Gay cruising at WCs at Taipei Station…is this true?
I wsa just surfing, and somehow while looking something up on taiwan, I got directed to this site, for gays in taiwan. lists of clubs etc to meet other gays. THEN i saw this and almost fell off my ROCKING chair:
TAIPEI RAILROAD STATION (chung-hsiao west road, section 1)
This is an awesome place to meet strangers (after 5pm has lots of students off school), during afternoon is nice too! There’re 3 bathrooms on ground floor and 3 on lower floor. This place open from early 5:30am to 1am. Lucky you will see many armies around(some are gay). If you stay long enough,you will find men spend hours and hours waiting guys come to the bathroom.
Is this really true, still, in this day and age? Sorry, but I’ve never been into the gay lifestyle, but I thought WC cruising was a no no. Who really does this?
like omni says, wouldn’t it be nice if straights could do things like this too. We could get arrested! Underage girls! OMIGOD!
the site adds:
Despite the reserved nature of the Chinese, Taiwan has its fair share of gay men. Apparently there is no specific law relating to homosexuality, but care should be taken as the general Chinese way of life is quite conservative. If you are an older guy looking for young Oriental company, then there are a good number of young men in Taiwan looking for you. Quite a few young men seem to prefer the maturity and stability of an older person, although you will probably have to make the first move, as many young Chinese men are often shy.
Wow, this has really opened my eyes! It’s like a George Michael thing.
Er, yes still in this day and age, just like prostitution, rape, sexual abuse and any other vice you care to mention. How old are you because you’re embarrassing yourself?
Come come, Soddom, this is Formosa you’re talking to. It’s not “how old?” Its “what’s your mental age?” I guarantee the former is far higher than the latter.
soddom, I plead guilty on both counts. But really, waiting outside men’s WC at the Taipei Train station? Even today, with gay liberation making it so much more easy to have a fulfilling gay life? I guess I am just … clueless.
I wonder why the Taiwan - Touch Your Heart Web site doesn’t mention this, or Travel in Taiwan magazine. Maybe Taipei Times can write a fun family feature about it.
Oh, please! The entire city of Taipei is a cruise fest for gay men.
Not to mention Danshui and Geelung.
One rather bawdy friend of mine said he witnessed one of the most perverted incidents he’d ever seen involving … in Danshui.
And this person used to live in London!
I could only become an animagus or be reincarnated as a gay man to ever have privy to such deliciously naughty undertakings.
I thought everybody knew that the big happening spot for gay cruising was the big public park in the center of town. Go to any park in America after dusk and you’ll see lots of men hanging around on park benches waiting. Same in Taiwan. When I was walking in the big Gungyuan park in Tainan after dark, I noticed quite a few older Chinese men giving me the eye, and quite obvious about it…didn’t take much to figure out what they were doing there hanging out all night.
Back in the States it’s a common occurrence to read about undercover police patrolling the public parks and making busts when gay men proposition them. Do they do this in Taiwan as well? I don’t give two hoots about whether it’s het or homo - sex in public is a no-no. Public toilets aren’t your private bedroom.
Sure, but as you say, police resources and time are used to trap “gay” men having sex in public; they don’t go out looking for straight couples in the park lavs or on beach, do they?
Whatever you think, in reality sex in public is only really a no-no for men - straight couples more often than not get a nudge-nudge, wink-wink reaction from police and passers-by, I’m sure; gay men get purposely entrapped and fined.
You’re right, of course - it’s a discriminatory practice of the police against gay men. Whenever they make those sort of busts in the States, lots of family men and other respectable citizens have their lives ruined from being unwillingly ‘outed’. But, on the other hand, I have about as much sympathy for those guys enduring the public humiliation of having their names smeared all over the papers for public sex as I do for all the family men who get rounded up when police bust up brothels. I don’t approve of straight couples fucking in public, either - like I said, that’s what bedrooms were invented for. Kissing, holding hands, a little necking, none of that bothers me to see - but cunnilingus and sucking off on a park bench, now that’s going a wee bit too far.
The double standard is bothersome, though. Nobody arrests heterosexual men for propositioning women in public (unless it’s in the workplace and falls under sexual harassment). If they gave me a prison sentence for every time I’ve given a pretty lady the eye I’d have to be Methusaleh to serve the entire sentence. But gay men are harassed for doing the same thing to other men that het men do to women all the time - hitting on them. Admittedly, I always feel at least a little uneasy and uncomfortable when a gay man has hit on me before - but surely that shouldn’t be a crime. My experience with dealing with gay men gives me more sympathy for you poor ladies - you have to deal with all these unwanted advances and crude sexual propositions and eyeballs roaming up & down your body like you’re a piece of meat, every day from us het men!
:shock:
Have you actually seen such a display? I can just picture it in Da-an Park.
There are ways to be a discreet exhibitionist. :?
Wow! You must be one hot young yummy stud of a thang to get the leers. Most gay men I know are have quite discerning taste.
I think the eyeball roaming thing is part of the ‘eye-crotch-eye’ phenomenon gays use for ‘gaydar’.
Listen to me. What a fag hag fredericka bimmel is. No wonder Jame Gumm coveted my skin.
:shock:
Have you actually seen such a display? I can just picture it in Da-an Park.
There are ways to be a discreet exhibitionist. :? [/quote]
No, but that’s what goes on inside public restrooms with some gay men when they pick each other up. A public restroom is a public place. It may have a little more privacy than a park bench, but it’s still a public place.
