As
a
newly
out
gay
man,
Tom
Duschney
moved
from
a
Maryland
suburb
to
Dupont
Circle
a
little
more
than
four
years
ago
to
explore
the
dating
life.
Not
a
fan
of
the
bar
scene,
he
enrolled
in
an
abs
class
at
an
area
health
club
—
also
known
as
a
“transactional
market”
—
where
he
started
looking
for
friends
and
potential
lovers.
As
someone
who
previously
dated
women
with
similarly
conservative
Catholic
views
about
romance,
Duschney
wanted
to
find
someone
far
removed
from
the
constraints
of
his
old
life.
“I
hadn’t
come
out
to
my
family
yet,
and
I
wanted
the
freedom
to
be
with
whomever
I
pleased
far
away
from
my
background,”
Duschney
said.
“Dupont
seemed
like
an
ideal
place
to
discover
this
new
side
of
me.”
In
his
initial
quest,
Duschney
typified
the
behavior
of
an
urban
gay
male
—
men
who
relocate
to
gay
districts
and
spend
their
free
time
in
noncommittal
environments
in
the
hopes
of
meeting
other
gay
men
to
date,
according
to
recent
research
out
of
the
University
of
Chicago.
But
contrary
to
the
images
portrayed
in
such
television
shows
as
“Queer
as
Folk”
or
“Sex
in
the
City,”
these
social
and
institutional
structures
potentially
limit,
rather
than
facilitate,
sexual
and
romantic
options
by
making
different
types
of
sexual
activities,
relationships
or
meeting
places
less
accessible.
In
his
upcoming
book,
the
“Sexual
Organization
of
the
City,”
sociologist
Edward
Laumann
argues
that
typical
gay
city
inhabitants
spend
most
of
their
adult
lives
in
“transactional”
relationships,
or
short-term
commitments
of
less
than
six
months.
This
reality
has
led
to
the
formation
of
a
sophisticated
network
of
“markets,”
including
neighborhoods
and
friendship
circles,
in
which
these
adults
—
both
straight
and
gay
—
search
for
companionship
and
sex,
but
most
often
end
up
alone.
“On
average,
half
your
life
is
going
to
be
in
this
single
and
dating
state,
and
this
is
a
big
change
from
the
1950s,”
said
Laumann,
sociology
chair
at
the
University
of
Chicago.
“The
gay
scene
is
a
fairly
volatile
scene
without
much
nominal
guidance
from
family
and
long-term
friends,
which
tend
to
help
with
bumps
in
the
road.
When
you’re
in
that
single
scene,
these
partnerships
aren’t
one-night
stands,
but
they
usually
have
a
life
of
about
six
months.”
On
the
whole,
these
new
sexual
markets
operate
differently
for
men
and
women,
and
within
racial
groups.
Neighborhoods,
in
addition
to
sexual
orientation,
tend
to
define
modern
sexual
markets,
the
University
of
Chicago
sociologists
found
during
a
three-year
study
comprising
the
major
premise
behind
the
book.
The
Chicago
Health
&
Social
Life
Survey
(CHSLS)
studied
the
habits
of
2,114
people
in
four
distinct
Chicago
neighborhoods:
one
predominantly
black
neighborhood
on
the
South
Side,
one
mostly
Puerto
Rican
area
in
northwest
Chicago,
another
with
a
large
Mexican
population
to
the
west
and
a
northern
city
neighborhood
with
the
largest
contingent
of
gay
and
upper-income
residents.
“Each
major
American
city
is
organized
much
as
Chicago
is,
with
similar
neighborhoods,
similar
people
and
similar
institutions,”
Laumann
said.
For
example,
Laumann
and
his
team
ventured
into
the
gay
neighborhood
of
Chicago,
known
as
Boys
Town,
and
uncovered
a
set
of
societal
rules
determining
sexual
interaction.
On
the
whole,
Boys
Town
deterred
lesbians
with
male
dominance
and
few
gathering
places
for
women.
The
area
also
alienated
black
gays
by
practices
such
as
“triple
carding”
in
bars.
The
majority
of
Boys
Town
residents
and
patrons
frequented
the
area
for
its
transactional,
unattached
“market,”
according
to
the
CHSLS.
Duschey
was
lucky
and
unusual,
he
says,
in
that
he
met
his
current
boyfriend
of
four
years,
Armando
Cortinez,
at
the
abs
class
he
frequented.
In
Washington,
D.C.,
however,
he
and
Cortinez
experienced
some
of
the
negative
effects
of
these
transactional
attitudes,
particularly
“in
the
bar
scene
where
there’s
not
much
honor
for
a
committed
relationship.
“If
someone
comes
up
to
meet
you
and
you
tell
them
you’re
taken,
it’s
not
about
respecting
that.
The
mindset
becomes
‘Oh,
I’ll
just
flirt
with
you
on
the
side
anyway
because
it’s
not
going
to
last
long.’”
he
said.
“There’s
a
tearing
away
at
a
vow
to
someone
else.”
On
the
other
hand,
lesbians
gravitated
to
the
“relational”
market,
mostly
guided
by
friends
and
family.
In
this
more
complicated
romantic
bazaar,
familiar
people
introduce
prospective
lovers
with
common
interests
and
backgrounds
in
the
anticipation
of
a
long-term
relationship
forming
out
of
the
contact,
Laumann
said.
Churches
and
similar
institutions
traditionally
facilitate
a
relational
marketplace
for
straight
couples,
but
for
gays
—
who
are
not
accepted
by
many
religious
denominations
—
those
institutions
are
less
a
source
of
finding
a
mate.
Laumann’s
research
also
concluded
that
there
are
few,
if
any,
resources
or
refuges
for
gay
male
and
female
victims
of
domestic
violence.
Some
in
the
gay
health
field
acknowledge
that
Laumann’s
research
could
prove
important
in
advocating
for
resources
to
benefit
gays.
“Because
our
relationships
are
so
scrutinized
by
the
outside
world,
sometimes
we
work
a
little
harder
not
to
let
others
see
what’s
really
going
on,”
said
Ellen
Kahn,
director
of
the
Lesbian
Services
Program
at
the
Whitman-Walker
Clinic.
“Also,
most
people
have
a
tendency
to
believe
that
in
same-sex
relationships,
there
is
an
equality
of
power
and
men
are
more
prone
to
physically
fight
with
each
other
because
it’s
seen
as
within
their
expected
role.”
Kahn
said.
“Men
are
less
socialized
on
how
to
handle
anger
and
generally
they
are
less
skilled
in
moving
relationships
into
a
more
intimate
zone.”
In
metropolitan
areas,
the
study
found
that
domestic
violence
rates
were
comparable
among
gays
and
straights.
“Same-sex
domestic
violence
rates
among
men
are
actually
as
high
or
higher
than
in
man-woman
relationships,
but
men
have
nowhere
to
go
when
battered,”
said
Michael
Relf,
...
