Never before has there been so much disrespect for the police and resistance to lawful arrests
By Howie Katz
Running Code 3
April 3, 2018
Cops used to be respected. In the majority of cases cops experienced no resistance when making arrests. That’s not the way it is today. Never before has there been so much disrespect for the police and resistance to lawful arrests.
Let me go back to when I started out as a cop in Galveston, I think it was back in 1948. Galveston was then known as a city with wide open gambling and a slew of whore houses along Post Office Street. Even though the police department had a bad reputation, the citizens of Galveston still respected their cops. I can recall only three or four cases wherein I was met with resistance while making an arrest, and I believe in each case I was dealing with a drunk. And people would wave at me and my fellow officers, not curse us.
At the time Galveston cops had a fairly good relationship with the city’s black community. I cannot remember a single incident where white cops were disrespected by black citizens. Blacks probably feared us, but they did not disrespect us. It is worth noting that Galveston’s police department was the first in the nation to hire a black officer.
Fast forward a few years to when I was a cop in California. It was in the late ‘50s that I experienced black hatred of the police. As I was arresting a black man, he pushed me back and shouted at me, “The only reason you’re fucking with me is because I’m black.” But fortunately, there were not many of such incidents.
Then along came the Vietnam War resistance, the birth of our drug culture, and the Civil Rights Movement. When we were arresting mainly blacks, Latinos and a few movie stars for drug violations, that was fine, but when we started arresting middle and upper-class young people, cops suddenly became the bad guys. The civil rights movement seemed to encourage blacks to resist arrests more often. Black Panther Party members chose to shoot it out with the police rather than to submit to arrest for armed robberies and other felonies.
It’s even much worse today. Almost every day, a cop gets shot somewhere in this country. Some of these shootings of cops have been ambush assassinations, the most notable of which were the assassination of two NYPD cops in December 2014 and that of five Dallas cops in July 2016, both by cop-hating black men.
Nearly every time a white cop shoots a black man, Black Lives Matter rears its ugly head. Whenever an unarmed black man dies at the hands of the police, he is painted as a Boy Scout by his family and by the media. Michael Brown was no Boy Scout, he was a strong-arm robber. Eric Garner was no Boy Scout, he was a serial seller of untaxed cigarettes, out on bail for a prior sale of loosies.
Of course, there have been clearly unjustified shootings of black men. Who can forget the shooting of unarmed Walter Scott as he was fleeing from South Carolina cop Michael Slager in April 2015. Slager was subsequently sentenced to 20 years in prison, a sentence which was in my opinion too lenient.
The deadly shooting of Stephen Clark in Sacramento does not look good for the officers, one of whom was himself black. The cops said they thought he was pointing a gun at them, which turned out to be a cellphone. As the shooting took place in the dark, it is easy to understand that the officers mistook the phone for a gun. And fearing for their lives, the cops fired 20 rounds at Clark. The number of rounds fired in such a case is not unusual as an officer would not stop shooting until the person with a gun went down. But what looks bad for the officers is that Clark was hit 8 times, 7 times in the back.
Even though the shooting of Clark looks bad, the two cops may very well have been justified in shooting this unarmed young black man.
Then there was the shooting of Laquan McDonald by a Chicago cop in October 2014. Dashcam video from a police car shows a white cop firing 16 rounds at the 17-year-old black youth who appeared to be running away and posed no threat to anyone. A year later, when the video clip was released to the public, the officer was charged with murder and will stand trial this summer. Several other cops were charged with conspiracy and obstruction of justice for trying to cover up the shooting.
Another police shooting of a black man that looked bad, really bad, is the shooting of Alton Sterling by Baton Rouge officers in July 2016. A video clip shows two cops on top of a struggling 300-pound Sterling when someone shouts, “He’s got a gun.” At that point one of the cops, believing Sterling was reaching for a gun, pulls his gun, places it against the struggling man’s body and fires 3 rounds. The officer then fired 3 rounds into Sterling’s back as the wounded man begins to sit up. A gun was found on Sterling. Both the Justice Department and the State’s Attorney refused to file any charges against the officers.
No arrest, no matter how uneventful, looks good to a bystander. Today, every Tom, Dick, Harry and Mary has a cellphone with a built-in camera. Many arrests are video recorded by bystanders. The video clips are then spread throughout the social media. If the arrest looks bad, thousands of viewers instantly become second guessers, condemning the actions of the officers. If the videos make the officers look really bad, newspapers and TV stations respond with a media frenzy that only adds to the number of cop haters.