Wow! You must be one hot young yummy stud of a thang to get the leers. Most gay men I know are have quite discerning taste.
I think the eyeball roaming thing is part of the ‘eye-crotch-eye’ phenomenon gays use for ‘gaydar’.
Listen to me. What a fag hag fredericka bimmel is. No wonder Jame Gumm coveted my skin.[/quote][/quote]
Actually, I’m not that hot young yummy & studly. I’m a pretty average looking guy, by Taiwanese standards (I was actually considered more handsome back in America, which is the opposite of the usual phenomenon most other guys experience when they come to Asia). I only get hit on by gay men once in a blue moon, and while I don’t think I’m homophobic, the experience of getting such unwanted sexual advances makes me uncomfortable. Which makes me wonder how women can deal with it, since if they’re the least bit attractive they have to deal with such unwanted advances from men almost every day.
Tell Omniloquacious. According to his posts, it sounds like he continually has his tongue hangin out of his mouth leering at women, giving them the once over. While women may find it’s nice to be admired, there’s a difference between being a gentleman and being pervy.
Besides, women put up with a lot of exploitation, harrassment, and unfair treatment from men. In the workplace, and everywhere. And if you’re a homosexual male, you might get such treatment from your own sex. I’ve heard of at least one such case from one of the regular posters on this board, in fact.
Mod Lang,
You don’t belong to California Gym by any chance?
Oh, come come! After all, you do say it’s once in a blue moon. Can you not just take it as flattering. I’m a gay male who receives plenty of attention from females and, while I’m certainly not on a vanity trip, I do find the attention flattering.
Enjoy it while you can, as we won’t be getting many eyes when we’re old and wrinkly.
Actually, I have heard of straight couples getting caught having sex in public in Taiwan. But they most certainly weren’t asked to pose and forced to have their photos taken by the cops like the gay couple that did years ago.
[quote=“mod lang”]You’re right, of course - it’s a discriminatory practice of the police against gay men. Whenever they make those sort of busts in the States, lots of family men and other respectable citizens have their lives ruined from being unwillingly ‘outed’. But, on the other hand, I have about as much sympathy for those guys enduring the public humiliation of having their names smeared all over the papers for public sex as I do for all the family men who get rounded up when police bust up brothels.
The double standard is bothersome, though. Nobody arrests heterosexual men for propositioning women in public (unless it’s in the workplace and falls under sexual harassment).[/quote]
You must not have been in the U.S. for at least twenty years. The cops routinely send female officers out dressed as hookers to bust guys, in prostitution “stings”. And it’s become a common practice to publish the names of the men who were arrested in the newspapers, sometimes upon arrest but more often after conviction (which is pretty much a dropkick, what with the videotaping officers in the car across the street, and the “hooker” officer wearing a microphone).
OTOH I don’t think I’ve ever even heard of a gay-hooker “sting” operation in the news here.
[quote=“fredericka bimmel”]
Tell Omniloquacious. According to his posts, it sounds like he continually has his tongue hangin out of his mouth leering at women, giving them the once over. While women may find it’s nice to be admired, there’s a difference between being a gentleman and being pervy. [/quote]
Er, no…
Like your gay friends, we hets can enjoy looking to our heart’s content without being in any way obvious, vulgar, or offensive about it. Ask Almas, Alley, Tomas, Tigerman, and a majority of other regular (in all senses) posters on this forum.
If even the real “perverts” (e.g., those who drool over and perhaps prey on little kiddies, not just regular guys who find women attractive) can act discreetly and disguise their predilections, then we guys who love to spec out beautiful women should also be given credit for knowing how to do it pleasantly. It’s especially easy at this time of year – sunglasses are a great boon for undetectable ogling.
And F.B.: on reflection, don’t you think that “tongue hanging out”, “leering” and “pervy”, pointedly and undeservedly directed at another member of this community, are, er, “alien” to the appropriate etiquette and spirit of Forumosa, n’est-ce pas? No need to flame or blue sneetch you, but a friendly “warning” should suffice, I’d say.
Mmm, trying to find similarities between prostitution and cruising is a whole new can of worms - the only one I can think of right now is that neither are going to go away! While I think I understand why the point was made - straight men can’t do everything they want either (at least all of the time) - you cannot compare what is generally “acceptable” for a gay adult couple to do in public with what any straight pre-legal aged teenagers can do on the bus, in the park, on the grass and all in broad daylight. It’s just not the same. I’m not complaining about it, just stating a fact, as that’s just the way it is right here right now; but I do object to people trying to insinuate there’s any degree of even-handedness when it comes to treatment by the police. Come on!
Many straight guys I have talked to about this think it’s “unfair” that gay men have cruising areas - I’ve always told them that the rest of the planet during the day AND night are THEIR cruising areas. There isn’t really any comparison, and certainly no need to feel “jealous”!
I’d also venture that while a park toilet is undeniably a public space, getting it on behind a closed cubicle door in the dead of night in a deserted park IS pretty discrete, actually. That’s WHY we go there
It’s also worth saying that it’s mostly older (30+) men who are found in public toilets and parks etc in Taiwan. Although the younger gay generation in Taiwan is “out and about”, the older generation is still very closeted and fearful of being outed, particularly the many who are married. For them, public places like toilets will always be the safest places for them to satisfy their sexual needs.
