An underground group’s territorial control of a public rest stop rested on misidentification

Evidence

Ann Arbor News, Thursday, August 26, 1965. Interestingly enough, this situation was brought to the attention of officials because the colonizers were behaving as though the rest stops were home territory. Any lone males entering the rest stops were assumed to be fellow homosexuals and were approached as such. The complaint of one such misidentified male brought in the police. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 1174

Categorization

• SHARE: A narrow, archival anecdote — ideal for someone working on urban territoriality or gay public-space history.
• XREF: Illustrates the ‘home territory vs. public territory’ distinction from the chapter, and the failure modes of anonymity (misreading a stranger as an insider).