photo by Bruce-Michael Gelbert
a Pride Day 2008 response to Meat Rack harassment
...........................................................................................

For a good part of the summer, men have been telling me-because I'm very visible and, somehow, viewed as influential-about Fire Island National Seashore (FINS) rangers' unfriendly visits to the Meat Rack, as the woods between Cherry Grove and Fire Island Pines are informally and commonly known. (Other nicknames are the Enchanted Forest and Judy Garland Memorial Park. On maps, it is the Carrington Tract.)
The rangers, I've been told repeatedly, and by fairly reliable sources, have been coming onto the paths-deep in the woods and far from public thoroughfares and public view-that men have used for decades as a cruising, connecting, and consummating area, with little detriment to the environment or community well-being, and, while not actually giving summonses, as they did not long enough ago, obliging men to don clothing and to stop sexual activity.

These visits and reprimands had been sporadic and usually early in the day on a weekday, when the men present are few and fairly isolated. There was similar ranger activity two years ago and public pressure was brought to bear on the Superintendent of FINS, who, I was informed, passed the word along to the rangers' immediate supervisor that it was not their job to harass people having sex, that there were more important things to do, like watch for potential arsonists and litterbugs, and keep people from crossing the fragile dunes going to or from the beach. The Superintendent reportedly said that FINS had received more bad press for this censorious ranger activity, 'busting' men for 'public' nudity and public 'lewdness,' than for anything else during his regime.

The confrontations earlier this season, with orders apparently given in the rudest, most officious of tone, were attributed to the same team, a male and a female ranger-he a stone-faced, square-jawed 'Dudley Doright' type and she superficially friendly (I once had a conversation with her about a ranger project to look for West Nile Virus in mosquitoes, before the hassling happened)-that were responsible for the harassment, and were subsequently called off by their supervisor, in 2008.

The resurgence this season, a local organization leader suggested, may be due to changes in FINS leadership-the supervisor, who had given the cease and desist order, retiring, and a new Superintendent, who has not made clear a position and policy on the issue.

Ranger drive-throughs and walk-throughs, more than could possibly be essential, reportedly increased dramatically on Labor Day, September 6, and the confrontations on that day were attributed, not to the male-female team, but, according to one source, to "two chubby blond male" rangers. The consensus seems to be that the gist of what the rangers maintain is that, while nudity is legal on the beach, it is not permitted in the woods and dunes, and that just because nudity and sexual activity have gone on in the woods for decades, there is no reason for us to expect that it can continue. Again, summonses were not given out, but the tone of the exchanges was interpreted as threatening.

Gay men have been having sex freely in these woods for decades. People have been having sex in woods, away from prying eyes, for millennia. I've been reminded that we do not have a legal right to have sex in the woods. That is true, but it's also true that our doing it is not hurting anyone. There is no evidence that I know of that heterosexual, and also gay, family people, who are reputedly buying up property in our communities, have complained about it.

Are the woods theirs or ours? The woods are, indisputably, the rangers' to patrol, looking for and putting a stop to legitimate environmental threats. And, though we are but squatters there, they're also ours. We use them peacefully and take care of them, building and maintaining bridges over swampy paths; cutting down dry, dead branches; and picking up litter and putting up and collecting trash bags, in the hope that people will not drop garbage on the forest floor. We should not have to feel threatened with arrest in them.

I would urge all concerned to write to the Superintendent of the Fire Island National Seashore at 120 Laurel Street, Patchogue, New York 11772-3596 or call 631/289-4810; to phone the Superintendent's office at 631/687-4757 and/or Deputy Superintendent at 631/687-4753; or go to web site http://www.nps.gov/fiis/parkmgmt/staffandoffices.htm and click on 'contact us' and leave your signed message. The more we show our concern, the more likely we are to get results and halt the harassment.