When I was a cop in California, I was very active in a number of law enforcement associations. When I was a criminal justice instructor at Sam Houston State University, I founded the Texas Narcotic Officers Association. When I was a criminal justice professor at College of the Mainland in Texas City, I was a board member of the International Narcotic Enforcement Officers Association. I mention this not to blow my bugle, but to say that I have personally known hundreds of officers from throughout the country and from Canada. Not a single one of these officers ever had the desire to shoot anyone. All they ever wanted was to go home to their families at the end of their shifts.
Now that cops are getting shot every day, it should be easy to understand why they would have a nervous trigger finger. Unfortunately some people get shot by the police, not out of malice, but because the cops mistook those people to be a deadly threat. There is an old saying among the police: “It is far better to be tried by 12 than to be carried by 6.”
A media frenzy erupts every time what appears to be police brutality is captured on video. While such instances are rare, given that there are some 800,000 law enforcement officers in this country, the public is left with the impression that police brutality is quite common.
Of course, not everyone disrespects the police, but a large part of the black community believes cops mistreat them and a growing number of whites think cops are as bad as the criminals in society. The loss of respect hurts cops deeply. The loss of respect makes their job a lot harder. The loss of respect subjects officers to physical assaults and even assassinations.
There will be some folks who will criticize me for placing the focus on blacks. However, there is no getting around it, the problem police officers have had and continue to have is largely a black problem. It's been us versus them, cops verses blacks, fueled by a sensation-hungry media. The police shootings of white men garners only local attention, the shooting of blacks gets nationwide coverage. Black Lives Matter would have us believe that cops set out to deliberately murder black men.
The disrespect of police is much more prevalent in the black community than it is in the white community, but the disrespect among whites has been growing steadily, fueled in no small part by the media frenzy over the shooting of unarmed black men.
For those who disrespect the very people who are trying to protect them from criminals, I say shame on you. And I say that before you disrespect the police, try walking in the shoes of a cop.
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
OFFICER REFUSED TO HELP OTHER COPS BECAUSE OFFICERS ARE NOW BEING CRIMINALLY CHARGED AFTER ARRESTS GO BAD
Cleveland Officer Under Investigation for Not Aiding Other Cops in Struggle
Police Magazine
February 28, 2018 (Reported April 3, 2018 by LAPPL NewsWatch)
A Cleveland TV station has obtained video showing a city police officer saying he won’t help other officers deal with a dangerous man because he doesn’t want to end up under investigation.
The video comes from a call in November for a man having a mental health crisis. A group of officers tried to talk him into coming out of a house. A police report shows he made threats to officers and made other bizarre statements. That led to a struggle with police on the porch, Fox 8 reports.
During the struggle, one officer calmly walked down the street to get an ambulance crew. He can be heard telling paramedics, "I don't want to go hands on. I don't want none of that cause I don't want to…be under investigation."
The officer is now facing internal discipline for the incident. A disciplinary hearing has been held. But there’s been no decision yet.
Police Magazine
February 28, 2018 (Reported April 3, 2018 by LAPPL NewsWatch)
A Cleveland TV station has obtained video showing a city police officer saying he won’t help other officers deal with a dangerous man because he doesn’t want to end up under investigation.
The video comes from a call in November for a man having a mental health crisis. A group of officers tried to talk him into coming out of a house. A police report shows he made threats to officers and made other bizarre statements. That led to a struggle with police on the porch, Fox 8 reports.
During the struggle, one officer calmly walked down the street to get an ambulance crew. He can be heard telling paramedics, "I don't want to go hands on. I don't want none of that cause I don't want to…be under investigation."
The officer is now facing internal discipline for the incident. A disciplinary hearing has been held. But there’s been no decision yet.
IT TOOK NEARLY 20 YEARS TO GOTCHA
Man Convicted of 1999 Quadruple Murder Staged As Murder-Suicide
My News LA
April 2, 2018
A man was convicted Monday of killing his father, stepmother and two half-brothers in their Hyde Park home in 1999, when he was a teenager, and trying to make the shootings look like a murder-suicide.
