WELCOME to our big summer issue of STEAM, with a scheduled publication date of June 15th just in time for most cities' Gay Pride marches/parades /celebrations/ whatevers. This issue, due to the urges we all felt bursting out of our Levis as summer approaches, we're talking a lot about sex in very public places - beaches, parks, tearooms, and all manner of absolutely verboteti spots. Verboten by whom? Why, by the pelizei, of course! But you don't even need to go as far as the PD to find anti-sex crusaders. They're right in the midst of your local 'Gay Pride' celebration: the ones who constantly tell us that we've got to be Good Boys & Girls to Gain Society's Approval and Go To Heaven, the ones who shudder at the thought that some straight person might confuse him/her with a drag queen on TV, the ones who refuse to let NAMBLA march in their parade because 'it's not a gay issue.' (They're right about that, incidentally; it's not a gay issue. It's far more fundamental than that: it's a sexual issue. Is sex essentially good for people, or is it essentially bad for people? Where you come down on this question should define whether or not you're interested in this magazine. ..among many other things.) I quote Glen Maxey, a gay Texas State Representative, responding to a recent sting operation at an Austin park (reviewed elsewhere in this issue): "People have to learn to be responsible in our behavior Easy sex in public places is not appropriate, and our community needs to speak out against that." Needless to say, we, the editorial department at STEAM, do not agree with Mr. Maxey, or with the other repressionists & assimilationists who have become the official mouthpieces of the Official Gay Movement. We believe sex is natural, beautiful and generally a good thing, whether in public or private. We believe 'The Public' (both heterosexual and homosexual, not to mention all the other permutations between & beyond) needs to get over it - because we've always had sex in public, we always will, and it's no more obscene than reading a book.

I know what it means to be proud of myself & my sexuality. I've marched in quite a number of Gay Pride Parades, and I've learned a lot from it. Maybe the most interesting thing I learned was that the parade doesn't mean diddly-squat. it's what you do about your sexuality the other 364 days of the year that matters in your psyche. And hiding your sex in a darkened bedroom, with drawn curtains, doesn't strike me as an indicator of a healthy mind in a healthy body. 'Haunting it' on the beach, in a park, in a tearoom, or on the street, whether with your lover or with a lovable stranger now there's my idea of real Gay Pride.

So here's your quarterly guide to where men are Doing It this summer. Kick back & enjoy it; then go out & show 'em what Gay Pride is all about.