Now, in the aftermath of the Versace murder, South Beach is not a very pretty place. For the city, it will be tough to regain, at least for the moment, the glamorous, carefree image that has made it a boomtown for hoteliers, restaurateurs, retailers and tourists of all nationalities and sexual persuasions. The slaying is taking a particular toll on the gay community. Not only has it lost a good, decent man; it must again deal with the ugly stereotype, straight out of the 1980 film ““Cruising,’’ of the sick, self-loathing homosexual preying on his own kind. The crime has also cast a spotlight on what is, for most Americans, usually a shadowy phenomenon: the gay world and its subcultures, from jet-setting fashion designers to rich men in the closet to hustlers on the make. Versace and Cunanan came from very different provinces of this often mysterious ethos, but to understand what happened in South Beach, you have to understand the homosexual worlds in which they moved.
For Cunanan, Versace may have represented the ultimate A-gay, the nickname given to the homosexual elite that has money, power and privilege. At the top of this group, forming a sort of uber-A-gay society, are fabulously wealthy and famously ““out’’ moguls, such as David Geffen. To an outsider, like an Andrew Cunanan, the lifestyle represented by these and other less well-known A-gays is like something out of a Jackie Collins novel: a constant whirl of opening nights at the opera, top tables at the latest Brian McNally restaurant, parties where you’re likely to bump into Madonna or Christie Turlington or Isabella Rossellini or even Gianni Versace. It’s hitching a ride on Geffen’s Gulfstream, weekending in the Hamptons, Concordeing to London or Paris.
It’s the gay American Dream, and from all accounts, it appears that Cunanan wanted a shot at it. But despite his grandiose A-gay aspirations, he never really reached the very highest circles of the uber-A-gay scene - at least for any period of time. He seems to have been much more successful with another level of A-gay society: older, wealthy, professional men who reportedly gave him money and a place to live in exchange for companionship and sexual favors. Part of a generation that missed out on the gay- liberation movement, many of these kinds of men are closeted; some of them are married. Unable to carry on open homosexual relationships, members of this closeted culture are therefore especially susceptible to the charm and manipulation of a handsome young hustler.
The fact that this group is still so vulnerable is one of the reasons that prostitution is a big business in the gay world. Gay publications, such as the national edition of the Advocate Classified as well as numerous weekly giveaway papers like HX and Next in New York, are full of ads for hunky masseurs and well-endowed escorts, complete with vital statistics, beeper numbers and sometimes photos. Prices are usually not published, but the going rate for a discreet, in- demand hustler is anywhere from $200 to $350 an hour. They also work through escort services, and many now advertise through gay-sex phone lines and on the Internet.
Cunanan, however, appears to have been more of a courtesan than a working boy. Though he may have lived off older, often closeted gays, he hung out and partied with an altogether different segment of gay society: the young, hip, up-for-anything set that reveres Versace, works out at the trendiest gym, dances bare-chested at the hottest club, knows all about (and sometimes takes) the latest designer drugs, such as ecstasy, special-K or crystal meth. Called Chelsea Queens in New York (after the city’s heavily gay West Side neighborhood) and West Hollywood Gym Boys in L.A., these gays on the go frequently fly off to Palm Springs, San Francisco, Fire Island Pines, Manhattan, Aspen, South Beach or even Mykonos to participate in the gay world’s current most popular ritual: the Circuit. This round of megaparties - usually big-ticket events that benefit an AIDS-related charity - highlight the gay social season; several of the biggest take place in Miami. On Thanksgiving weekend, for example, Miami’s White Party takes over Vizcaya, the lavish palazzo built in 1916 by eccentric industrialist James Deering. Covered by The New York Times Style section, last year’s event drew a sold-out crowd of revelers dressed in flamboyant white costumes.
The Circuit, however, is controversial in the gay community. Many feel that it promotes a cliched image of gay men as shallow, out-of-control party animals who only pursue a life of casual sex, drugs and house music. There is, to be sure, some truth in this portrait - but a larger reality is that most homosexuals in America have never been to a Circuit bash and don’t care about what the A-list is up to. They have much more pressing, albeit less glamorous, concerns: keeping their jobs, raising their kids and fighting for dignity in a country where gay-bashing and anti-gay bias are still very powerful forces. Essentially what they want is not the fantasy version of the American Dream that seems to have obsessed Cunanan, but a crack at the real thing. Part of the tragedy of what happened last week in South Beach is that those dreams have been dealt a severe blow.
