Op-Ed: Is Pale the New Tan?

For decades, gay men have been forerunners of fashion and style, trendsetters in every field of culture and lifestyle. What gay men do, mainstream follows. We take chances, push the limits and people tucked away in quiet burghs pick up on the buzz, sometimes light years later. So now that the veil has been lifted on the apparent evils of the fake and bake, will gay men lead the charge toward making it chic to be—gasp!—pale?

Since the dawn of time gay men have hit the electric beach to give our skin a golden hue, to make us seem as flawlessly beautiful as we think we are. But now that studies show hitting a tanning bed rank nearly as high as arsenic and smoking as a cancer-causing agent, will there be a drop off? Will tanning "spas" in gay ghettos around the world start shutting down for lack of patrons? It's hard to imagine a gay community without our year-round tan brethren, those who claim to have just gotten back from some exotic locale in February while donning the latestPrada wares despite having been out of work for two months (we all know it's about keeping up appearances, dah-ling).

If gays can't hit tanning beds, do we now have to resort to using spray-on tans? They might be safer than the ultraviolet rays seeping from the beds, but is a report highlighting the negative affects of sprays' chemicals lurking just around the corner? What then—will we have to constantly rub self-tanner creams all over our bodies? (Hmmm, could make for an interesting party theme, come to think of it.) Or will we all wake up and realize that being a little less bronze is actually ok? Think about it, with the lack of tanning, we might age without looking like an old leather briefcase.

Gays have always been risk takers. We will continue to do things that are counter to the mainstream (there's a reason we live an alternative lifestyle, right?!). But now that the news is out that tanning truly is bad for you, will you stop? Or does looking beautiful now trump living a long and healthy life?