George Michael, cruising, and me
One writer's journey through the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and George Michael’s catalog makes the case for broader horizons in media
The late English singer-songwriter George Michael's top songs include "Faith," "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," and "Freedom! '90." (Wikicommons/University of Houston Digital Library)
In 1998, 10 years after winning album of the year at the Grammys, pop sensation George Michael was stuffed into the back of a police car. His only crime — cruising for sex. One of the places he was caught cruising in was Hampstead Heath park, London.
In the summer of 2023, nearly 15 years later, I, a straight Canadian male, spent a scorching London afternoon walking through that same park to try and understand this period of Michael’s life.
Whether it be my Halloween costume or a Christmas gift to my mom, Michael and his music have been a beam of joy in my life. When I quit my job, Michael’s “Freedom! ‘90” was the first song I played. When I began writing poetry, “Careless Whisper” served as my artistic north star.
So, when plodding through Hampstead Heath with a guiding hand from my brown-bearded ex-special forces friend, himself a gay man, I was informed that Hampstead Heath was still flush with men cruising. I was glad historically gay spaces still survived, especially one Michael himself was publicly unashamed of. However, my tightly held hope faded into the warm blue afternoon sky as I learned of cruising’s dark origins.
I read an article where educator Alex Espinoza wrote, “Cruising flourishes the more it is policed.” I realized that cruising arose not out of unbridled sexual passion, as a bodily celebration of life, but from the repeated oppression and repression of humanity’s highest states like love and freedom, for which Espinoza said cruising was “for centuries, the only way to satisfy this need.”
My view of cruising and 2SLGBTQIA+ discrimination had to mature in a pattern similar to Michael’s evolution from the simply sexy pop duo of Wham! to his mature rhythm and blues solo career.
While my trip to Hampstead Heath was hopeful, upon setting foot on British Columbian soil, it was clear the vacation had become nothing but a warm memory. I looked around the province with this new awareness and saw B.C. parents drunk with rage over Russian media campaigns and pounding the pavement over SOGI, a program not even in B.C.’s curriculum, not to mention countries forcing back the clock hands of progress like Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, which includes restricting 2SLGBTQIA+ people’s medical access and forcing them to register themselves with the government.
When I see knife-wielding parents protesting SOGI or a nation’s clergy fangirling draconian hate bills, I see people who need to listen to Michael. In a video with Vox, scholar Reza Aslan explains how shows like Will & Grace helped normalize 2SLGBTQIA+ families in the U.S., which led to same-sex marriages being legalized.
While not a cure-all, normalization through the media is a factor in social tolerance. I’m speaking from ample data and lived experience — you wouldn’t be reading this article if it weren’t for the music of George Michael.
