Dear Ron: I remember in my "younger" days going into a gay bar and checking the Street first to make sure nobody I knew was in the area so I wouldn't be seen! Today "gays" all but advertise it. -BW

Dear Friend: Do I ever remember in the old days when I would sneak into a gay bar. Often I would only go to such a place if I were in a city distant from my home town. All the big cities had great bars and baths back in the day. Usually they had as many out of town men and married men as they had single men. (Can you guess the nationality of the gay men in above photo? Think "down under.")

Big cities have historical, yes from ancient times, had the reputation of being sinful places. The truth is that only in big cities can people be brave enough to be who they really are.

As a personal example of this, when on retirement I moved from the DC Metro area to a small town, I met a gay, married man who opened my eyes to how many gay men were here and active in this mini Bible Belt county.

Contrary to the mistaken straight people view, gay men did not come on the scene for the first time in the 20th Century. We have forever and always been an important fabric of all societies.