My neighborhood's sex life

The Barro Preto is home to a hospital, various judicial ministries, the Cruzeiro soccer club sports complex and me.

The neighborhood emphasizes a brisk commercial atmosphere rather than quiet living as do some of the more tranquil, leafier zones to the south. This is the place to find clothing both wholesale and retail in the city. All day distributors linger doubtfully over the ugly Euro-trash jeans, the knock-offs, cheap t-shirts and ladies' underwear in the shop windows.

One retailer on my street tries to entice customers by positioning a young Northeasterner dressed up as a psychotic clown just outside her door. Microphone in hand he stands there all day proclaiming the store's wares in one of those weird affected voices someone somewhere decided was "amusing." Professional people in business suits stride purposefully past him eyes averted.

The crowds attract pamphleteers and vendors: hot dogs, popcorn, fresh pineapple juice and one tiny old woman with a knit shaw who stands all day on the corner courageously hawking homemade candy wrapped in ziplock bags for one real! one real! delicious sweetness!

At night, well... after dark let's just say my neighborhood is known for a different kind of delicious sweetness.

Every town no matter how conservative or religious or tiny has a gay hook up scene. Some neighborhood to the north got the ladies (and ladies?) of the night... after dark, our empty streets suddenly become the hang out of well-dressed young men who seem to have nothing better to do than pace up and down the sidewalk and talk to men in cars. Didn't your momma tell you not to talk to strange men with candy?

If you're worried about your car being identified there's always the 24 hours saunas for cruising.

If you're really really closeted, well just go to an on-line chat room for an incredibly dangerous rendez-vous with some guy you meet on-line like Americans do.

While I believe sexual satisfaction is best sought in the context of a loving, committed relationship, I'm not going to judge. I don't have to imagine the extreme pressure to keep your sexual orientation a secret. I've experienced it. You see, the problem with disapproval, rejection and discrimination is that they do not restrict sexual desires... they just assure that desires will be met in the most unhealthy, dangerous, dysfunctional manner possible.

Do I feel unsafe at night with all the shady business going on around me? Not really. Nor am I really fazed by it. After all, I've heard more about my male friends getting harassed during the daytime in Veteran's Park in College Station, Texas... Besides most prostitutes know who's interested and won't waste time on residents going to the grocery store. And their clients? BELIEVE ME, these guys are eager to avoid any kind of a scene.

All I've really got to say is THANK GOD it's not drug trafficking!!!!!!!