Jurors deliberated four days before finding Saulo Cesar Alvarado, 35, guilty of four counts of first-degree murder, plus two counts of child molestation involving a then-underage family member. The panel also found true special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and lying in wait.
Alvarado is facing life in prison without the possibility of parole, with sentencing set for May 1. He was ineligible for the death penalty because he was 16 at the time of the killings of Rudolfo Alvarado, 51, Eva Veronica, 36, and their sons Renzo, 16, and Victor, 5.
Each of the victims was shot in the head. Alvarado planted a gun on his older half-brother to make the shootings look like a murder-suicide, according to investigators.
Deputy District Attorney Victor Avila, who prosecuted the case, said the verdict represented justice for the remaining family members.
“Thanks to the courage of A. Alvarado and the detectives, who did excellent work on this case, the Alvarado family received some sense of justice today by this jury,” Avila said outside the courtroom, referencing the sister of the victims, who came forward as a witness 14 years after the killings.
The prosecutor said the crime was “one of the most brutal cases I’ve dealt with.”
In his closing argument, Avila told jurors: “Behind the doors of Apartment 204, a horrific crime occurred. An entire family was massacred on this day. Why were they killed? Because this defendant did not feel love and … killed the source of his pain — the people that did not love him. A 5-year-old lost his life — he didn’t even get to have a life. That’s who the defendant is — he put a bullet in a 5-year-old.”
Defense attorney Robert Cortes cast doubt on the reliability of two of the prosecution’s key witnesses, including the sister. He pointed to a detailed statement she made to detectives that she later said she didn’t remember and asked the jurors to consider the notion of a “false memory.”
The defense also urged the jury to listen carefully to the 911 call made by Saulo Alvarado, saying the defendant deserved an Oscar if he was making up the story he told.
In his rebuttal, Avila recalled evidence that there was no gunshot residue on the 16-year-old’s hand and that the biomechanics and autopsy evidence were “inconsistent” with a murder-suicide.
“It was staged. The defendant planted that gun,” the prosecutor said.
Alvarado was extradited from Guatemala in 2015 to face charges. He had been deported after a 2003 rape conviction.
Alvarado’s attorney asked that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy make a request for the county jail to treat Alvardo as a “keep away” inmate because of his child molestation convictions. The ultimate determination will be up to jail officials.
According to news reports at the time of the murders, police initially believed Renzo was the killer. His parents had moved him from one school to another and worried about who he and his older brother were hanging out with.
The defendant told authorities that he and Renzo’s 10-year-old sister found the bodies after returning home after three hours away. Investigators said all four burners on a gas stove were open and a candle was on the floor next to Renzo’s body. The flame apparently went out before igniting the gas fumes.
Those who knew the boy didn’t believe it.
“We keep telling ourselves, `It can’t be Renzo,” a woman who hired the boy to work at her Chinese restaurant told the Los Angeles Times after the killings.
“He wasn’t an aimless, violent person,” Renzo’s cousin told the newspaper. “You have to think about the area where he lives and how hard things are around here. But he wasn’t like that.”
My News LA
April 2, 2018
A man was convicted Monday of killing his father, stepmother and two half-brothers in their Hyde Park home in 1999, when he was a teenager, and trying to make the shootings look like a murder-suicide.
Jurors deliberated four days before finding Saulo Cesar Alvarado, 35, guilty of four counts of first-degree murder, plus two counts of child molestation involving a then-underage family member. The panel also found true special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and lying in wait.
Alvarado is facing life in prison without the possibility of parole, with sentencing set for May 1. He was ineligible for the death penalty because he was 16 at the time of the killings of Rudolfo Alvarado, 51, Eva Veronica, 36, and their sons Renzo, 16, and Victor, 5.
Each of the victims was shot in the head. Alvarado planted a gun on his older half-brother to make the shootings look like a murder-suicide, according to investigators.
Deputy District Attorney Victor Avila, who prosecuted the case, said the verdict represented justice for the remaining family members.
“Thanks to the courage of A. Alvarado and the detectives, who did excellent work on this case, the Alvarado family received some sense of justice today by this jury,” Avila said outside the courtroom, referencing the sister of the victims, who came forward as a witness 14 years after the killings.
The prosecutor said the crime was “one of the most brutal cases I’ve dealt with.”
