The Towleroad blog has a great post that reviss New York’s first rerd anti-gay raid on the Ariston Baths Manhattan 1903. And though I was never an aficnado of the Bathhoe scene, the gay history buff me cid to do some rearch and even I was a b surprised by the strong
Contents:
- DID CLOSG NEW YORK CY BATHHO THE 1980S STRIP DIGNY OM GAY MEN?
- A PEEK UNR THE TOWEL: INSI THE 500-YEAR HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO
- A BRIEF POLIL—AND PERSONAL—HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO
- THE HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO. 1984
- SF GAY HISTORY
- A S-OLD BAN ON GAY BATHHO WAS ABOUT TO BE LIFTED. THEN, A PANMIC.
- GALLERY: SAN FRANCIS GAY BATHHOE HISTORY, IN FLIERS [NSFW]
- GAY BATHHO WERE BARELY SURVIVG. AND THEN ME COVID-19.
- WH THE WALLS OF GAY BATHHOE LI A WORLD OF THEIR OWN
DID CLOSG NEW YORK CY BATHHO THE 1980S STRIP DIGNY OM GAY MEN?
To unrstand the eply felt antagonism around bathhoe closur, ’s helpful to unrstand the role the baths played the liv of gay men. * gay bathhouses 1980s *
An extraordary, glimpse to the pre-AIDS gay sexual culture, "The Fairoaks Baths" is an exhib of Polaroids taken by Frank Melleno durg the sprg and summer of 1978 at the Fairoaks Hotel, a San Francis bathhoe. There is no other llectn of photographs that so clearly visualiz this perd bathhoe imag and more will be on display at the Llie-Lohman Prce Street Project Space (tails below) and also clud are imag om the Fairoaks Pri Para float om that same Fairoaks Baths:Photographs by Frank MellenoPolaroids om a San Francis bathhoe 1978Llie-Lohman Mm of Gay and Lbian Art (Prce Street Project Space)127-B Prce StreetNew York, NY 10012July 12-13, Openg receptn July 11, 6-8 p. It lerally stood alone, at the tersectn of Oak and Steer streets, perched on a hill overlookg the lower Hay Valley district; an urban patch not yet gentrified by the cy's swellg ti of gay Boomers and some distance om the neighborhoods they typilly Fairoaks' existence was short-lived -- 1977 to 1979 -- but fondly relled by s patrons for a number of thgs.
Members of the groups were enuraged by the offer of a ee locker to spend the eveng and this helped foster a more faiar and timate atmosphere than was mon other gay bathho of the era. Many of those men, like a great number of Fairoaks patrons, are no longer alive -- taken by the plague of AIDS that would cimate the cy's gay populatn jt another few a strg of black pearls, San Francis's bathho adorned the cy wh a touch of louche glamour before they were officially closed October 1984.
A PEEK UNR THE TOWEL: INSI THE 500-YEAR HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO
Man's Country, Chigo's olst gay bathhoe, closed forever on New Year's Day 2018. Here's a last look si s hallowed halls. * gay bathhouses 1980s *
Freeman regnized the historil importance, rtored the imag and created the Fairoaks than a pictorial rerd of a bygone scene -- or even of passg strangers wh sticky feet -- the photographs open a door to a secret gay world of sexual enunter and sweet nocence the lik of which will never be seen aga.
At the Fairoaks he worked as a DJ, and receptnist, and was a proud member of the Fairoaks "fay crew" om s ArmsTwo guys towels talkg near the snack bar the mon area of the Pri #1The Fairoaks float at the 1978 Gay Pri Para San Francis was a flatbed tck rated wh furnure om the Fairoaks lounge. The hood ornament is wearg a Fairoaks T-shirt and straddlg a prott sign about the Briggs iative, which would have banned gay and "gay-sympathetic" teachers om classrooms California, and did not Pri #8Taken om the ont of the Fairoaks float for the 1978 Gay Pri Para, lookg ahead at the para and by-stanrs. Timothy Lyle, assistant profsor of English at Iona College (at left), and Stephen Engel, associate profsor of polics at Bat, prent rearch argug that the 1980s closure of New York Cy’s gay bathho was an act of “digny takg” om the gay muny.
A BRIEF POLIL—AND PERSONAL—HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO
In the mid-1980s, ntroversy emerged a number of Amerin ci over the rol gay bathho and sex clubs might play the spread of AIDS, and raisg safe-sex awarens. In 1984, San Francis beme the first cy where polil bat broke out over AIDS-related polici for bathho … * gay bathhouses 1980s *
Workg wh bath owners, anizatns such as the Coaln for Sexual Rponsibily and Gay Men’s Health Crisis unrtook substantial mpaigns to promote safer sex and to make remendatns, to be backed by spectns, for tnal, hygienic, and stctural improvements the bathho.
