The hell?? Tyson Park, family friendly? I live in Knoxville, and that place is the skeez. The little river that runs through it is basically toxic.

No one goes there, and it's not because of the "homosexual population."

Its interesting how many younger (i.e. twenty-ish) aged gay guys are so shocked by these police tactics and the newspaper's response to the situation. As a much older guy who was quite alive and cruising in the 1960's in Chicago, the Chicago Police and their good friends at the Chicago Tribune were more than happy to expose by name *and address, and place of employment* any/all gay guys who fell into their clutches.

And so often, in those times, police raids on gay bars or restrooms in public places were simply due to the correuption of police themselves. Police would fail to receive their weekly/monthly bribe payout from the gay bar owner, and arrange a little surprise via a raid there one night that week. I had the misfortune to get caught up in two gay raids in those days: one at the Gold Coast tavern and later at the old Monroe Theatre a downtown spot where gay men congregated. Another favorite spot for police raids was the men's room at the Lincoln Park Zoo. The guys who held out for trial (a few brave ones refused to plead guilty) would inevitably have the same two police officers testify time and again how their own sensibilities had been so affronted by what they had seen going on, and how, of course, their (police) presence in the place had been purely coincidental, i.e. "me and my partner were walking through the park and we happened to see this man (pointing at the defendant) masturbating his penis." At this point the police officers would sound suitably shocked, but you know, they never failed to have a Chicago Tribune reporter along with them on their innocent stroll through the park bushes, etc. Always such a joke ... although a very serious infrigement on the rights of the arrested men; there was no reason to list their names, home addresses, places of employment, etc as well as their age and description.

PAT
http://massis.lcs.mit.edu/td-extra/gaynews.html

The media coverage of this is a complete tragedy, as are the futures of these men, entrapped and now exposed. Most of them were probably married, too, because gay guys don't have to go to the bushes anymore. A few letters of complaint to that station for its coverage would be in order, and action to follow for their cheap shot coverage of an issue that exists because of the inability of men to emerge from the closet in this homophobic society.

Please contact this station and tell them just HOW APPALLING thier coverage of thie "non-story" was. The Station managers email addys are:

steven.crabtree@wvlt-tv.com
wvlt.news@wvlt-tv.com
brian.gregory@wvlt-tv.com

Please pass these emails along to anyone you think will email them about this travesty, Those poor 15 guys. Life is all but ruined now. Innocent before proven guilty my ass. Lets remind these hicks that there is such a thing as JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY!

In my town the cruising area is also one where straight couples get their freak on as well but I can almost certainly guarantee they've never received more than a "let's take it somewhere else, huh?" It is fascist bigotry at its finest. Either enforce the law equitably or get over yourself. If cops have to go on a two day hike into the backcountry with night vision goggles and a phalanx of armed men to find any " area that's harder for us to manage and for us to do surveillance on" then maybe it's not as big a problem as they think.

while i agree the coverage may be slanted, come on there is no reason for closeted men or out gay men to be having sex in parks. there are bars and places to meet men and then find a discreet location. it isn't 1970 anymore and attitudes have changed. there are no longer raids on establishments that cater to our community. these people do us all an injustice by parading through the parks. sadly most of these people are likely closeted married men leading straight lives. how sad and tragic for them and now for us as a result of their actions. a black eye for all of us.

As much as I dont like how they describe homosexuals, I am even more mad at the gay guys that create these situations. Seriously how hard is it to get a 40 dollar room at some cheap hotel.