In his closing argument, Avila told jurors: “Behind the doors of Apartment 204, a horrific crime occurred. An entire family was massacred on this day. Why were they killed? Because this defendant did not feel love and … killed the source of his pain — the people that did not love him. A 5-year-old lost his life — he didn’t even get to have a life. That’s who the defendant is — he put a bullet in a 5-year-old.”
Defense attorney Robert Cortes cast doubt on the reliability of two of the prosecution’s key witnesses, including the sister. He pointed to a detailed statement she made to detectives that she later said she didn’t remember and asked the jurors to consider the notion of a “false memory.”
The defense also urged the jury to listen carefully to the 911 call made by Saulo Alvarado, saying the defendant deserved an Oscar if he was making up the story he told.
In his rebuttal, Avila recalled evidence that there was no gunshot residue on the 16-year-old’s hand and that the biomechanics and autopsy evidence were “inconsistent” with a murder-suicide.
“It was staged. The defendant planted that gun,” the prosecutor said.
Alvarado was extradited from Guatemala in 2015 to face charges. He had been deported after a 2003 rape conviction.
Alvarado’s attorney asked that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy make a request for the county jail to treat Alvardo as a “keep away” inmate because of his child molestation convictions. The ultimate determination will be up to jail officials.
According to news reports at the time of the murders, police initially believed Renzo was the killer. His parents had moved him from one school to another and worried about who he and his older brother were hanging out with.
The defendant told authorities that he and Renzo’s 10-year-old sister found the bodies after returning home after three hours away. Investigators said all four burners on a gas stove were open and a candle was on the floor next to Renzo’s body. The flame apparently went out before igniting the gas fumes.
Those who knew the boy didn’t believe it.
“We keep telling ourselves, `It can’t be Renzo,” a woman who hired the boy to work at her Chinese restaurant told the Los Angeles Times after the killings.
“He wasn’t an aimless, violent person,” Renzo’s cousin told the newspaper. “You have to think about the area where he lives and how hard things are around here. But he wasn’t like that.”
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
MONKEY MURDERS BABY HUMAN
by Bob Walsh
It seems that a 16-year old baby was snatched from it's cradle in its home in the village of Talabastga in India on Friday. The baby snatcher was a rhesus macaque, a very common monkey in India. They have been getting increasingly aggressive in their dealings with humans of late. Schools were closed in the area last year due to children being attacked by the monkeys.
The baby was found dead, apparently drowned after having been dropped down a well. The police seem to believe the mother's story is accurate.
It seems that a 16-year old baby was snatched from it's cradle in its home in the village of Talabastga in India on Friday. The baby snatcher was a rhesus macaque, a very common monkey in India. They have been getting increasingly aggressive in their dealings with humans of late. Schools were closed in the area last year due to children being attacked by the monkeys.
The baby was found dead, apparently drowned after having been dropped down a well. The police seem to believe the mother's story is accurate.
YET ANOTHER BYSTANDER'S VIDEO MAKES COPS LOOK BAD
Police investigate officer caught on video punching intoxicated suspect in Fort Worth
By Domingo Ramirez Jr.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
April 2, 2018
FORT WORTH -- A home video capturing a Fort Worth officer subduing a suspect and throwing several punches while the man was down on the ground Saturday has prompted an internal police investigation.
Police noted in a news release that the video may raise questions about the arrest, but said it did not depict the whole story.
The name of the officers involved had not been released as of Monday morning.
Police identified the suspect as Forrest Curry, 35. He was arrested on charges of public intoxication, resisting arrest and evading arrest.
"While we are actively investigating the incident, we are unable to release the full details at this time," Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald said in the news release Sunday.
But the police chief provided a summary.
He said that initially police were dispatched to meet an ambulance crew on a call, but the call was changed to a disturbance when officers received reports that a man had become combative with Fort Worth firefighters.
When they arrived, officers were told that the man appeared to be intoxicated and had attempted to assault the firefighters, the police chief said.
The suspect fled when an officer approached him.
The man was taken into custody after a brief foot pursuit that ended in the 1900 block of Handley Drive.
A 50-second video captured by a passing motorist and released Sunday by Next Generation Action Network shows two officers sitting on top of the suspect, attempting to subdue him. One officer punches the suspect at least five times and kicks him once, according to the video.
The suspect curses at the officers as he pleads for them to stop.
"The video being circulated depicts officers struggling with the male and striking him as they attempt to handcuff him," the police chief said. "What the video does not depict is that it took 3 officers and 1 supervisor to effectively place the resisting subject into handcuffs."
