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

Contents:

• GAY BATHHOE EROS TO OPEN S NEW TENRLO LOTN FOR PRI WEEKEND
• SF GAY SEX CLUB EROS REOPENS NEW LOTN
• SAN FRANCIS TELLS GAY BATHHO, "WELE BACK!"
• TWO PANMIC YEARS LATER, GAY BATHHOE ZONG BACK ON THE DOCKET IN SF
• GALLERY: SAN FRANCIS GAY BATHHOE HISTORY, IN FLIERS [NSFW]
• A S-OLD BAN ON GAY BATHHO WAS ABOUT TO BE LIFTED. THEN, A PANMIC.
• EROSSAN FRANCISMENUHOTELS · LUXURYHOTELS · MID-RANGE + BUDGETBARSDANCE CLUBSCISE CLUBSSNASLBIAN BARS & CLUBSON TODAYTOURSCY GUIGAY WEDDGSGAY MAPEROS
• SAN FRANCIS GAY MAP
• SAN FRANCIS GAY MAP
• DOORS TO BAY AREA GAY SEX VENU SWG OPEN
• FORMER CASTRO GYM SPACE EYED FOR NEW GAY BATHHOE

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

When the 30-year-old bathhoe and sna Eros left ’s old home on Market Street near the Castro December 2021, the cy's only remag gay sex club said they had a new home led up. San Francis's last remag gay sex club is reopeng s doors time for Pri weekend.

After vatg their former space on upper Market Street December, Eros's owners began remolg and movg to their new home, where the gay Bulldog Baths had operated the late 1970s and 1980s. Eros is not a tradnal gay bathhoe that do not have locked rooms. "We have been able to weather the cris of AIDS and STIs, the dg crisis, and we fd ourselv the only gay mercial sex venue to rema bs post the COVID-imposed closur, " said Rowe, referrg to the closure 2020 of SOMA sex club Blow Buddi.

SF GAY SEX CLUB EROS REOPENS NEW LOTN

They did so at the urgg of gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Manlman, who had led the earlier ph to allow bathho to aga operate the cy.

SAN FRANCIS TELLS GAY BATHHO, "WELE BACK!"

It pav the way for gay bathho and other adult sex venu to open the Castro, Tenrlo, and most of South of Market whout the need to receive approval om the planng missn.

A dog groomer and kennel g the name of the old gay bathhoe had operated the space followed by an artist llective prr to Eros takg over the lease. 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.

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

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.

GALLERY: SAN FRANCIS GAY BATHHOE HISTORY, IN FLIERS [NSFW]

While gay sex clubs whout private, locked rooms ntued to operate the cy, most eventually closed their doors.

Whether is signifint on the ground pends on if entreprenrs wh the visn and fancial paci and the savvy to open n and operate one of the, " said gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Manlman of the liftg of the old bathhoe l.

Many of the cy's gay bathho were loted the South of Market neighborhood on or near Folsom Street. So many gay-related venu, om bathho and sex clubs to bars and stor terg to leather fetishists, were loted the area by the 1970s that was known as the Miracle Mile.

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

Allowg for the reopeng of tradnal gay bathho uld be a boost for lears of the area's Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District as they try to prerve the neighborhood as an LGBTQ enclave. Wh life not expected to return to a sense of normalcy until late 2021, a gay bathhoe uld be ready to open jt as the health crisis fully subsis.

The panmic has certaly affected many of the bs our area, " said Robert Goldfarb, a gay man who is the print of the SOMA LGBTQ cultural district's board. He hop a gay bathhoe operator will e forward to open a lotn San Francis.

While he believ there are potential lotns to suate a gay bathhoe the Castro, Manlman told the B. To unrstand the eply felt antagonism around bathhoe closur, ’s helpful to unrstand the role the baths played the liv of gay men. In the early 1980s, as AIDS began to cimate the gay muny of San Francis, a battle broke out over the role that gay bathho might play the spread of HIV.

EROSSAN FRANCISMENUHOTELS · LUXURYHOTELS · MID-RANGE + BUDGETBARSDANCE CLUBSCISE CLUBSSNASLBIAN BARS & CLUBSON TODAYTOURSCY GUIGAY WEDDGSGAY MAPEROS

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.

To unrstand the eply felt antagonism to closg the baths, ’s helpful to unrstand gay history and the role the baths played the liv of gay men the world over. But the post-Stonewall 1970s, gay life me kickg and screamg out of the closet.

Gay magaz proliferated; gay bs thrived; gay artists and micians began achievg mastream succs.

SAN FRANCIS GAY MAP

Acrdgly, as gay men stopped nyg their sexual urg, the bathho thrived. No wonr then that when the Cy wanted to close the bathho, was seen by many as an anti-gay, anti-sex — an attempt to drive all back to the closet. Gay civil liberti, of AIDS hysteria vs.

A heterosexual judge wh no gay advisory mtee termed what was an acceptable venue for men who have sex wh men. “Ltlejohn’s ballot proposal galvanized the gay muny opposn, ” renowned activist Cleve Jon told me.

We all reasonably feared an anti-gay vote, a slippery slope that uld lead to who-knows-where?

SAN FRANCIS GAY MAP

Now HIV is, at least, ntrollable, allowg more gayns.

DOORS TO BAY AREA GAY SEX VENU SWG OPEN

Maybe they’ve learned to tst that gay men at the baths have enough rmatn, and self-teem, to take re of themselv whout Dianne Feste peerg over their shoulrs. I thk, though, that we n at least celebrate the fact that a time-honored staple of gay culture will be given new life this fair cy. There is also a sex club, Eros, the Castro gayborhood, which had plied wh the aforementned l.

The le change at a time when many LGBTQ+ neighborhoods -- and gay bars and bathho -- are beg cimated by the enomic nsequenc of the panmic.

And AIDS had already begun ravagg the gay muny San Francis. The were snas and sex clubs where often newly liberated gay men would go to spend an eveng, or make a fal stop after a night of drkg or dancg — and historians say that SF's pneerg leather culture was alt a ath blow when the bathho at the time, there was no public-health nsens about whether bathho need to be closed, but had bee creasgly clear to cy officials that the cy's growg HIV epimic had at least somethg to do wh the ee-love and liberte sexual activi gog on the lol muny, and the bathho were one nex of 2020, Manlman proposed a repeal of the lol ordance that ma bathho — which were fed specifilly as munal baths or clubs which had rentable private rooms wh lockable doors — illegal. "Durg the 1970s and early 80s, bathho were a fol pot of gay social life San Francis and were important muny meetg plac where iends would gather to share stori, or watch a live show, " Manlman said a statement.

FORMER CASTRO GYM SPACE EYED FOR NEW GAY BATHHOE

Prevly: Supervisor Propos Re-Legalizg Gay Bathho In San Francis.