No longer do individuals attend the circuit to make a political statement instead, the culture of the circuit seems to be focused almost exclusively on celebrating and seeking hyper-masculine and heteronormative standards of beauty.įor partygoers, this often means building a muscular frame, having risky sex and using drugs. A whirlwind of dizzying social change driven by likes, views and shares has led to greater feelings of what sociologists call “ anomie” – a French word used to describe feelings of disconnectedness and a lack of community.Ĭircuit parties are not immune to this change. For all the progress that has been made, these enclaves remain some of the only spaces in society where gayness is the norm.īroader civil rights gains have coincided with technological advancements, with the internet and social media dramatically changing human interaction and collective organizing. A 2019 survey of LGBTQ Southerners found that participants felt an attachment to LGBTQ cultural spaces like gay bars and neighborhoods. We were all looking for a way to connect with each other, and we didn’t have many options, so the circuit became a space for us to belong and a place where we could be free.” The circuit becomes expensive and exclusiveįor LGBTQ people, this quest for belonging hasn’t gone away.Ī 2013 Pew survey reported that LGBTQ people still felt high rates of discrimination exclusion from traditional institutions such as the family, church and the workplace. These spaces also fostered solidarity among gay people, helping them feel less stigmatized and normalizing some of the issues they faced, whether it was HIV/AIDS or rejection by family and peers.Īs one 45-year-old gay male man told me, these early parties were “small, intimate affairs. The circuit soon came to simply refer to the network of underground nightclubs where gay men could dance together. – Peace, Love, Unity and Movement – though the “M” would later be replaced with an “R” for “Respect.” Early circuit house enthusiasts subscribed to the values of P.L.U.M. The name “circuit” was affixed to a particular branch of electronic dance music party due to the style of house music, dubbed “circuit house,” that played almost exclusively at these gatherings. The circuit party emerged in the late 1980s and came out of the underground gay club scene established by Black and Latino men living in Chicago and Detroit. On one side, there are those who continue to push the political boundaries and, in so doing, embrace the legacy of community-building that emerged from the post-Stonewall era of LGBTQ activism on the other, a group which seems to reject any notions of solidarity nor express any desire to know more about the history and political implications of their actions.
To me, Sanker’s decadent bash – held in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic – epitomized a growing divide in gay culture. We’ve sought to better understand the positive ways these parties influence gay culture, along with some of the problems they can present. For five years, my colleagues and I have been attending these circuit parties to interview attendees.