Fitzgerald said the struggle lasted almost five minutes.
The police chief asked for patience and calm as the investigation continued.
EDITOR’S NOTE: A media frenzy erupts every time what appears to be police brutality is captured on video. While such instances are rare, given that there are some 800,000 law enforcement officers in this country, the public is left with the impression that police brutality is quite common.
By Domingo Ramirez Jr.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
April 2, 2018
FORT WORTH -- A home video capturing a Fort Worth officer subduing a suspect and throwing several punches while the man was down on the ground Saturday has prompted an internal police investigation.
Police noted in a news release that the video may raise questions about the arrest, but said it did not depict the whole story.
The name of the officers involved had not been released as of Monday morning.
Police identified the suspect as Forrest Curry, 35. He was arrested on charges of public intoxication, resisting arrest and evading arrest.
"While we are actively investigating the incident, we are unable to release the full details at this time," Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald said in the news release Sunday.
But the police chief provided a summary.
He said that initially police were dispatched to meet an ambulance crew on a call, but the call was changed to a disturbance when officers received reports that a man had become combative with Fort Worth firefighters.
When they arrived, officers were told that the man appeared to be intoxicated and had attempted to assault the firefighters, the police chief said.
The suspect fled when an officer approached him.
The man was taken into custody after a brief foot pursuit that ended in the 1900 block of Handley Drive.
A 50-second video captured by a passing motorist and released Sunday by Next Generation Action Network shows two officers sitting on top of the suspect, attempting to subdue him. One officer punches the suspect at least five times and kicks him once, according to the video.
The suspect curses at the officers as he pleads for them to stop.
"The video being circulated depicts officers struggling with the male and striking him as they attempt to handcuff him," the police chief said. "What the video does not depict is that it took 3 officers and 1 supervisor to effectively place the resisting subject into handcuffs."
Fitzgerald said the struggle lasted almost five minutes.
The police chief asked for patience and calm as the investigation continued.
EDITOR’S NOTE: A media frenzy erupts every time what appears to be police brutality is captured on video. While such instances are rare, given that there are some 800,000 law enforcement officers in this country, the public is left with the impression that police brutality is quite common.
POSTER BOY FOR THE WALLPOSTER BOY FOR THE WALL
Texas cops catch illegal immigrant after 23 years as a fugitive from Nevada for impregnating 12-year-old daughter
KTRK
April 1, 2018
It was a routine stop-and-search at a filling station just outside of Houston, where policemen found the warrant for a fleeing man’s arrest. The warrant dated back to 1995.
The stop-and-search ended 23 years on the run for 64-year-old Heraclio Gamez-Nava, who was wanted for allegedly getting his 12-year-old daughter pregnant in Nevada.
Gamez-Nava and his wife, Alicia Vazquez-Carrizales, had been living in Porter, Texas, hiding out from his warrant for continuous sexual assault of a minor younger than 14, officials said.
The couple were pulled over Thursday morning when Montgomery County Constable Precinct 4 deputies noticed a vehicle traveling the wrong way under an overpass.
When questioned, Alicia told the deputies that her husband’s name was Rosalez, but they later discovered an ID card hidden in the car that identified Gamez-Nava as the man with the warrant out of Nevada.
The deputies also found that Alicia had been living in the U.S. illegally, with a detainer order on her name from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
She has twice been deported from the U.S., once in 2003 and again in 2014. She faces a third deportation after being arrested on suspicion of hindering the apprehension and prosecution of a known felon, according to jail records.
Gamez-Nava will be extradited to Nevada as a fugitive from justice, according to the same jail records. They are being held in the Montgomery County Jail.
The status of Gamez-Nava’s daughter, 23 years after the continuous abuse she allegedly endured, was not immediately available.
KTRK
April 1, 2018
It was a routine stop-and-search at a filling station just outside of Houston, where policemen found the warrant for a fleeing man’s arrest. The warrant dated back to 1995.
The stop-and-search ended 23 years on the run for 64-year-old Heraclio Gamez-Nava, who was wanted for allegedly getting his 12-year-old daughter pregnant in Nevada.
Gamez-Nava and his wife, Alicia Vazquez-Carrizales, had been living in Porter, Texas, hiding out from his warrant for continuous sexual assault of a minor younger than 14, officials said.
