Soon George Michael may have to find another place to get his rocks off.
There's an effort underway to clean up London's Hampstead Heath and its 791 acres of wooded glade, ponds, and rolling meadows. The Independent reports that last year the city of London spent £40,000 removing “condoms and other sex-related waste” from the park.
Said Bob Hall, the park's caretaker: “We accept that cruising takes place on the West Heath, but it is completely unacceptable beyond there. We will certainly not tolerate the kind of behaviour that goes on in the men's bathing area.”
He said that an “uneasy truce” between neighboring residents, police, and those who frolic in the bushes may not last much longer, though some, like gay activist Peter Tatchell, say it's not only the gays that use the park for hooking up: “The management of the heath is obsessed with gay cruising and totally ignores heterosexual sex.”
Of course it doesn't help Tatchell's argument to have George Michael caught emerging from the foliage like a deer in headlights spouting off to the paparazzi: “I don't believe it! F*** off! If you put those pictures in the paper I'll sue! Are you gay? No? Then f*** off! This is my culture! I'm not doing anything illegal. The police don't even come up here any more. I'm a free man, I can do whatever I want. I'm not harming anyone.”
In the new film Scenes of a Sexual Nature, Ewan McGregor plays a gay man with the same habits as George Michael. Scenes reportedly celebrates Hampstead Heath in a way no film has before. The film is released in the UK on November 3.
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