On Wednesday, the District of Columbia filed suit to shut down "Men's Parties," the underground male sex club operating at 1618 14th Street NW. The lawsuit's three defendants—David J. Butler, 1618 14th Street LLC, and the D.C. Wrestling Club—face charges of "opperation of a business without a basic business license" and "use of premises for business without appropriate certificate of occupancy."

The initial documents in the case offer a glimpse into the club's secretive activities, as well as additional information concerning the fatal accident that occurred inside the club on the morning of October 4th.

According to court documents, D.C. police responded to the report of "an unconscious person at the address" at 5:18 a.m. Detective Thomas Smith, a former Prostitution Enforcement Unit cop, was called to the scene to investigate a potential homicide. During the course of the investigation, Smith met Butler, "who identified himself as the President of a private club, doing business as the D.C. Wrestling Club."

Butler told Smith that he hosts parties where "men come into the premises, make a donation, and socialize." By the time Smith entered the property, Butler was accompanied by "more than twenty patrons and staff." Three other staff members identified themselves to Smith, according to documents: Jerome Goodman, Juan Adams, and Ralph 'Jay' Rushing.

According to Smith's affidavit, the activities of the club were obvious: "Strewn throughout the entire location are used condoms, empty condom wrappers, paper towels, cloth towels and other indicia of frequent, non-discrete sexual behavior." What, no snacks?

The affidavit offered a full inventory of the club's amenities:

First Floor: "A lounge area immediately inside the front entrance" which includes "two sets of lockers" and couches. Also on the first floor, "separated by curtains, are three wooden stalls containg 'glory holes' used for sexual activity" The floor also contains a "powder room and a linen closet."

Second Floor: An additional "lounge area with several counches and a mounted television set" sits on the club's top floor. The second floor also yields a "kitchenette and full bathroom." Behind the lounge are "sexually-oriented materials" including a "sex swing, large wooden cross that permits an individual to be bound to the structure, and a bench." The second floor also includes a bedroom "reportedly belonging to Ralph 'Jay' Rushing," and another bench.

Basement: Two sets of stairs lead to this floor (the accident victim was found at the foot of one staircase). In the basement are"thirteen bed spaces separated by built-in wooden partitions and dark curtains," each containing a "mattress and trash can."

Anonymous public sex ain't as public—or anonymous—as it used to be. In the past ten years, private Internet hook-ups have all but eliminated the need for old-fashioned public toe-tapping meet-ups. In the meantime, some infamous incidents have helped raise awareness about the dangers of initiating anonymous public sex with the wrong guy—like an undercover cop.

But somewhere between the time that the Internet went mainstream and Craigslist took over the sex stuff—we're talking late-90s, early 2000s here—willing partners in search of anonymous sex began seeking out—and recording—their public meet-ups spots online.

The popularity of these online message boards—like Gay Universe's D.C. cruising spot locator—have come and gone. But in their wake, public sex locations (like restrooms), their corresponding sex codes (like winks), and their dangers (like leather-clad dudes who hang around suspiciously, pretending to "fix their glasses") have been recorded for posterity. What remains is an online history of glory holes past, present, and policed.

Alongside the clubs, porn shops, and public parks is one particularly refined category of anonymous sex meeting places: The District of Columbia's most prestigious universities. Delve into the online public sex histories of American, Catholic, Gallaudet, George Washington, and Georgetown, after the jump.

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY

LOCATION: Bender Library

This AU anonymous sex tipster called out Bender Library way back in 1999, suggesting partners meet in the library's 2nd floor bathroom, and then "hook up elsewhere."

"Be sure to check messages in stall...only one has door," he writes. "Wait in study room across from bathroom for guys to go in."

Two years later, another poster took issue with the lewd characterization of AU's main study space, writing: "PLEASE DELETE: WRONG LISTING." Was an AU supporter attempting to clear Bender's name through non-police avenues? Or had the original poster simply been mistaken?

—

THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA

LOCATION: Somewhere, anywhere.

Though the Catholic University of America has popped up frequently on Gay Universe's D.C. cruising message board—the school's Pangborn Hall is a notable suggested locale—the only link that remains unbroken is this coed's cry for help: "Can anyone help a horny college kid out.. Im 6'-3' 230 Short hair average build tight ass... Im looking for a dick to suck and maybe even fuck.. would love to swallow your load." This guy's not looking for public sex—just any sex. Given Catholic's reputation for hush-hush heterosexual encounters, it's no surprise that one desperate undergrad would turn first to anonymous sex venue to locate a partner.

—

GALLAUDET UNIVERSITY

LOCATION: Gallaudet University Library

Sex tipsters are divided as to whether Gallaudet's anonymous sex scene is totally dead—or just quiet enough to encourage discrete hook-ups. "The bathroom is almost always empty! You can do it in there," writes one poster. Another disagrees: "No action here at all. This listing should be removed."

The library sex scene may not be very active on campus, but it's still managed to stir up some anonymous sex bigotry. "Gallaudet is a deaf college and some deaf guys are hot!" one poster suggests. Another is bothered by a different kind of diversity: "Too many colored guys," he writes.

