"The breastplate of righteousness": twenty-five years after Laud Humphreys' Tearoom Trade: impersonal sex in public places.

Twenty-five years ago, in January 1970, Laud Humphreys' Tearoom Trade was published. It generated much controversy, yet went on to win the C. Wright Mills Award of the Society for the Study of Social Problems. Today, many remember and debate its methodology and ethical issues while often overlooking its important findings and its early contributions to the emerging field of gay studies. Humphreys' findings are reviewed and commemorated and his work is assessed in light of recent studies on sex in public places.