Minneapolis repeals historic AIDS-era ban on adult bathhouses
Two men in a sauna (Getty images, stock)
Minneapolis City Council has voted to repeal a 38-year-long ban on adult bathhouses in a win for LGBTQ+ rights. The council reversed the ban following a 9-2 vote that took place on 25 June.
Minneapolis originally closed all three adult bathhouses in the city during the AIDS crisis in 1988, hoping the closures would help to stop the disease from spreading, reported the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Until last week, the ban had been in place for almost four decades. Some council members and many LGBTQ+ advocates from the area have claimed that the prolonged ban was rooted in homophobia.
The only out LGBTQ+ member of the Minneapolis City Council, Jason Chavez, co-authored the two ordinances that led to the repeal. While addressing his fellow council members, he paid tribute to Brian Coyle, a former out gay member of the council who voted to pass the ban in 1988 and died of an AIDS-related illness three years later.
“Today is the first step and it will not be the last,” Chavez said. “And it is an important one. I believe if Brian Coyle was here with us today, with everything we know about public health, he would be standing with us proudly and me on this council so I would not feel alone taking this vote.”
Bathhouses can reopen when the repeal receives sign-off from Mayor Jacob Frey, who supports it. In the meantime, the council will begin work on regulations for operation of the reopened bathhouses.
Many LGBTQ+ advocates hope that the Minneapolis facilities will take a similar approach to those in San Francisco, which hold public health and safety at the forefront, according to the Star Tribune. SF bathhouses require things like condom availability, monitoring, specialised staff training, showers, and safe waste disposal.
Council member Elizabeth Schaffer, who represents the neighbourhood in which Minneapolis Pride takes place, was one of those who voted to keep the ban in place.
According to MPR News, she did not think the reopening of the bathhouses was a priority for the city. She also said that she had spoken to constituents who were against it, including a resident who worked for former senator Allan Spear, Minnesota’s first out LGBTQ+ senator.
She said: “My constituent has spent decades in this fight. He shared with me that many gay men in his own network either oppose the return of bathhouses or have real questions about whether this is the right path for a variety of reasons.”
Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.