The couple were pulled over Thursday morning when Montgomery County Constable Precinct 4 deputies noticed a vehicle traveling the wrong way under an overpass.
When questioned, Alicia told the deputies that her husband’s name was Rosalez, but they later discovered an ID card hidden in the car that identified Gamez-Nava as the man with the warrant out of Nevada.
The deputies also found that Alicia had been living in the U.S. illegally, with a detainer order on her name from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
She has twice been deported from the U.S., once in 2003 and again in 2014. She faces a third deportation after being arrested on suspicion of hindering the apprehension and prosecution of a known felon, according to jail records.
Gamez-Nava will be extradited to Nevada as a fugitive from justice, according to the same jail records. They are being held in the Montgomery County Jail.
The status of Gamez-Nava’s daughter, 23 years after the continuous abuse she allegedly endured, was not immediately available.
Monday, April 2, 2018
WILL THE ‘FIGHT ONLINE SEX TRAFFICKING ACT’ ACTUALLY INCREASE THE RISK FOR THE VICTIMS OF SEX TRAFFICKING?
An Ode to Craigslist Hookups … It's been a long time since I used Craigslist to find sex, but I'm still saddened by the death of its personals section
By Jeff Leavell
VICE News
March 28, 2018
I haven’t used Craigslist personals in years. If I want to get laid, I, like most queer men, am more likely to jump on one of the many apps like Scruff, Grindr, or Hornet.
But now they're gone. Craigslist axed their entire personals section last week in response to the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act passing Congress. The bill will make websites more liable for the content users post on their platforms. It's designed to fight sex trafficking, though experts say it will actually increase the risk for many sex workers.
The personals section were a big part of my sex and love life for many years, and I've found myself mourning its loss.
About ten years ago, after a pretty rough breakup, I found myself cruising the Craigslist personals. I met some pretty amazing guys on there. Some were just fucks, some became friends, and one of them, Tony, became my boyfriend.
When I met Tony he was 22 and I was 39. I responded to an ad he'd placed on Craigslist. He was living in Torrance, California, in a two bedroom house with his mother, three sisters, and their four kids. Tony had grown up sheltered in his family, removed from the more mainstream gay LA.
After a few days of trading pictures and emails, Tony took the bus to my house in Silver Lake. When he arrived, I was blown away. He was way sexier in real life. Short and muscular, dark hair and eyes, a huge smile. We sat on the couch and made out, then spent the afternoon fucking and talking. He free-formed poetry for me and I read him short stories I'd written. We bought a bottle of wine and spent the whole night getting drunk and telling each other everything, only stopping to fuck and make out.
Tony used Craigslist to break away from his home life, from his family, from a world where he couldn’t be out, where he couldn’t be who he was. He told me stories of all the guys he'd met, including a couple in West Hollywood who'd taken him to Palm Springs for the weekend.
“They treated me real good,” he said to me, excited and proud. “Those guys were really amazing guys. They made me feel special. Like it was okay to be gay. That there was nothing wrong with me.”
Tony moved in with me a few months later, and we lived together for four years. He is still one of my best friends.
Before Tony and I started dating, I met all kinds of amazing men on the site.
There was Christian, who lived in a large modern house in the Los Feliz hills. He would spend hours sucking my dick, edging me, while I looked out at the expanse of Los Angeles shimmering in the darkness like a field of endless fireflies. After I would cum he would massage me and tell me stories of growing up in Belgium, and moving to California with his father after his mother had died. He told me about the films he worked on, affairs he'd had with closeted actors, and secret Hollywood sex parties.
Christian was HIV positive. He was proud of himself because he'd done the AIDS ride from San Francisco to LA three years in a row.
A few years ago Christian got sick. I was able to visit him in the hospital before he died. We told each other stories, and laughed about all the hours we'd spent together in that house of glass floating above the city.
A couple of days ago, I was talking to my best friend, special effects artist Alex Rondon, about Craigslist.
“I fucking loved Craigslist," he said.
Alex grew up in Huntington Beach, California. While he was open to all his friends and family, he still found it hard to meet other gay guys. Feeling lonely, he found himself cruising Craigslist personals.
He found another queer high school senior who lived nearby, and they made plans to meet at a coffee shop in nearby Long Beach.
