From ZURICH (Switzerland)... |
...till gaYmeBoys (international) |
|
1999 |
||
|
Everybody feares the millenium bug. But we celebrate the greatest party in the greatest club of the world. The club is called Labyrinth and is part of Zurich's underground party scene because 1999 there were only a handfull of licensed clubs in town. But who wants to be bored at a legal party when the illegal gay locations host the greatest vibes and the never ending happiness. A few weeks ago I wanted to become Mister Gay and change the world. But finally the world selected someone else who took the price and never showed up again in the gay scene. So I decided to program a website for my hometown to show the world how great it is to be gay (and to fall in love!) in Zurich. |
Actually I just intended to make a small homepage to show some party pics to my friends. But suddenly it became an international gay community...  The name ZURIGAY comes from ZURICH and GAY - the gay metropolis of Switzerland. The site (programmed in Macromedia Flash) was published and my friends were so excited that they egged me on to expand it more and more. |
|
2001 |
||
|
Zurich's gay scene gets better and better. The gays come every weekend from München till Milano to Zurich to celebrate a party with us. Somewhen the underground clubs got licenced and the closing time is lifted. Zurich becomes a party town. The Street Parade gets the greatest party of the world and we are proud to be part of it every year on a colourful gay mobile. |
The small website envolves to an online magazine with news, agenda, guide and picture galleries of many gay events. My party reports called Backflash are loved and feared, because in contrary to all the gay mags that only print the press releases, I never conceale when an event was a complete flop. I always try to do constructive criticism: honest but fair. |
|
2004 |
||
|
The gay community of Switzerland prepares for the voting campaign, because in June 2005 the Swiss people will vote on the civil union law that enables a sort of gay marriage. Now it's all about showing the gay community from its best side. "Gays are normal guys like you and me", is the slogan. We all try to look as straight and gray as possible. No queers and rainbows anymore. |
The GaYmeCHAT moves ZURIGAY to the third dimension: a virtual queer world of multiple rooms that one can explore with an avatar chatting and interacting with real gay guys. My idea was not only to add a chat to a website but also to include the whole content of a web portal into a unique game environment. Unfortunately the project was against the development of the main search engines wich preferred conventional HTML-sites instead of Flash. |
|
2005 |
||
|
The Swiss people accepts the civil union law with a majority of 58%. We win, but we lost much colour and were forced to open our scene even to those who just see Sodom and Gomorrah behind all gay erotic pleasures. Under the lead of Zurich's new police minister Esther Maurer (SP) several police raids were hold in (gay) clubs after the rumors of sex and drugs. First victim was the Spider-Galaxy. The new buzzword of Zurich is called "Zero Tolerance". |
ZURIGAY becomes an online community where every user gets his own profile to present himself. Under his username one can now write postings in the forum, upload pictures and place personal ads. The user registration also allowed access control for classified content. This is enforced by the severe Swiss protection of minors law. Profiles can now be linked using frienship states and one can leave a trace when visiting someone's profile with an emoticon. |
|
2007 |
||
|
By the end of 2006 we got a police raid in the gay club Labyrinth. In march 2007 in the club Labitzke and short time after in the clubs Zukunft and Hive. Gay sex at gay parties and dark rooms become suddenly illegal. The case of Wildsau-Bar, a leather bar where the police caught two gays fucking, is taken to court. |
ZURIGAY openes the Clubs for a more and more diverse gay crowd where like-minded people can enjoy a room for their own. The clubs are lead by members. Every club has it's own forum, own gallery, polls, link lists, etc. |
|
2009 |
||
|
Finally the cantonal high court of Zurich decided, that "a gay club is no tea-room". Sex at gay parties is legal again. Until end of 2010 party labels like Shaft, Selection, Testosteron and Flexx host many great gay parties. But the repression of Zurich's city police against party clubs keeps on, and again and again peaceful party guests had to put up with bullying examinations until gay Tourists stay away and Zurich's gays stay at home instead of going out. |
My party reports get always more seldom because we become aware of the law-and-order-society can only missunderstand happy faces on our party pictures. |
|
2011 |
||
|
The party scene goes south. The Lotusclub (Ex-Laby) is teared down. The scene dissolves. Some now fly to Berlin, Brussels, London or Barcelona for a party and the others go to erotic free straight clubs where men keep wearing their shirts and cane in till they lapse into socially compliant coma. |
ZURIGAY gets a complete new look with a contact based chat system that shows all contacts at first glance and all discussions in well-arranged speech-bubbles so you will never again loose the thread. Another important novelty is the community page where you see all recent activities of your friends, who uploaded new pictures, who wrote new posts and who wants to go to wich party. |
|
2012 |
||
|
After a last unanwered call to all gay organisers to tell us their events for 2012, I face up to the facts. A gay party scene with no more than 3 events a year does not justify a gay online magazine anymore. |
On January 21, 2012 ZÜRIGAY.ch changes the name to gaYmeBoys.com: The community with more than 5800 users from 86 countries gets brand new user profiles and international Google maps. Where ever you are from - you are welcome to gaYmeBoys.com! To registration. |
|
2015 |
||
|
We gays fought for equal rights but we only got the right to be equal. Equally boring as all the rest. And now we call us LGBTIQAXY#$? that anyone knows we are at loggerheads. Our official parties are exempt from erotism, at the Zurich Pride parade the major Swiss banks took over the musical lead and their emotionless dancers wear white polo shirts. The average gay who spends the whole day playing Grindr doesn't care. So also I changed my name and gave up my hometown Zurich, facing new horizons in the Wild West. The new star is called Black Rock City and I am now proud to be a burner! |
Just as erotism disappears from our clubs, all other issues disappear in the gay web. Hardly anyone wants to discuss social and politic themes anymore. Gays have only one thing in mind: to fuck! Actually, I should delete all categories, remove the guide and the agenda and transform gaYmeBoys into a minimalist and foolproof dating machine. But still I have not completely abandoned. If you have read this far, you might be the type who has the makings of a gay editor. Login and join in with us! |
