Nothing smart about old Compton street

Another bit of misleading journalism is the use, now common to all the media, of the expression, the 8220;gay community8221; 8212; equating OldCompton Street with Chinatown or Brixton. But there is no such thing as a community here, if by that we mean a group of people all living together, sharing certain traditions and religious beliefs or taking part in communal activities peculiar to their own group. As the great expert Matthew Parris has pointed out, most gay sexual encounters which is what many gays go to Soho for are casual and anonymous, the participants frequently not knowing one another8217;s name. Community spirit is the last thing they want.

Gays may like the pseudo-respectability that the word 8220;community8221; conveys but there is always a danger in misrepresentation of this kind. Thus a deranged man, which the Old Compton Street bomber clearly is, might be led to conclude that some kind of well-organised threat exists when in fact there is nothing of the kind.

8212; Richard Ingram for Guardian News Service