Is Thanksgiving Canceled This Year?

[+ Lucky]

1 hour ago, pubic_assistance said:

There's always a big uptick in the number of guys on Grindr looking for PNP on Thanksgiving weekend

 

Another reliable guess (statistic?) from our friend. Why don't I believe it?

[pubic_assistance]

8 minutes ago, Lucky said:

Another reliable guess (statistic?) from our friend. Why don't I believe it?

My observation over many years, not quoting a scientific exploration of the phenomenon.

You don't need to "believe" everything someone says. But that also doesn't make it untrue simply because you prefer to not accept it.

Just sharing something that I've witnessed and it came up this past week again when a young friend of mine told me about his weekend.  Not American so not celebrating with family. He was instead looking for some fun on Grindr. He told me every hot guy he hit up was doing drugs. (My friend does not). I was telling him that I've seen the same pattern over many years on the various hook up sites..Grindr, Manhunt, Gay.com, Adam4Adam etc.

Before I was married with kids, I'd often use the long weekend for some fun myself. Always a rush of activity online but unfortunately way too many guys who had been doing meth all weekend and were so tweaked-out they couldn't get it up.

 

[Rudynate]

On 11/3/2023 at 11:02 AM, soloyo215 said:

Thanksgiving became a big even among my gay friends. I was unable to celebrate it until I was an adult, and I wanted to start my own tradition, so I came up with the idea of celebrating it (that was in 1993). I thought that my friends might not be interested in joining us because they had their own families. Turned out I was wrong. They saw it as the perfect excuse to leave their homophobic and unsupportive families early and join us. That was the first time I had a Thanksgiving dinner. It became a tradition and we did it for years. About a decade later or so it became geographically difficult, and some had now their own partners and in-laws who they wanted to celebrate with, so we ended the tradition. We have been friends since the early 90s, and Thanksgiving always gives me those fond memories.

I was surprised to find out that both Christmas and Thanksgiving had so many people stressed over meeting with family when they didn't want to for many reasons. I've heard many of those stories. To me, celebrating them is a great thing.

Years ago, gay bars used to be very busy on Thanksgiving and Christmas and the bar would usually serve a holiday meal for patrons.  Back then, there were so many guys who were alienated from their families and spending holidays alone that the bar owners stepped in to fill the void. 

[RadioRob]

Also the reason it did not show is because I have to manually remember to add holidays that don’t have a “fixed” day. The IPB calendar does not have a concept of “1st Tuesday of the Month” for recurring events. So events with a fixed day (Oct 31st, Dec 25th, Jan 1st, Feb 14th) are easy to “set and forget” but ones that can happen on different days are dependent on me remembering to go in each year and adding it. Unfortunately my mind is not quite what it was earlier in life!

So nothing sinister… just a faulty brain. 

[BSR]

14 hours ago, Lucky said:

Another reliable guess (statistic?) from our friend. Why don't I believe it?

I hope we will always be able to share personal observations on this forum.  Some are interesting, some amusing, and yes, occasionally some are questionable.  But I like hearing anecdotes, like gay bars back in the day serving holiday meals.

Questioning personal observations is fair game, of course.  But there's a nice way to do it, and a nasty way.  Right, @Marc in Calif?

[Marc in Calif]

17 hours ago, pubic_assistance said:

Just sharing something that I've witnessed... 

There's always a big uptick in the number of guys on Grindr looking for PNP on Thanksgiving weekend.

That's called a personal anecdote. Saying "there's always" doesn't make it true for everyone else.

You're simply trying to generalize and extrapolate your personal observations to actual reality. But the real world doesn't work like that! 😎

Maybe write it like this next time?

Whenever I'm on Grindr on Thanksgiving weekend, I always notice a big uptick in the number of guys looking for PNP -- compared to all the other weekends I'm on Grindr.

 

Edited November 29, 2023 by Marc in Calif

[mike carey]

Or perhaps we should assume that those general observations and anecdata are opinions or generalisations unless there is a specific claim that they are fact. We shouldn't need a disclaimer to tell us they are not statements of universal certifiable truths.

[Becket]

On 11/23/2023 at 8:44 PM, samhexum said:

As it turns out, despite canceling her celebrations after guests changed their RSVPs to “no,”

There is a special place in Gay Hell for anyone who's a no show at Martha Stewart's table.

[Rudynate]

On 11/28/2023 at 8:32 AM, Rudynate said:

Years ago, gay bars used to be very busy on Thanksgiving and Christmas and the bar would usually serve a holiday meal for patrons.  Back then, there were so many guys who were alienated from their families and spending holidays alone that the bar owners stepped in to fill the void. 

That doesn't mean they were hanging out feeling sorry for themselves- I have been to more than one holiday celebration in a gay bar and they were always a blast - you'd better have cleared your calendar for the day after. 

[pubic_assistance]

Overly Happy Holidays Can Be Risky For Gay Men | La Fuente Hollywood Treatment Center

WWW.LAFUENTEHOLLYWOOD.COM

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We all know that parties come hand-in-hand with the holiday season. This for the most part can be a good thing...

 

[+ José Soplanucas]

I have seen a lot of research stating that gay and bisexual men show higher rates of drug abuse compared to the general population. Duh.

When you dive into the research methodology, they usually take samples from gay and bisexual men attending circuit parties. Then, they compare that to the general population, but I have not found a research diving into drug use among straight men attending circuit parties.

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

I really don't care for the cooking in one family's household.  When they host a holiday meal, I offer to stop by for drinks and conversation before their meal and then head to a gay bar afterwards.  I always have a good time.  There are several gay bars here that still put out food on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

If either my family or I am out of town for a holiday, I usually celebrate by hiring an escort for that morning.  I have fond memories of several Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day escorts.

[pubic_assistance]

On 11/30/2023 at 3:39 PM, Vegas_Millennial said:

There are several gay bars here that still put out food on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Do a lot of men go to gay bars on holidays instead of spending the day with their family?

Are the gay bars busy on Thanksgiving and Christmas?

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

1 hour ago, pubic_assistance said:

Do a lot of men go to gay bars on holidays instead of spending the day with their family?

Are the gay bars busy on Thanksgiving and Christmas?

In my experience, the gay bars are not busy on Thanksgiving or Christmas.  But then again, I'm also not there at peak time after 9pm to compare.  If I visit a gay bar on those holidays, I would visit in late afternoon, and then the crowd is pretty typical for late afternoon hours.  (Here in Las Vegas, the gay bars are open 24/7).

[+ José Soplanucas]

I have lived geographically away from my family since my 20s. In my culture, Thanksgiving does not exist, but Christmas' and New Year's Eve are huge.

My plan, when I could not travel to be with y family (which was often, in my 20s I could not afford traveling), was always waiting until midnight to go to the bars and the disco. Before midnight, everyone was with their families if they could.