"We fucked around in his car, parked in some residential neighborhood. I remember fucking him in the back seat, and there wasn’t any real room, but it felt so amazing. Like we were breaking all the goddamn rules, and we didn’t care. That guy and I hooked up for years. Always in one of our cars, always on some quiet, suburban street. It made those years less lonely.
He told me about another guy, a makeup artist for horror movies, who he found through the personals section. "I thought that was the coolest thing ever," he said. "I had always wanted to be a makeup artist ever since I saw Evil Dead II. This guy, we didn’t even have sex, we just went for walks and talked. He made me feel like I could actually do this for a living. I ended up going to film school in Vancouver, and got my first real gig on Sharknado.”
Another friend, the musician Big Dipper, gave me his thoughts on the shutdown.
“I kind of came into a new confidence of being a sexual person using Craigslist," he said. "There was a freedom in reading posts and posting ads for exactly what you wanted to experience... A Craigslist ad is the perfect place to list exactly what you are looking for. I want to walk into your house and find you naked on your couch with Metallica playing on your stereo. You blow me while you eat a meatball sub."
Big Dipper's job takes him all over the country. Craigslist became a way for him to find out who the local gay guys were, where the cruise spots were, and to find whatever fantasies he was looking for.
“It kind of became a sexy secret to know that someone in my same hotel was looking for loads in their ass, or a business man up the street wanted to jerk off with someone in the bathroom at Jimmy John's on his lunch break. It made me look at people and the world around me as this sexual playground with tons of fun rendezvous happening around every corner."
"It's also a place for people who are closeted or on the down low and looking to explore their sexuality," he added.
One of the advantages for many people using Craigslist—and one of high importance for guys who are closeted—was that you didn’t have to enter a bunch of personal information or download any apps that might be found on your phone. Craigslist personals were truly anonymous. All you needed was an email account.
I hooked up with so many "straight" or "curious" guys who didn't feel comfortable out in the world, but wanted that experience behind closed doors.
For most of our history as a community gay men have lived in the shadows, too scared to be open, discriminated against, forced to live lives that were lies. Sometimes, those of us who live in big cities can forget that many in our community are still struggling with these things. Craigslist offered a judgement-free zone.
Craigslist personals weren’t just about getting laid. They were about meeting other people who felt and loved and desired the same things you did.
The personals section offered segments of our community who are still struggling with what it means to be queer a place to go to discover who they were, to feel connected to something larger.
Meeting guys and getting fucked has always been easy, whether it’s through cruising or dating apps, bars or sex clubs, but there was something magical about the true anonymity and privacy that came with a hooking up on Craigslist. You got to be whoever you wanted to be. Top or bottom, boy or daddy, dirty piss hungry slut or rough fisting top. You weren’t constrained by the limits of your real life, you got to live out the fantasy, and, to be honest, I’m going to miss that.
A lot.
By Jeff Leavell
VICE News
March 28, 2018
I haven’t used Craigslist personals in years. If I want to get laid, I, like most queer men, am more likely to jump on one of the many apps like Scruff, Grindr, or Hornet.
But now they're gone. Craigslist axed their entire personals section last week in response to the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act passing Congress. The bill will make websites more liable for the content users post on their platforms. It's designed to fight sex trafficking, though experts say it will actually increase the risk for many sex workers.
The personals section were a big part of my sex and love life for many years, and I've found myself mourning its loss.
About ten years ago, after a pretty rough breakup, I found myself cruising the Craigslist personals. I met some pretty amazing guys on there. Some were just fucks, some became friends, and one of them, Tony, became my boyfriend.
When I met Tony he was 22 and I was 39. I responded to an ad he'd placed on Craigslist. He was living in Torrance, California, in a two bedroom house with his mother, three sisters, and their four kids. Tony had grown up sheltered in his family, removed from the more mainstream gay LA.
After a few days of trading pictures and emails, Tony took the bus to my house in Silver Lake. When he arrived, I was blown away. He was way sexier in real life. Short and muscular, dark hair and eyes, a huge smile. We sat on the couch and made out, then spent the afternoon fucking and talking. He free-formed poetry for me and I read him short stories I'd written. We bought a bottle of wine and spent the whole night getting drunk and telling each other everything, only stopping to fuck and make out.
Tony used Craigslist to break away from his home life, from his family, from a world where he couldn’t be out, where he couldn’t be who he was. He told me stories of all the guys he'd met, including a couple in West Hollywood who'd taken him to Palm Springs for the weekend.
