Arf Meow

The world concepts and attitudes about homosexuality have changed significantly in recent decades. Most of society and the medical profession now view it as an acceptable alternate lifestyle; a biologically determined, permanent orientation, rather that learned, experiential, and often changeable choice. The concept of homosexuality as a permanent orientation is, however, without scientific validation; the notion is entirely politically grounded.

As the Klondike gold rush peaked in spring 1898, adventurers and gamblers rubbed shoulders with town-builders and gold-panners in Skagway, Alaska. The flow of riches lured confidence men, too - among them Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith (1860 - 98), who with an entourage of "bunco-men" conned and robbed the stampeders. Soapy, though, a common enough criminal, would go down in legend as the Robin Hood of Alaska, the "uncrowned king of Skagway", remembered for his charm and generosity, even for calming a lynch mob.