The gay muny’s effort to support the bathho, signed to balance health (and polil) imperativ wh sex-posivy and muny solidary, was aligned wh some official ristance to closg the baths, part on the grounds that closur would nstute excsive ernment terference.
THE HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO. 1984
Public policy regardg bathho has been cricized as beg based on polil expediency rather than on medil or social science. To affect that shortg, we clu here a brief history of gay bathho. The history of the baths is rarely told, but whenever is told necsarily refle … * gay bathhouses 1980s *
“The bathhoe closur perpetuated [a narrative of gay] culpabily, igned pretty ser divisns wh the gay and lbian muni, and produced wh gay men, I thk, a ep distst and even fear of ernment — and one another, to be hont.
Nstutnal matter, ” he said, the cisn still privileg those gay unns that are moled after heterosexual marriage, while ignorg “other kds of nnectn at the heart of a queer ethic of public sex. On the other si stood the gay bathhoe proprietors, San Francis AIDS Foundatn, the San Francis Human Rights Commissn, a handful of polis, the gay prs, and most — but certaly not all — of the gay muny.
I met a handsome Black man wh dreadlocks a gay bar lled The Fireplace on the edge of Dupont Circle, and after a few rounds of drks, we left to go have sex only to disver that neher of uld take the actn back to where we lived. So, by the late 1970s, you uld roll your ey at the opponents of gay sexual liberatn as you walked to the Roman Holiday Spa Los Angel; or the Nob Hill Theater San Francis; or Man’s Country Chigo; or the Olympic Baths Washgton, D.
SF GAY HISTORY
* gay bathhouses 1980s *
Here’s how the distorted story go: gay bathho, sex clubs, and porn theaters had no reemg social value and were purely an outgrowth of the immoral, dg-fueled, hedonistic liftyle of queer men, and closg the lewd dwellgs durg the AIDS crisis the 1980s was the pnt cisn.
Then when spurred to actn, a host of elected officials ed the public health crisis as a pretense to enact measur that had long been on their polil wish list—for stance, closg the gay bathho, sex clubs, and porn theaters, which was amed as a public health measure.
A S-OLD BAN ON GAY BATHHO WAS ABOUT TO BE LIFTED. THEN, A PANMIC.
After nearly 4 s, gay bathho are now able to apply for perms to open San Francis. In the mid-1980s, the cy’s health partment put * gay bathhouses 1980s *
I’ve raised this topic wh dozens of queer people across generatns, and a staggerg number nsir a matter of mon knowledge that shuttg down the gay bathho, sex clubs, and porn theaters was a necsary and effective policy unr the circumstanc. As public health workers argued at the time 1980s, keepg the gay bathhoe, sex clubs, and porn theaters open would provi them wh plac to te people about HIV and AIDS, to tt people for HIV and AIDS, and to offer people greater accs to medil treatment for HIV and AIDS.
My purpose unrsrg the value of gay bathho, sex clubs, and porn theaters and retracg the polil motivatns for closg so many of them down durg the AIDS crisis this say and my novel, My Government Means to Kill Me, isn’t simply an exercise explorg history. Certa officials San Francis's ernment, and members of s gay/lbian/bisexual muny, strongly disagreed over whether the bs should be closed, should make their own AIDS-preventn efforts, or should ntue operatg unr new regulatns. And though I was never an aficnado of the Bathhoe scene, the gay history buff me cid to do some rearch and even I was a b surprised by the strong historil and social signifince bathho have had on the gay muny Ameri.
GALLERY: SAN FRANCIS GAY BATHHOE HISTORY, IN FLIERS [NSFW]
Bathho Amerin ci first beme popular wh the general public the late 19th and early 20th centuri due to a lack of tenement plumbg and bathg facili, but would rema popular wh gay men long after bathtubs beme standard apartment featur.
The Everard NYC (which long ago received the nickname – The Everhard) was nverted om a church to a bathhoe 1888 and was known to have a gay clientele even before the roarg 1920’s.
GAY BATHHO WERE BARELY SURVIVG. AND THEN ME COVID-19.
In addn to providg spac for gay men to meet and have sex, the baths also provid a type of muny space and meetg place for gay artists and tellectuals durg a time that gay sex was still punishable by law.
WH THE WALLS OF GAY BATHHOE LI A WORLD OF THEIR OWN
And though gay bathho saw a cle populary begng the 1980’s wh the advent of the AIDS epimic, many gay bathho ntue to fill the same functn they always have: a safe place to be gay and have gay sex. In an attempt to make The Sat profable, he opened the club to straight patrons on Fridays and ntued operatg until May 1988, when closed due to the loss of s re dience of whe, gay men. The gay muny had achieved a lot of liberatn and a lot of promence San Francis over the seventi and on to the early eighti, and I thought that closg the bathho would really be a polil setback.