![[Home]](/graphics/2020-02_logo.png){kind=logo}
The term "FAG HAG" is a term that I always hated. As society that is supposedly more tolerent of other lifestyles, I always thought that another word(s) or label could have been issued. Most of the women that I have met that would hang around with gay men/boys were usally pretty nice people; although I have never personally had a girl that liked to hang with me. The supposed reason for this type of girl/woman hanging around the " Gay Bars " was that they wanted to or liked to get gay men in the sack. Some of the hangers on that I knew just liked being around gay men/boys because there was never a threat of being abused mentally or physically although I have words coming out of some gay men/boys mouths about their personal fag hag. Maybe there were some that got the gay man/boy into the sack ( All The Power To You GIRL!! ), you succeeded where some jealous gay men/boys failed. I am at a loss for what the label could be attached to this type of friend or lover and does it really matter ? The label could maybe be " GIRL/WOMAN - FRIEND" or maybe even "PARTNER".
Working Boys have been a part of the gay community in Halifax for as long as I can remember. They stood beside us in the bars (known or unknown). The stroll along Summer Street would find a few by day taking a chance on daytime rendezvous. Come night time, the boyz would gather in greater numbers, wandering up and down Summer Street between Sackville Street and Spring Garden Road or down Sackville Street to South Park Street and back. I got to know a lot of the guys out there on my nightly cruising or at The Turret Club and I found after time that most of them had a companionships with each other either out of having the same in common, protection from people that would cause them harm or just a shout to tip each other off at the sign of approaching local police. Working boys could also be seen on the top of Citadel Hill (both day and night) but mostly night time. Hustling along Summer Street came to an abrupt stop on the night of the murder of John William Tha Din On November 5th, 1988 by three men in the CampHillCemetery. Cruising by non hustlers also came to an end and one of my favorite "sewing circle" places no longer existed. The cemetary was now gated and locked at night and regular patrols by police made sure everyone stayed out, it also cleared out the stroll for the working boys and the tricking for dollars now mainly existed on the top of Citadel Hill or Ahern Avenue.
Winter was even harder on the boys, having to be out even in the coldest, dampest weather to make ends meet. I did'nt go walking much in the winter, but there were those nights that I did or I would see them on my way home in a blizzard; standing on the corner stomping their feet and shivering to the core.
There were a lot of nice kids in that group that I came to know, some out there doing their thing because that's what they wanted to do and I would assume most out of sheer need to make a buck to survive and or get their next fix. Some were really messed up from either drug abuse, parent abuse, lack of education or all of these and more. For the most part (the boys I got to know) never talked much about their problems, they were there to earn a living.
And maybe even forget.