The protective barrier once provided by the term "cruising" as a "code word" has therefore largely broken down and, arguably, become increasingly irrelevant.
[7] In the United States, the term "cruising" was used predominantly to denote exclusively homosexual behavior, but in Australia and the United Kingdom it is used by both homosexuals and heterosexuals to describe their own behavior, as witnessed in the common male heterosexual derivative phrase "cruising for chicks".
In Poland, the term pikieta (plural: pikiety; translated as "picket" or "piquet") is used to describe a similar practice.
In the early 21st century, pickets became less popular due to the development of a network of premises for sexual minorities, such as bars, discos and saunas, as well as communication via the Internet.
[15] Cruising features prominently in the storylines of Joe Pitt and Louis Ironson in Tony Kushner's 1991 play about the AIDS crisis in New York City, Angels in America, as well as its 2003 miniseries adaptation by HBO.