I miss how when you were in a new town, you'd use the Damron guide to locate the gay bars. The bars themselves were usually camouflaged. They rarely had any windows, so we patrons could feel we had our privacy. All of the men there had similar reasons for being there and we understood that. There were no straight tourists and certainly never hoards of straight women having bachelorette parties, acting like they owned the place because they were heterosexual and were women.
I miss talking in code when in public, or when talking with someone you wanted to cruise, but weren't sure about, dropping hairpins.
I miss being afraid to go into a Lesbian venue alone, for fear you'd be taken as a straight guy on the prowl.
I miss having people at least act surprised to find out you're gay. (On the other hand, I don't miss the "oh, I knew it!" reactions)
I miss understanding things going on around you that straight people didn't understand. (Like the guy crawling out of the bushes at the park.)
I know you have to be an eldergay to know what it was like. So what. No one has yet been able to escape aging (well, other than Paul Rudd). But anyone have anything else they kind of liked about the bad old days?
Oh, and I miss not being old.