Look, I'm sorry to make my first post something that's going to upset some people, but I'm already upset and I think others need to be too.

I don't throw around the term "gay playpen" liberally, but it certainly applies to the current situation in center city right now, especially the "playpen" area near 13th and Locust (and surrounding streets). I work at the corner of Broad and Locust, and often eat lunch in the area, but every time I go outside I feel that I am accosted by dozens of strange homosexual men.

Men seem to be more interested in me than women are when I walk in this area (I am attractive). Look, I don't have a problem with gay individuals, but why do so many of them feel that they can leer, lunge and grope at me on the street without any regard for what I personally find acceptable? I'm always getting stared down by other guys that look like they want to take me behind the woodshed, and I've been hit on by other men as well, and I don't know why. Does being a gay man in Philly mean that you have to be openly and overtly sexual and predatorial toward other men on the street?

Anyway, I don't really care if a bunch of bleeding heart liberals attack me for being "homophobic" or something, that's just garbage anyway and you know it. I am just in shock the way that homosexuals are embraced by the city to the point where official rainbow city street signs were actually erected. It's like it's not OK to be a straight man in the city anymore. God forbid if I don't like being touched by other men when I'm walking down the street.

I guess I don't have a problem with this whole situation as long as the gays can keep their zoos and playpens in their own house without making everyone else deal with it.

Are you new here? That little corridor has pretty much always been "alt" and I far prefer the gays to the nasty prostitutes that proliferated there before. Man up!

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Would you care for some cheese with that whine? PBers possess a gene to whine about everything.

WE'RE PHILADELPHIA, DAMMIT! GET IT? GOOD!

Weblo village, is that you?

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"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him." —George Bush, Washington, D.C., Sept. 13, 2001

No sorry, I think you have me confused with something else

Bwahahahaha, I think we have a winnah!

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Would you care for some cheese with that whine? PBers possess a gene to whine about everything.

WE'RE PHILADELPHIA, DAMMIT! GET IT? GOOD!

Great response Hospitalitygirl. This guy is a crackpot, and must be bored at work to make such crap up.

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Philly Chit Chat
www.PhillyChitChat.com/

Wayne,

I agree. There is too much groping in public and not enough groping in my bedroom. I've been told I'm the best groper on the block. PM for details.

You do realize that if you were an attractive woman walking down a Philadelphia street you might feel as if dozens of strange, straight men were leering, whooping, whistling, drooling at, mm-mm-mmm-ing and otherwise hitting on you?

I'm not excusing the behavior of people who made you uncomfortable, rather pointing out that this type of behavior is typical of some men, gay or straight, especially when gathered in groups. Does that make Center City a "straight playpen," too?

Just quit fighting it and come out already, you queen

Silly me...I thought this thread was going to be about a new gay club: "The Gay Playpen".

Groped in Center City? Are you sure it's not just people being forced to rub against you because the streets are so crowded? If you aren't Weblo Village I think the two of you would get along swimmingly...in Downingtown or Doylestown or where ever...

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Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day that says, "I will try again tomorrow."

---Mary Anne Radmacher