—

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

LOCATION: Lauinger Library

One poster listed this Jesuit institution's humanities, social sciences, and business library as a prime D.C. cruising spot, but don't expect to find Georgetown's anonymous sex history detailed in its stacks: Nowadays, the Gay Universe page listing is completely blank

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THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

LOCATION: Bell Hall; Corcoran Hall

Back in 2000, GWU's Bell Hall was bumping. "THe 4th floor men's room(across from the Biology Department is hot," one sex-seeker wrote. Chimed in another: "As stated, this place is hot. Weekdays from 5pm, and weekends all day!" But be December of that year, the spot was played out. "I am a grad student at GWU," the final poster divulged. "Seen so many arrest that I believe is my duty to alert you guys. Not worth the risk."

The campus' Corcoran Hall, too, has seen safer anonymous sex days. In 2000, the 1st floor Men's bathroom, "across from faculty office," was the place to be. "Loud door makes time for recovery. Lots of hot GW studs await at both the urinal, and the stalls!" one tipster wrote. "Hot! hot! hot! anytime of day," another added. But by 2002, the place was being frequented by disengenuous sex-seekers "WATCH FOR UNDERCOVER COPS!!!!! ESPECIALLY ON THE WEEKENDS. I DON'T GO THERE ANY MORE, I'VE SEEN TO MANY MEN GET ARRESTED. IT'S NOT WORTH IT," one wrote.

One poster suggested that the sting operation was the work of one leather-wearing faker. "Their is a guy who hangs around this place that always wears a black leather jacket and pretends to fix his glases. He is lean and has slicked back black hair. Watch out for this guy," he wrote. "He is an under-cover cop. He reports what he sees to the campus police. he is not there all the time, but if you see him, leave right away."

—

CONTINUING EDUCATION:

LOCATION: Martin Luther King Jr. Library

"Seen a lot of jacking off at the stalls here and some under the stall activity," one tipster writes. Another gets a little more specific: "There is a bi guy 17-19 who usually wears a hat, who can suck dick good. when you see him, just wink or grab urself (or both) and follow him then he'll take care of you. he likes clean young hung thug types. if ur white or blk, you better dress gangsta and be hung. hes usually there monday, wednesday and friday in the evening after 3p." Wow. That guy sure had a lot of information for a guy who's certainly not the 17-to-19-year-old bisexual guy, didn't he?

Photo by NCinDC

Seeing as June is Glory Hole Month, I thought I'd offer up some Sexist musical stylings of the more consensual variety. Today, I give you: The Only Glory Hole Jam I Could Find.

It turns out there aren't too many popular songs dedicated to anonymous sex through holes. For the most part, the closest thing I could find was this parody lyric sheet offering a rest-stop twist to Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days." If anyone out there is familiar with some more serious Glory Hole works, please let me know.

George Michael, of course, has got us covered:

Glory Hole Anthem: George Michael's "Outside"

Relevant Lyrics:

I think I m done with the sofa
I think I m done with the hall
I think I'm done with the kitchen table, baby

Let's go outside
In the sunshine
I know you want to, but you can't say yes
Let's go outside
In the moonshine
Take me to the places that I love best

Why It's So Hole-y: Released in 1998, "Outside" is half pride anthem, half PR coup. The track is Michael's official coming out song—as both a gay man and a frequenter of anonymous restroom sex. Six months prior to releasing the track, Michael was arrested by an undercover cop in a Los Angeles restroom for "engaging in a lewd act." Michael characterized the encounter thusly: "I'll show you mine, you show me yours, and then when you show me yours, I'm going to nick you."

Some have linked the music video's depictions of disco-urinals and kissing male cops to the incident; I don't know, I think it's probably just a coincidence. Anyway, the video prompted the undercover LAPD officer Marcelo Rodriguez to blow his anonymous sex cover and sue Michael for $10 million, because he is a big baby.

Craigslist's adult-services ads may now be scrubbed of unlawfullness and pornography, but the Web site's notoriously dirty personals section is still allowed to run free of administrative oversight. That's not to say its sex seekers are lacking in standards.

In "The Glory Hole is OPEN," the proprietor of a private anonymous sex hole writes:

"I've got a really cool glory hole set up at my place. It's a real glory hole, not a sheet."

Glory holes, traditionally holes carved in public wall spaces for convenient anonymous sex, used to be the sort of sturdy, steel-plated, duct-taped openings you could really stick your dick through (above, in a California rest stop). Now dudes are draping sheets with holes in them over themselves in their Virginia apartments and calling them glory holes? There's nothing glorious about that, friends.

I e-mailed the poster above to see if he's seen how bad it's become—if he's ever been summoned to a purported glory hole, only to find a fucking sheet with a hole in it. He didn't reply. At least glory holers are still polite enough to remain discrete.

Photo by luxpacis

And it's about goddamned time. I can't tell you how many months I've spent not obsessively blogging about glory holes in the Washington, D.C. area. Actually, I can tell you: It's been exactly 288 months* now that I have not been excessively blogging about glory holes in the Washington, D.C. area. Well, I'm not getting any younger, and D.C. isn't getting any more anonymous blow jobs through public rest area doors, so this June, it's time to sit back, relax, and allow me take you on a tour of D.C.'s finest glory holes, past and present.

"Ikea Glory Hole" by GorillaSushi