... okay so for straight guys seeking gals... we were young and young guys do what they do. Namely say just about anything to a girl trying to get down their pants. We all did it. It was 90% of the reason we went out with them in the first place.
As a gay man, how much of the drive to go out with someone was sex driven? And how easy was it to have sex? I always imagined that because it is two guys...well... sex was a given. Was it?
If I go out looking for sex, yes, it is a given I will be hooking up. If I went out just to hang with friends the sex was not likely unless moved to another set of people. When I was young there was a divide in most places between gay and straight and it was unsafe to be known as gay - personally, professionally, socially and legally. For me during 'the early years' going out was subdivided into 'going out with friends or co-workers' or 'going to hook up - with anyone or someone.' For me, once I moved to the Washington D.C. area to go to college and travelled to NYC and other urban areas the sex was very, very easy if you knew where to go. In those days finding gay sex was like being in a secret club. There was actually books that told you where to find gay friendly clubs and bars. There were also gay oriented newspapers - a users guide to sex and hook up partners.
When the bath houses were really big, pre HIV/AIDS and even afterward, sex was absolutely going to happen of you went there. Bars were the next best place. The risk was you did not want to be there when the cops raided the place. That happened pretty regularly, but good clubs made it tricky to get in quickly so there was often early warning when the cops showed up. Third were trade bars and pick up spots where supposedly straight guys were willing to be sexually intimate for a few beers and / or a few bucks - usually military guys, young, away from home, lonely, who stumbled onto a way to make a few bucks with gay men.
As political power began to be used by the LGTB community it was easier to attend other venues that were not sex driven venues. People moved into gay friendly neighborhoods - usually run down neighborhoods in Washington and gentrified them with renovations and business investment.
It was an interesting time.