Queer Ancestor Spotlight: The Fuck Tree

Queer Ancestor Spotlight
Written By White Rose Witching

Technically, the Fuck Tree is not an ancestor in the way I usually use that word because it is still living. For this post, however, it is serving as a symbol of “gay cruising”, something that innumerable of our Queer Ancestors have engaged in to find release and community.

The Fuck Tree, West Heath, Hampstead, May 2025

The Fuck Tree is sessile oak tree on Hampstead Heath in north London. It is located in an area known for gay cruising going as far back as the Victorian era. It’s popularity is due to the shape of its trunk, which is ideal for having sex. In 2023, London-based reporter Bron Maher wrote about the Fuck Tree for The Fence. In this piece he described the tree as:

“The roots of the tree splay out like a hand clutching a bed sheet; the trunk is prone and abdomen-high, its belly flat to the Heath floor before making an abrupt 45-degree lift toward the canopy. This tree, I tell you, has a slutty little back arch"

The Fuck Tree was referenced in a 2025 ACT UP protest pushing back against local residents pushing for an end to cruising on Hampstead Heath. One protester was pictured on social media holding a sign which read “take me to the fuck tree”.

This tree is a symbol of the art of “cruising”, something which has long been a part of queer culture - Hampstead Heath, the home of the Fuck Tree, has been a known cruising spot for 200 years. The term “cruising” likely derives from the Dutch word kruisen. The term is considered a type of gay slang used as a protective sociolinguistic shield. Most other gay men would know the sexual context of the word while heterosexual folks would intuit its more common meaning. Following the broad decriminalization of homosexual behavior in English-speaking countries beginning in the end of the 20th century the sexual meaning of “cruising” has largely entered the mainstream. While historically it has been associated with gay and bisexual men, it has also played a role in the development of lesbian communities. Cruising was an important component of the lesbian leather scene in the 1980s.

Cruising is an interesting artifact of gay or queer culture. If there is a society in which same-sex attraction has been marginalized and legally dangerous to engage in you can likely assume that some form of cruising occurred. Just because the priests or the magistrates condemn consensual sex between folks doesn’t mean they won’t find ways to engage in it - even if it involves subtle visual choreography in a public restroom.

In the 1970s an American sociologist and Episcopal priest known as Laud Humphreys published his research into cruising in the book Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Spaces. This research, which still raises ethical questions, found that cruising was frequently used by men who did not necessarily identify as gay or bisexual, are closeted, were frequently straight-passing and had families. Because these men did not interact with broader queer culture cruising was their only way of meeting other men for sex.

Cruising has always carried an element of risk. The anonymity of it opens those who engage in it to possible violence and exposure to STIs. Jack Holden’s play Cruise captures the impact the AIDS crisis had on queer culture in the 1980s, including the practice of seeking anonymous sex in public spaces. Cruising also carries legal dangers in the form of police raids and stings. This is especially dangerous to the type of folks profiled in Humphreys work who are closeted who navigate the threat of being publicly outed. Depending on the era or place in which it occurred, being publicly outed could lead to loss of employment, housing, and family.

In the contemporary era many consider cruising to be a “lost art” given the prevalence of apps like Grindr or Sniffies.

White Rose Witching
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New Moon Ritual: November 2025