San Francis tells gay bathho, "Wele back!" :: Bay Area Reporter

Contents:

• A S-OLD BAN ON GAY BATHHO WAS ABOUT TO BE LIFTED. THEN, A PANMIC.
• THE HISTORY OF AMERI'S GAY BATHHO AND “BATHHOE BETTY”
• GAY BATHHO WERE BARELY SURVIVG. AND THEN ME COVID-19.
• NEW YORK CY GAY SNAS AND BATHHO
• SAN FRANCIS TELLS GAY BATHHO, "WELE BACK!"
• GAY USA
• GAY BATHHOE EROS TO OPEN S NEW TENRLO LOTN FOR PRI WEEKEND
• EXPLORG THE REVIVAL OF GAY BATHHO NEW YORK CY AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNY
• TWO PANMIC YEARS LATER, GAY BATHHOE ZONG BACK ON THE DOCKET IN SF

A S-OLD BAN ON GAY BATHHO WAS ABOUT TO BE LIFTED. THEN, A PANMIC.

Bathho were once a major gatherg place for gay men San Francis and other ci. More than three s ago, the HIV/AIDS panmic closed gay bathho San Francis after the cy and unty clared them a “public nuisance” over alleged unsafe sex practic. “The rtrictns went to place 1984 as gay men were dyg and the public health muny was sperate to fd ways to slow the spread of the epimic.

While the ronavis panmic soon shut down most of the cy, Tuday’s cisn will allow gay bathho to beg returng to the cy — although perhaps not for a ltle while longer, after Gov. WHAT IS THE LEGACY OF PETE BUTTIGIEG’S HISTORIC RUN AS AMERICA’S FIRST GAY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE? GAY CONVERSION THERAPY OFFICIALLY BANNED IN VIRGINIA.

THE HISTORY OF AMERI'S GAY BATHHO AND “BATHHOE BETTY”

Amerin gay bathho reached their peak the 1970s. As homosexualy was far more taboo those days, the bathho also provid a discrete settg.

Many closeted gay men relied on bathho and cisg areas to get their kicks. But what purpose do gay bathho serve today? And why do Europe have a much better gay bathhoe scene than Ameri?

GAY BATHHO WERE BARELY SURVIVG. AND THEN ME COVID-19.

In the early 1970s, at the height of Ameri’s gay bathhoe scene, Bette Midler and Barry Manilow took to the stage at the Contental Baths.

NEW YORK CY GAY SNAS AND BATHHO

Barry Manilow would go on to bee a huge star, but he wouldn’t e out as gay until 2017. Their reers were born New York’s gay bathho. ” It was the dawn of the gay liberatn movement and gay Amerins were emergg om the shadows.

SAN FRANCIS TELLS GAY BATHHO, "WELE BACK!"

Bette Midler’s performanc of "You’ve Got To Have Friends" at the Contental Baths reprents a semal moment gay culture. It was a high mp celebratn; very gay, very New Yawwk and more than a ltle subversive.

The peak of the gay bathhoe scene. But by the mid-20th-century, Ameri’s bathho were largely equented by gay men. Inevably, the bathho uld be risky plac to look for actn when homosexualy was still crimalized.

GAY USA

By the 1970s, wh the sexual revolutn and the aftermath of the Stonewall Uprisg, gay bathho were actn-packed - so to speak! When Bette Midler was still performg at the bathho, they were packed wh gay men. As HIV/AIDS ripped through Ameri’s var gay scen, the bathho beme targets.

In Europe, the gay bathho didn’t face the same legal challeng so they remaed open, although a dimished ndn.

Ameri’s gay bathhoe scene never really revered om the crackdown the 1980s. That’s why major European ci often have superr gay bathho. There are still gay bathho Ameri of varyg qualy.

GAY BATHHOE EROS TO OPEN S NEW TENRLO LOTN FOR PRI WEEKEND

To the untraed eye, gay bathho like Steamworks are mere ns of iquy, where taps on the bathroom floor, a lgerg glance, or a door ajar says much more than you’d expect; but to the iated and the experienced, they are ed that, but also so much more.

EXPLORG THE REVIVAL OF GAY BATHHO NEW YORK CY AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNY

Supreme Court cisn strikg down homophobic anti-sodomy laws have certaly ma safer and actually legal to seek out same-sex hookups. But even still, bathho have historilly provid a certa amount of safety and ease to the gay male muny that n’t be nied.

“For gay men particular, bathho were about risk rctn, ” Wasd says. Like many explicly queer spac, bathho were equently the target of homophobic vice raids the 1960s and 70s. While gay sex was an obv and signifint part of bathho, the greater nversatn about them has largely ignored the civic good also unrtaken at the spac.

Marks Baths New York Cy and the League of Women Voters held a registratn drive at the now-shuttered gay bathhoe.

TWO PANMIC YEARS LATER, GAY BATHHOE ZONG BACK ON THE DOCKET IN SF

Emjay Rawls, who worked at Steamworks om November 2015 to October 2018 and lls the bt job she’s ever had, says that the bathhoe often sponsors events the muny at popular gay bars Boystown, cludg Hydrate, Rose’s Tavern, and Sitrack. Lol gay historian Owen Keehnen, who -wrote wh Rear publisher Tracy Baim a bgraphy of Chuck Renslow, says Man’s Country at one pot boasted a leather shop and a shop sellg wtern wear, alongsi s gym, whirlpool, glory hol, and mic hall. In an say on his webse, “Brotherhood of the Whe Towel, ” Keehnen also scribed how Man’s Country brought popular performers wh a gay cult followg, cludg Boy Gee, the Village People, and Dive.

But spe the historic good the spac have done, for some gay people like Michael Gifford, who loaned a salvaged Man’s Country glory hole to the Leather Archiv & Mm June 2019, bathho are some ways a microsm of some of the most ser problems facg the muny, namely chemsex—or sex unr the fluence of dgs—and blurred l of nsent. For the first time nearly four s operators of tradnal gay bathho n once aga seek perms to open San Francis. Those regulatns, when put to effect, rulted a facto ban on gay bathho San Francis, leavg rints to have to travel to such bs Berkeley and San Jose.

Due to the COVID-19 panmic, the lone gay bathhoe left the Bay Area is Steamworks the East Bay and remas closed bee of the health crisis.