From: MShernoff@aol.com Date: Thu, 26 Dec 1996 07:56:17 -0500 Subject: gym article Hello, Hope you had a gay and good holiday. Attached is a recent article I had publihed that I would like to post on the QRD. Thanks mshernoff@aol.com Scenes From Chelsea Gym Michael Shernoff, MSW =0D Originally published in LGNY December 1, 1996. =0D Gay gyms have always been places for more than body building. They often= function as samll de- facto community centers for the men who work out at them. =0D Beginning sometime soon after it opened, those of us who worked out early= in the morning at Chelsea Gym began to refer to the group of regulars who would arrive betw= een 6:00 and 7:00 AM as "The Dawn Patrol." Numerous friendships developed among the men, a= nd many of us socialized outside the gym based on the camraderie we felt working out at= the same time day after day, week after week, month after month. One time one of the men and I c= o-hosted a Saturday evening party for single employed men of Chelsea Gym who were husband hun= ting. Over forty men attended. It was at this party that I first asked the man who was to = become my partner to spend the night, and he accepted. =0D One morning an announcement over the public address system spoke for itse= lf. "Gentlemen, may I have your attention please. Try to remember that this is Chelsea Gym, = not Chelsea Baths." We all roared! The gay comic Frank Maya had referred to the Chelsea Gym st= eam room as "The low self-esteem room" in one of his acts. =0D Another morning, Leonard, the young man who worked the desk on the early = shift, got on the PA system and in a very serious voice said: "Gentlemen, may I please have yo= ur attention? Please stop what you are doing and pay attention to a very important announcemen= t." We began to look at one another and wonder had the president been assasinated or had war b= een declared? "I regret to inform you that Lucille Ball has just passed away at a Los Ange= les hospital. Let us all observe a moment of silence in her honor." And we did, with not a few pe= ople becoming choked up. Now really, where else but a gay gym would that have happened? =0D One Halloween morning one of the regulars, a slender, but very well built= attorney originally from the San Francisco Bay area was doing his regular work out, only wearing a= splendid pair of pumps! =0D As AIDS began to take it's toll, there were certain noticeable changes an= d ultimately losses in the ranks of the gym. Notices of deaths and upcoming memorial services would = appear on the bulletin board. I remember checking out a lovely looking man in the locker room, = only to be surprised as he took his shirt off to see a Hickman catheter taped to his chest. Afte= r overcoming my brief moment of shock I immediately thought "how brave that man is to just come= in and bare his chest with that indication of his being on infusion therapy for AIDS." I got v= ery overcome with feelings and became teary eyed in admiration for him. =0D Another man David continued to work out even when his arms and legs were = covered with KS lesions that he was having burned off. One day shortly before he died I = saw David working out with the assistance of someone else, only he was completely blind by now = and still at the gym. = Talk about a profile in courage and stamina. = =0D One of the stories that is closest to my heart has to do with the play Je= ffrey. On a friend's recommendation my partner Lee and I got tickets and went to the WPA theat= er on West 23rd St to see the play knowing nothing about it except that it was gay themed. = Imagine our surprise when it turned out that the story line was very much our story. Lee was = an HIV positive unemployed actor who was earning his living as a cater waiter at Glorious= Foods when we met at Chelsea Gym. This is the story of Jeffrey. We were introduced to Paul R= udnick, the author of Jeffrey at a party, and teasingly asked him if we could get royalties sin= ce he had written our story. = His reply was that he knew it was someone's story, only he had not known = whose until then. =0D Immediately after Lee's death I was literally inundated by men expressing= condolences and inquiring about how I was doing when I returned to the gym. Some were no= t even people I was friends with, but rather had only known to say hello to on the floor of t= he gym. No one seemed to mind when I broke down in tears telling a story about a particular part o= f his dying. Could our gay gyms actually be one venue where while pumping up on the outside to l= ook like traditional American men a culture of gentleness, concern and nurturing male support = is flourishing? =0D Michael Shernoff is a psychotherapist in private practice in Manhattan. = He can reached either at his home page http://members.aol.com/therapysvc or via e mail at mshernof= f@aol.com =0D Key Words: gay, gay, gay, gay, gyms, gyms, gyms, gyms, queer queer queer = =0D