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To most students, Middleton Library restrooms are a little more than outdated - 1950s-style stalls with wooden doors, foul smells and broken urinals. Some of the restrooms are also "hot spots" for men engaging in anonymous sexual encounters on campus. Two restrooms in Middleton, as well as a first-floor men's restroom in Coates Hall, are listed on the Web site cruisingforsex.com for men hoping to tryst with other men. The Web site, which lists tips and popular meeting spots for men, grew in popularity when individuals found a listing of the Minnesota airport bathroom where the now infamous foot-tapping of one U.S. senator took place. The issue of sex in public restrooms has gained national attention with the recent guilty plea of U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and the sex sting operation in a Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport bathroom that caught him. Craig was arrested after he allegedly initiated sex signals with an undercover police officer.
Maj. Lawrence Rabalais, LSUPD spokesman, said the activity is illegal.
"It's illegal for two people to meet up if they're consenting because it's a crime against nature," he said. Rabalais said the signals used by the undercover police officers in Craig's case are similar to those used by LSUPD when the officers perform sting operations on campus. "There are different signals these people give," Rabalais said. "They tap their feet or make a certain noise letting them know that's what they are there for." Rabalais said some of the men drill holes in the stall to conduct fellatio with another man in a neighboring stall.
The Web site referred to the holes as "glory holes." "They cut a hole in the partician in the stall, put their penis in the hole and that's when the offense of obscenity would occur," Rabalais said.
He said LSUPD receives about six calls a year "for that particular activity," only from victims who say they were unwillingly approached.
Julie Fandal, sociology sophomore who works on the third floor of Middleton Library, said she received a complaint from a library patron this past year about suspicious bathroom activity. "A student went in to use the bathroom and noticed one guy was in there," Fandal said. "Two hours later, he went back in and told me he was still in there. So I told my supervisor." Fandal said she does not think the activity occurs on the first- or second-floor bathrooms. "The second floor is more of a lab so people are in and out," Fandal said. "But this is a study area - people want to stay here for hours. So they notice who's in there." Fandal said she has never identified one of the men, but she has heard many of them are not students. "What I've heard is that it's older men looking for younger people, but I've never seen anyone," she said. Fandal said when a patron does complain, the library staff immediately contacts LSUPD. "We've told the police, but there isn't much we can do about it," she said. Fandal said the holes are often replaced with metal sheets, but the covers are repeatedly torn down. Jennifer Cargill, dean of libraries, said patrons report encounters every few months. "It's something that just happens in buildings that are open long hours," she said. Cargill, who has been in her position since 1991, said the activity dates back before her tenure. "It was a problem before I came here," she said. "And when I was at Rice University, it was a problem there." According to their student publications, the universities of Arizona and Minnesota had similar activity.
Research on men who engage in anonymous bathroom sex in public buildings dates back to the 1960s. Sociologist Laud Humphreys wrote a dissertation in 1970 titled "Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places" in which he studied the signals men commonly use to initiate intercourse. The signals include foot-tapping, hand waving and body positioning. One man taps his foot and touches the foot of the man in a neighboring stall, then slides his hand along the bottom of the stall. Humphreys used unconventional methods to conduct his research. He tracked down names and addresses through license plate numbers and interviewed the men in their homes in disguise. The sociologist's findings destroyed many stereotypes. Humphreys found that most of the men were well educated, successful and economically stable. More than half the men studied were married and living with their wives. The study also found 38 percent were neither bisexual nor homosexual, and only 14 percent of the men he observed were gay. Elaine Maccio, social work professor, said she believes many men who engage in anonymous public sex with other men do not identify as gay. "The larger society looks at this and says, 'That's what gay people do.' And that's not what gay people do," Maccio said. "That's what some closeted gay people do. It's because they don't feel they can be out that they resort to clandestine behaviors to meet their needs." Maccio said many people believe these men engage in the activity for "thrills," but she doesn't think that this is the case. "While some people engage in public sex for the thrill-seeking act, I'm not sure I buy that," Maccio said. "I buy that people are having public sex in parks and public restrooms because they have to seek out sexual partners in a covert, secretive way."
Editor's Note: This story has been edited for clarification.
---- Contact Elizabeth Miller at emiller@lsureveille.com
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