The men's restroom of Stuzin Hall on UF's campus is a top spot for gay "cruising" in Gainesville, according to a Web site that lists popular cruising locations.
Members of Squirt.org, who are identified by screen names to protect their identities, have posted more than 100 comments about Stuzin Hall to discuss experiences and to arrange meetings in the men's restrooms for sex.
All kinds of people participate in cruising in order to find same-sex partners for a "one-night stand," said Evan Lauteria, an intern for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs at UF.
Cruising is a forum in which people can practice same-sex relations without having to identify themselves as a member of the LGBT community, said Lauteria, who is also the director of the Intercollegiate Pride Conference.
"There are members of the LGBT community who do cruise, but not everyone who cruises is a member of the LGBT community," he said.
Cruising could reinforce negative ideas that the LGBT community is promiscuous and not able to maintain relationships, Lauteria said.
Brett Scharf, a UF health science junior, said another UF student heard Stuzin Hall was an active cruising spot and decided to investigate it.
"My friend told a few of us about Stuzin as a ground for gay cruising," he said. "This guy wanted to find out if a Web site [Squirt.org] he came across contained factual information, so he went to the source to test it."
The student did not engage in sexual relations, but he signaled to someone in the men's restroom, received a response and then left, Scharf said.
Employees who work in the Stuzin Hall area say they doubt the rumors are true. UF graduate students Eean Crawford and Jessica Saul, who share an office a few doors down from a men's restroom in Stuzin Hall, said they haven't noticed suspicious behavior.
Capt. Jeff Holcomb, spokesman for the University Police Department, said gay cruising isn't a major problem on campus.
"In the past, we've had problems with situations like this, but it's been at least ten years or so since we've had complaints about it," Holcomb said.
Holcomb said there used to be concerns with several buildings, and officers were working undercover to find solicitors.
"We've actually made arrests this way," he said. The past problems with cruising occurred mostly in Matherly Hall, Holcomb said.
