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!"
• A S-OLD BAN ON GAY BATHHO WAS ABOUT TO BE LIFTED. THEN, A PANMIC.
• GAY SEX VENU RETURN
• GALLERY: SAN FRANCIS GAY BATHHOE HISTORY, IN FLIERS [NSFW]
• FORMER CASTRO GYM SPACE EYED FOR NEW GAY BATHHOE
• SAN FRANCIS SUPERVISORS THORIZE THE OPENG OF GAY BATH HO BUT NOT HO OF WORSHIP!
• SF POISED TO ALLOW GAY BATHHO TO RETURN
• TWO PANMIC YEARS LATER, GAY BATHHOE ZONG BACK ON THE DOCKET IN SF
• PURPORTED NEW SF GAY BATHHOE BLOCKED BY ZONG ISSU
• GAY BATHHO IN SAN FRANCIS TO REOPEN AS PART OF CY'S COVID-19 ENOMIC REVERY
• EROSSAN FRANCISMENUHOTELS · LUXURYHOTELS · MID-RANGE + BUDGETBARSDANCE CLUBSCISE CLUBSSNASLBIAN BARS & CLUBSON TODAYTOURSCY GUIGAY WEDDGSGAY MAPEROS

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.

SF GAY SEX CLUB EROS REOPENS NEW LOTN

"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. 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. 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.

SAN FRANCIS TELLS GAY BATHHO, "WELE BACK!"

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.

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.

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.

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

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. 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.

GAY SEX VENU RETURN

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. 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.

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

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.

Acrdgly, as gay men stopped nyg their sexual urg, the bathho thrived.

FORMER CASTRO GYM SPACE EYED FOR NEW GAY BATHHOE

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

SAN FRANCIS SUPERVISORS THORIZE THE OPENG OF GAY BATH HO BUT NOT HO OF WORSHIP!

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.

SF POISED TO ALLOW GAY BATHHO TO RETURN

Among the many bs lost to closure durg the panmic are two proment Bay Area gay adult bs, Watergarn, a bathhoe San Jose and Blow Buddi, an adult sex venue San Francis’s South of Market neighborhood. “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, dance to the latt dis hs or watch a live show, ” said Manlman who is gay and reprents the Castro District. 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.

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

WHAT IS THE LEGACY OF PETE BUTTIGIEG’S HISTORIC RUN AS AMERICA’S FIRST GAY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE?

GAY CONVERSION THERAPY OFFICIALLY BANNED IN VIRGINIA.

Steamworks and San Francis's Eros are the last gay sex venu that were left to reopen when California Governor Gav Newsom gave the all-clear last week; San Francis's Blow Buddi and San Jose's the Watergarn were forced to shutter permanently due to the COVID-19 panmic. But somethg that gay bathho and sex clubs offer that apps like Grdr lack is the -person experience, Jensen said, a difference that mirrors how much of society has lived for the past year and their reentry to physil teractn now.

PURPORTED NEW SF GAY BATHHOE BLOCKED BY ZONG ISSU

The Crisis lead to a prott by gay men who, a time when the AIDS vis was still not pletely unrstood, objected to the crackdown as a form of persecutn. That same doctor, Donald Abrams, who ultimately supported the closure of the bath ho but who is gay himself, said, "I saw both sis of the issue. 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.

GAY BATHHO IN SAN FRANCIS TO REOPEN AS PART OF CY'S COVID-19 ENOMIC REVERY

The Rch Street Baths, we thought we'd take a look back on some of the fliers om the plac, which were a primary sexual outlet for the cy's gay muny long before Grdr was even a possibily. [Hat tips to Out History and Gay Tubs (NSFW)].

As the Castro neighborhood los s only gay sex club and sna, a would-be proprietor told the Bay Area Reporter he is terted openg a gay bathhoe nearby at a former gym lotn. "My ey are set on the former lotn of 24 Hour Fns, " Curtis Chu, a gay man, told the Bay Area Reporter, referrg to the se at 2145 Market Street between Sanchez and Church streets that permanently closed last year at the begng of the COVID-19 panmic lockdowns. As s webse stat ters to gay and bisexual men, whether they are cisgenr or transgenr.

Currently, Steamworks Berkeley is the only tradnal gay bathhoe open the Bay Area. Chu ntacted gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Manlman's office June to quire about openg an adult sex venue, acrdg to emails obtaed by the B. Right now, acrdg to Manlman ai Jab Btliff, a gay man and former planng partment staffer, adult bs are not permted the Castro.

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

The would-be bathhoe proprietors would be breathg life to a once-proment feature of the urban gay male scene that has cled promence due to the AIDS crisis, the rise of hook-up apps, and the COVID-19 panmic.

In San Francis Gay bathho n open but not plac of worship. However, as San Francis Weekly reported, “Gay bathho uld have an easier time returng to San Francis, after the board of supervisors approved an ordance that would ease rtrictns for adult sex venu on July 21 wh a unanimo vote. So plac of worship and door bs are prohibed all over California but San Francis supervisors thoriz the openg of gay bath ho?