The Sun, a UK publication, recently published an article posing a number of questions about recently deceased George Michael. The piece addressed the singer’s cruising habits, and even suggests that he was a Squirt.org user.
“The Sun has been told George spent hours sifting through gay dating websites, including one called Squirt.org,” explain the authors.
George Michael was no stranger to cruising culture, of course. His 1998 arrest for “engaging in lewd acts” made headlines across the globe. The former Wham! singer had entered a public washroom when a man at another urinal began to engage him with typical cruising actions. In an interview with The Advocate Michael explains the encounter:
“As I was leaving the bathroom, I saw this guy who was basically masturbating in front of me. It was the usual thing, a good-looking guy. I certainly didn’t look at him and think, Oh, that must be a cop. And actually, nothing happened at all other than me returning the favor in kind from about eight feet away. And then he walked straight past me and out, at which point I thought, Oh, he obviously wasn’t impressed, you know? Something was not happening for him.”
It was this encounter that outed George Michael, but he didn’t let this exposure affect him. In fact, he was adamant that he had always been comfortable being gay and with the part of his sexuality that enjoyed casual sexual encounters.
In fact, he released his song and video for “Outside” in response to the charges that faced him. In it he boldly embraced both his identity as a gay man and as a person who enjoys anonymous and public sexual encounters. The video opens showing the straight equivalent of his police entrapment experience, clearly exposing the discrimination that lead to his arrest. Watch the video below:
George Michael’s arrest was definitely not an isolated incident in police bias against gay and bisexual men. Take for instance the Toronto gay bathhouse raids of the 1980s, known by police officers as “operation soap.” In this instance, police exploited unclear laws against “bawdy houses,” which were intended to discourage prostitution, to raid numerous bathhouses. During the process they caused severe damage to the properties and shouted homophobic slurs.
George Michael helped bring new kinds of discrimination to light and will be forever remembered as a gay icon. His known cruising habits make it unsurprising that he was a Squirt.org user, and we could not be more proud to have had such a brave, proud, and talented human being in our community. George Michael is gone but not forgotten. Rest in Peace our King of Cruising.
