, Love, Uny and Movement – though the “M” would later be replaced wh an “R” for “Rpect.” The circu soon me to simply refer to the work of unrground nightclubs where gay men uld dance together. The spac also fostered solidary among gay people, helpg them feel ls stigmatized and normalizg some of the issu they faced, whether was HIV/AIDS or rejectn by fay and peers. As one 45-year-old gay male man told me, the early parti were “small, timate affairs. We were all lookg for a way to nnect wh each other, and we didn’t have many optns, so the circu beme a space for to belong and a place where we uld be ee.” The circu be expensive and exclive For LGBTQ people, this qut for belongg hasn’t gone away. A 2013 Pew survey reported that LGBTQ people still felt high rat of discrimatn excln om tradnal stutns such as the fay, church and the workplace. A 2019 survey of LGBTQ Southerners found that participants felt an attachment to LGBTQ cultural spac like gay bars and neighborhoods. For all the progrs that has been ma, the enclav rema some of the only spac society where gayns is the norm. Broar civil rights gas have cid wh technologil advancements, wh the ter and social media dramatilly changg human teractn and llective anizg. A whirlwd of dizzyg social change driven by lik, views and shar has led to greater feelgs of what soclogists ll “anomie” – a French word ed to scribe feelgs of disnnectedns and a lack of muny. Circu parti are not immune to this change. No longer do dividuals attend the circu to make a polil statement; stead, the culture of the circu seems to be foced almost exclively on celebratg and seekg hyper-mascule and heteronormative standards of bety. For partygoers, this often means buildg a mcular ame, havg risky sex and g dgs. They’ll also engage what’s been scribed by other amics as “body fascism” – the excln and policg of how partygoers are supposed to look. This cut, mascule ial is also reflected ads for the events. Thoands of gay men gather at the Palm Sprgs Conventn Center for the 2004 Whe Party. J. E Flor/Corbis via Getty Imag Today, circu parti have bee large-sle ternatnal productns stg hundreds of thoands of dollars, leadg to an crease ticket and travel sts. This has ma the events more exclive and also ls racially diverse, sce men of lor tend to have ls disposable e to attend the events and n also be the target of racial slurs and send-class treatment. “This is no longer a polil event,” one 50-year-old male party promoter told me. “This is a mic ftival, and we have to make as much money as possible.” When subcultur get -opted by pal One of the greatt strengths of the gay rights movement has been s abily to be activism wh fun. However, as my rearch shows, unls there’s an tent to prrize polil agendas, group solidary n easily be erod. Sanker has noted that as his events have bee more profable, they’ve faced ls opposn om public officials and nservative groups. But this profabily has meant scbbg ntroversial polil msag om the events to make them as palatable to as many ctomers as possible. Somethg, clearly, has been lost. Soclogists are keen to note how cultur – along wh subcultur – often emerge as a way to alleviate feelgs of isolatn and sufferg. However, cultural events often bee -opted by prof motiv. When this happens, they bee ls about rg for one another, buildg a sense of muny or celebratg the posive aspects of humany. Instead, wh pure profabily and pism ont and center at the Whe Party, ’s no wonr that the health of the atten – along wh that of the lols – was shgged off. [Insight, your box each day. You n get wh The Conversatn’s email newsletter.]This article is republished om The Conversatn, a nonprof news se dited to sharg ias om amic experts. It was wrten by: Christopher T. Conner, Universy of Missouri-Columbia. Read more:How the New York media vered the Stonewall rtsHow much cred should rporatns get for the advancement of LGBTQ rights? Christopher T. Conner do not work for, nsult, own shar or receive fundg om any pany or anizatn that would benef om this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliatns beyond their amic appotment.
Contents:
- THE UNSUNG HISTORY OF CIRCU PARTI, WHERE GAY MEN SEEK SEX AND FREEDOM
- HOW THE GAY PARTY SCENE SHORT-CIRCUED AND BEME A MONEYMAKG BONANZA
- 50+ GAY PRI EVENTS & PARAS AROUND THE WORLD
- GAY CIRCU PARTI DURG COVID SPARKED A “CIVIL WAR.” CAN ANYONE W?
