Utah: Program Helps Men Explore Reasons for Cruising

The Healthy Self-Expressions program at Pride Counseling offers small groups of men a chance to understand issues surrounding why they "cruise" -- the practice of seeking out sexual encounters with other men in public, often without condoms. The program evolved when therapists, law enforcement, and the gay community resolved to address the issue in 2000.

Usually, men caught cruising would be charged with public lewdness or disorderly conduct, a class B misdemeanor, said Sim Gill, a Salt Lake City prosecutor. But now men are given the chance to avoid the charge by participating in Healthy Self-Expressions, where Pride's Director Jerrie Buie says they can discuss sexual orientation and learn about HIV prevention and the impact of public sex. Forty percent of the men are married, and many have children.

"There are so many layers to this issue," Buie said. Many men who cruise are attracted to the anonymity, the social connection, and fear rejection by their family and church. "They do a lot of compartmentalizing," said Buie. "They live one particular life and, for 45 minutes, they'll step outside of that."

"It really goes beyond a bunch of men looking for sex. People in this kind of culture really struggle with a sense of orientation," Buie said. "Just because you have an attraction to men doesn't mean you have to be a slave to those attractions."

Salt Lake Police Capt. Kyle Jones said that in the years he has worked on the phenomenon, the recidivism rate for about 350 program participants has been less than 5 percent.

"We've been transitioning people out of this behavior," Gill said. "It is a permanent change in their behavior, and that's the systematic win."

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