Residents up in arms as charity pins condoms to trees at gay cruising site
By Will Stroude
A sexual health charity’s latest safe sex drive has incurred the wrath of several local residents and fishermen near a cruising site popular with gay men and ‘doggers’.
Local residents near Kirklees Lagoon in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, say the Huddersfield-based Brunswick Centre’s decision to pin the ‘I Protect Myself’ condoms to trees in the area will only serve to “encourage” people who reportedly use the site as an outdoor sex spot.
Image: Mercury Press
Steve Kelly, from the Bradford No 1 Angling Association, told the Daily Star: “I came down with my daughter once when she was 10 and we saw a man getting spit-roasted in the trees. It’s shocking.
“I know of another woman who came to fish with her grandchildren and was given such a hard time she’s never been back.”
He continued: “People come here because they know they’ll get away with it. It’s gay men, straight couples, groups, men on their own; you name it, it happens here.
“Providing them with condoms only encourages them. I don’t see the sense in it. Surely if they don’t put them there, they’re less likely to come back.”
The Brunswick Centre’s chief officer, John McKernaghan, argued that the charity was simply trying to encourage safe sex in a place where sexual activity was already occurring.
“We are just responding to what goes on there,” he said. “Our priority is that people practise safe sex. We are providing people with information and advice about preventing sexually transmitted infections and, particularly, HIV.”
Inspector Rachel Bairstow, from West Yorkshire Police, said the force was “aware” of concerns raised about sexual activity at the spot, but stressed that “it is not illegal for people to meet at sites such as the Lagoon.”
“Where behaviour may constitute a criminal offence, all reports will always be treated seriously and dealt with sensitively,” she said.
Engaging in sexual activity in public places is not a cirminal offence in England, but people may find themselves charged with public order offences if the police have evidence that the activity was witnessed by a third party, or there was a high likelihood of that occurring.
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