The gAyBC’s With Bobby Beyond: A Is For Amyl Nitrate

August 25, 2023
BOBBY BEYOND

A is not only the first letter of the alphabet, it’s also the beginning of the gAyBC’s! A could be many things, but it wouldn’t feel right to start the series off with none other than Amyl Nitrate. In other words, poppers! From your nightstand to all the way back in the 1970s queer clubs, it’s been inside the little brown bottle you sniff before feeling… well, you know! In modern times, it’s known as every bottom’s best friend for prying open their bussy like the jaws of life. However, it wasn’t originally intended for your hole, and actually had medicinal uses. The history of how we got the chemicals inside iconic brands such as Double Scorpio, Rush, Jungle Juice, and Blue Boy might surprise you. So sit back and take a sniff, because A is for Amyl Nitrate.

Picture it, France, 1844. French chemist Antoine Jérôme Balard synthesized Amyl Nitrate for the first time, and in the same year, Scottish physician Sir Thomas Lauder Brunton was born. Then in 1867, Sir Thomas documented the first clinical use of the drug after having patients experiencing pectoral angina inhale it. Brunton deduced that after inhalation, the drug would dilate the patient’s coronary artery, thus relieving their pain and discomfort as it improves blood flow to the heart. And the gag of it all? Amyl Nitrate was originally encased in glass mesh “pearls” that one would squeeze till they pop between their fingers. After it was released from the pearl, one would inhale it through silk that covered the capsule. The popping noise gave them the nickname “poppers”, and a star was born!

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Let’s cross the pond and fast forward to the United States in 1937, where Amyl Nitrate was marketed as a prescription drug. However, in 1960 the prescription requirement was removed by the FDA for being generally safe. But then it was reinstated in 1969, once they realized that people were starting to use it for recreational use. They then noticed that the number of Butyl Nitrate brands, Amyl Nitrate’s chemical cousin, had skyrocketed. By 1988, Butyl Nitrates were banned per the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988. This forced the market to get creative. However, when one hole closes, another one opens!

Butyl Nitrates may be out, but Alkyl Nitrates were not. Isopropyl Nitrate became the overnight it girl, and she is still out there today! In the US, it was outlawed for any recreational use in the Crime Control Act of 1990, but not for commercial purposes. This is why some stores still make you ask for it as “VHS cleaner” or “nail polish remover”. This is just proof for bottoms everywhere that when there is a will, there is a way!

Back in Europe, a similar story was developing when, in 2007, the EU banned the sale of all Alkyl Nitrates as “drugs”, but sex-shop owners fought back with litigation. Eventually, the prohibition was struck down by the Council of State due to the government's failure to prove why there needed to be prohibition in the first place. However, they were at it again with an even more restrictive ban on the import, production, and sale of all poppers slated to go into effect on April 1, 2016. But in a surprise twist of events, conservative Member of Parliament Ben Howlett opposed the ban. And to everyone’s shock, follow conservative MP Crispin Blunt declared his opposition as well as his own use of poppers! In January of 2016, the ban was defeated.

So it’s looking like poppers are the undefeated champ, able to take on anyone who tries to attack it. That’s when suddenly a new opponent, the Therapeutic Goods Administration in Australia, motioned to have poppers rescheduled into the same drug category as heroin and cocaine. Imagine thinking that sniffing poppers was as bad as shooting up smack? Well, Australia was unconvinced, and in June of 2019, they decided not to ban them! All around the world, holes were grateful for God’s gift of poppers.

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In modern queer culture, poppers are everywhere. Sold at sex shops, adult bookstores, queer boutiques, and even some nightclubs. They’ve made their way into songs like “Rush” by Troye Sivan with innuendos to bottoming and poppers. A new brand called Double Scorpio brought them even further into the spotlight by creating visually stimulating aesthetics with their shiny bottles, followed by easily recognizable merch. Poppers aren’t going anywhere, and remain a powerful symbol of queer culture. So next time you find yourself peeling off the protective cellophane of a shiny new bottle, remember how many battles that little bottle fought just to be in your hands.