That's unusual in the gay world, where people usually don't speak to each other after they break up.'Įveryone is speaking to Michael Hardwick these days, the new symbol of gay rights denied in a straight world - even though he lost his fight over Georgia's sodomy law after taking it all the way to the Supreme Court. 'We were together 18 months, then became best friends. 'I was 18 when we met,' says his ex, elbows on the bar. They like his style, the turquoise watch band matching the tiny lapis in his earlobe. Soon customers will be pushing through the door, searching out love in the cool darkness, hiding out from the heat and the hate, and if they are regulars he will have their drinks waiting. 1 here, where he tends bar and sets a mean hors d'oeuvre tray for happy hour. He's tall and trim, like some GQ model in jeans and bright Perry Ellis shirt, unbuttoned to the waist, as he sweeps from behind the bar to hug an ex-lover who has dropped in to say hello.