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At Miami Velvet he gets to act on his fantasy,
and indulge his desires. He explains this
to the young couple while exploring one
of the well-equipped mirrored playrooms
(the one that has a "sex chair,"
a crucifix of sorts with handles for bondage,
and a padded electronic box contraption
that generates industrial-strength vibrations
and sounds like a small lawn mower).
While south Florida
is not bubbling over with places like Miami
Velvet where men get to be "out"
as bisexuals, active bisexuals are building
a community and stepping out in their own
realm. Web sites such as Bicafe.com
become de facto town centers where various
postings for private social events, personals
and sex parties can be read. At Cupid's
Cabaret, a West Palm Beach strip club that
caters primarily to gay men, a bi-night
gets rocking every third Thursday of the
month with both male and female strippers
working the room simultaneously.
Regular fetish parties,
hosted by Fetish Factory, though primarily
hetero, blur the lines as far as sexuality
is concerned. At one recent party in a Boca
Raton nightclub, the emphasis was on creating
theatrical scenes. The fête was a
sex-lite exhibitionist parade of costumes
compared to Miami Velvet's towel-wrapped
Sunday party. With the exception of two
gay men that roamed the room in leather
with a leash and dog collar get-up, the
crowd, decked in all forms of latex, leather,
lingerie and high-heeled boots, seemed willing
to play in all directions.
"There are more
bisexual-behaving people [in South Florida]
than there are people who are willing to
identify as bisexuals," explains Shelly,
who along with her husband David leads a
bisexual support group in Fort Lauderdale.
The reason for the reluctance
to identify, she theorizes, is that by being
around people who embrace bisexuality, people
are forced to assess their own sexuality,
which oftentimes they are not comfortable
doing. In the swinger's lifestyle, she acknowledges,
bisexuality is not necessarily welcome,
especially among men.
But in south Florida
there is always an exception to any theorem.
At the Rooftop Inn,
an oceanside swingers hotel in Hollywood,
a cadre of bisexual couples and singles
often meets for Sunday cookouts at the rooftop
pool or for occasional three-day weekend
bisexual blow outs.
One main difference
between the Rooftop Inn and Miami Velvet
scene, though, is that members of the Rooftop
Inn party are not wearing white towels.
In fact, the majority of attendees are wearing
nothing but sunscreen, flip-flops and sunglasses.
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And
while both venues have separate play rooms
and lounge areas, the crowd at the Rooftop
Inn acts as if they are all part of a neighborhood,
though they actually come from three different
counties.
"We all know each
other from different parties," says
Chris, an active member of the Fort Lauderdale
support group. He walks around the rooftop,
going from the bar to the pool to his lounge
chair where he sits next to his wife of
12 years, Rachel.
Chris, a 37-year-old
computer technician, came out as a bisexual
about six years ago when he developed an
attraction to another man, one which he
did not act upon. Rachel, who identifies
as straight, appears on Chris's personal
profile on Bicafe.com and supports her husband's
sexuality.
For Chris, attending
bi events such as the rooftop party or Cupid's
bisexual strip nights serve a dual purpose.
"I get to be slutty,"
he laughs. "And I get a great sense
of freedom.
The freedom, in turn,
has helped him to establish a strong sense
of self. Once an introvert and self-described
outsider, Chris mingles at the rooftop party
like a bon vivant. He is comfortable being
naked around the others, and he jovially
engages with newly acquainted couples and
trios.
And though much of the
spirit of the rooftop party feels like a
backyard cookout, make no mistake, there
is serious action going on. One need only
look at the pool to see the connections,
sexual and otherwise, forming. Arrangements
of men and women huddle in the shallow end
of the pool. Introductions are made over
drinks and offers are extended to rub suntan
lotion between shoulder blades.
For more heated encounters
the group rents a communal hotel room on
the second level where people play in consensual
formations. Bernard, a medical student,
walks into the open hotel room to play with
a trio that includes a woman and two other
men.
"Everybody can
do what they want to here," he says.
"I like to play and be friendly. There
are no hang ups here, and everybody pretty
much knows each other."
Bernard is single. According
to his online profile he identifies as being
one degree toward the gay side of the Kinsey
scale and is looking for fun-loving couples
and men to meet and play with. At the rooftop
party he is among the most outgoing minglers
in the crowd.
"There's no need
to mask your desires," he says. "We
can be men, and bisexual men at that, who
can share our lives with others, whether
we be single or in committed relationships.
I'm here to have fun."
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