THE UNSUNG HISTORY OF CIRCU PARTI, WHERE GAY MEN SEEK SEX AND FREEDOM
A circu party is a weekend long seri of events, attractg thoands of gay men, wh a huge fale party on Sunday afternoon. * what happens at gay circuit parties *
The circu—a loose global work of often weekend-long danceathons, where partygoers (almost all gay men) nvene om around the world to bond spirually, socially, sexually and milly—is one of the most unique phenomena to emerge om queer muni over the past few s.
Undoubtedly, many younger gay men prefer smaller venu that "bask the bety and openns of queer culture. " Plenty of olr gay men, too, fd the whole ethos of circu parti — glow sticks, remixed diva anthems, lor them, "body fascism"—to be tired figure out the state of the circu 2017, THUMP spoke wh Mickey Weems, a lecturer at the Universy of Hawai'i Manoa who has extensively studied circu parti (alongsi relig, anthropologil and folklore terts).
Weems spoke to their past, prent and potential future, explag what role the circu has played shapg queer and gay culture, and what s evolutn says about the same today.
HOW THE GAY PARTY SCENE SHORT-CIRCUED AND BEME A MONEYMAKG BONANZA
* what happens at gay circuit parties *
A gay circu party (Photo via)THUMP: Can you give me a psule history of the circu? When the Gay Activist Alliance was formed—the first gay rights group, born only six months after Stonewall—they had danc an old firehoe SoHo.
50+ GAY PRI EVENTS & PARAS AROUND THE WORLD
A large, gay dance party, somethg like a gay versn of a rave, but wh a gay-oriented mic selectn (ually pop, progrsive hoe, and tribal). Events are well-promoted, publicized, advertised and anized, are often attend by thoands, n be big chary fundraisers, and are ually expensive to attend. Sce each circu party occurs on a specific weekend and a specific cy once a year, and there are many parti on "the circu", travel and planng are required. Travellg om party to party be part of a circu boy's liftyle of travel, workg and partyg. Some exampl of circu parti: Whe Party Palm sprgs (April), Black Party New York (March), the Black and Blue Ball Montreal (October), the Blue Ball Philalphia (January). The are often all-night and multi-day events, and party dgs such as ecstasy, GHB, ketame and crystal are equently taken by partygoers." name="Dcriptn" property="og:scriptn * what happens at gay circuit parties *
And New York, thoands of men began gatherg at Downtown loft spac that began croppg started pourg , wh plac like Flamgo and Twelve Wt, two of the most proment gay male dance spac, full of sweaty men dancg all the same time, Fire Island beme the place for people who uld afford . The term "circu" me om beg the "need to know circu"—not only diss, but "--the-know" plac the gay muny that even clud, 1980, the Sat opened the East Village. One thg the 2002 documentary When Boys Fly [which followed a group of young gay men attendg the Miami Whe Party] got right was showg someone fallg out [passg out om dg e] was sndalo.
Then you started seeg the rise of the ter, which pecially affected the gay datg scene.
A handful of proment gay punds saw the parti as a waste of our energy and rourc. People like Michelangelo Signorile, who wrote about his experience at the Palm Sprgs Whe Party Life Outsi, a book about gay culture at the time, were posg that the parti were crics like Signorile, Larry Kramer and Gabriel Rotello, parti were seen as havens for irrponsible behavr, sex and dgs.
GAY CIRCU PARTI DURG COVID SPARKED A “CIVIL WAR.” CAN ANYONE W?
Most of the kds of studi look at the areas of gay culture—like the bathhoe scene, club scene, the app scene—bee they're supposed hot spots for HIV fectn and rampant dg the qutn is: do the people dog the studi unrstand our muny at all?
Bee what they're "studyg" is jt what go on regular gay that "regular gay life" has e to mean somethg very different 2017. There's no qutn that for gay men, thgs have gotten better.