“They treated me real good,” he said to me, excited and proud. “Those guys were really amazing guys. They made me feel special. Like it was okay to be gay. That there was nothing wrong with me.”
Tony moved in with me a few months later, and we lived together for four years. He is still one of my best friends.
Before Tony and I started dating, I met all kinds of amazing men on the site.
There was Christian, who lived in a large modern house in the Los Feliz hills. He would spend hours sucking my dick, edging me, while I looked out at the expanse of Los Angeles shimmering in the darkness like a field of endless fireflies. After I would cum he would massage me and tell me stories of growing up in Belgium, and moving to California with his father after his mother had died. He told me about the films he worked on, affairs he'd had with closeted actors, and secret Hollywood sex parties.
Christian was HIV positive. He was proud of himself because he'd done the AIDS ride from San Francisco to LA three years in a row.
A few years ago Christian got sick. I was able to visit him in the hospital before he died. We told each other stories, and laughed about all the hours we'd spent together in that house of glass floating above the city.
A couple of days ago, I was talking to my best friend, special effects artist Alex Rondon, about Craigslist.
“I fucking loved Craigslist," he said.
Alex grew up in Huntington Beach, California. While he was open to all his friends and family, he still found it hard to meet other gay guys. Feeling lonely, he found himself cruising Craigslist personals.
He found another queer high school senior who lived nearby, and they made plans to meet at a coffee shop in nearby Long Beach.
"We fucked around in his car, parked in some residential neighborhood. I remember fucking him in the back seat, and there wasn’t any real room, but it felt so amazing. Like we were breaking all the goddamn rules, and we didn’t care. That guy and I hooked up for years. Always in one of our cars, always on some quiet, suburban street. It made those years less lonely.
He told me about another guy, a makeup artist for horror movies, who he found through the personals section. "I thought that was the coolest thing ever," he said. "I had always wanted to be a makeup artist ever since I saw Evil Dead II. This guy, we didn’t even have sex, we just went for walks and talked. He made me feel like I could actually do this for a living. I ended up going to film school in Vancouver, and got my first real gig on Sharknado.”
Another friend, the musician Big Dipper, gave me his thoughts on the shutdown.
“I kind of came into a new confidence of being a sexual person using Craigslist," he said. "There was a freedom in reading posts and posting ads for exactly what you wanted to experience... A Craigslist ad is the perfect place to list exactly what you are looking for. I want to walk into your house and find you naked on your couch with Metallica playing on your stereo. You blow me while you eat a meatball sub."
Big Dipper's job takes him all over the country. Craigslist became a way for him to find out who the local gay guys were, where the cruise spots were, and to find whatever fantasies he was looking for.
“It kind of became a sexy secret to know that someone in my same hotel was looking for loads in their ass, or a business man up the street wanted to jerk off with someone in the bathroom at Jimmy John's on his lunch break. It made me look at people and the world around me as this sexual playground with tons of fun rendezvous happening around every corner."
"It's also a place for people who are closeted or on the down low and looking to explore their sexuality," he added.
One of the advantages for many people using Craigslist—and one of high importance for guys who are closeted—was that you didn’t have to enter a bunch of personal information or download any apps that might be found on your phone. Craigslist personals were truly anonymous. All you needed was an email account.
I hooked up with so many "straight" or "curious" guys who didn't feel comfortable out in the world, but wanted that experience behind closed doors.
For most of our history as a community gay men have lived in the shadows, too scared to be open, discriminated against, forced to live lives that were lies. Sometimes, those of us who live in big cities can forget that many in our community are still struggling with these things. Craigslist offered a judgement-free zone.
Craigslist personals weren’t just about getting laid. They were about meeting other people who felt and loved and desired the same things you did.
The personals section offered segments of our community who are still struggling with what it means to be queer a place to go to discover who they were, to feel connected to something larger.
Meeting guys and getting fucked has always been easy, whether it’s through cruising or dating apps, bars or sex clubs, but there was something magical about the true anonymity and privacy that came with a hooking up on Craigslist. You got to be whoever you wanted to be. Top or bottom, boy or daddy, dirty piss hungry slut or rough fisting top. You weren’t constrained by the limits of your real life, you got to live out the fantasy, and, to be honest, I’m going to miss that.
A lot.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)