David Lundy, better known as Corey Longseeker, once heralded as “the most beautiful” hustler in San Francisco has died at age 43 on August 21, 2013. I first saw Corey back in the early 1990s. He had moved to the City from his home in Minnesota when he was only 19. He was extremely good-looking, but incredibly unpredictable. I was immediately attracted to him, only he already inhabited the core of a dark world that I had yet to even venture among the edges; I knew he was a prostitute. He had some very wealthy clients. I smugly saw myself as headily above him. For, I had wealthy boyfriends. In reality, we were no different.
Like many of us, who came to San Francisco seeking a place of refuge and safety among others of our own kind, Corey had a pretty abysmal childhood. His sexual dysfunction manifested itself fairly early on and the merciless taunting and revilement was not only at school, but also in his own home. By the time I came around, Corey was already a heavy meth user. I didn’t think much of it; I didn’t consider him a friend. After all, I was upscale and he was just a Polk Street hustler. We rarely crossed paths. By the late-90s, when I had descended into the hell of prostitution, my life had gone full circle and I became that which I loathed in Corey. I never heard of him again.
The reality of what happened to Corey is a tragedy of epic proportions that is sadly all too common in San Francisco. The boy who came to the City looking for acceptance, healing, and love ended up as a straggly haired homeless man on the same streets he once walked as a gay-sex star. In the late-90s, Corey was repeatedly arrested for drug possession, and then institutionalized with schizophrenia. Also, while in prison, he was diagnosed with HIV. Having nowhere else to go, once he was released, he returned to San Francisco and lived among the other homeless rejects of society in cheap motels and alleyways. I pray for the repose of his soul; because, he deserved better. Hopefully, others, from a similar background of doubt and loneliness, will not follow in his footsteps and think a bit longer about coming to San Francisco.