It's Been a Bad Month for Steam Queens: Crackdowns on Sauna Sex in NYC, Utah, and Israel
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Written by jay
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Monday, 28 April 2008 03:39 |
The NYC Health Department has been surveying bars, sex clubs and bathhouses since 2005 in an ongoing effort to enforce laws against oral, anal, or vaginal sex that occurs in places of business, and so far they have noted numerous violations but only shut down two sex clubs, El Mirage and Studio and sent warnings to multiple other bars and bathhouses. GMHC and other gay orgs support the city's efforts, and believe they can work with Health Dept. officials in future to revise the code with a more anti-unsafe-sex, and less anti-sex language.
Meanwhile, over in Mormon Country, we hear tell of a case in which a gym has battled with city inspectors for years over charges of lewd conduct in its steam room, and was forced to shut down in 2006 after undercover police found a single incident of oral sex in violation of a previous court order.
An appeals court recently reinstated the gym's business license, and ruled that the gym should be allowed to continue operation since the business itself could not be directly blamed for turning a blind eye to the incident -- and that short of constant monitoring of the steam room, the gym could only do so much to prevent lewd conduct.
Also, across the ocean and dangerously close to Bahrain, we have this tale of a sauna crackdown in mostly liberal Israel, in which officers arrested 11 men and accused them of prostitution. Gays are up in arms, claiming the men were only jacking off or whatever and no money was changing hands, but police beg to differ.
This is all happening a month after this scary-sexy sounding "man cave" was raided in Tennessee with 40 men arrested, and we don't really appreciate this trend. All we know is, everybody ought to be wary of the guys who troll around with their towels tightly tied, never joining in and looking vaguely scared-they're probably undercover officers.
RELATED:
Around the Gay Globe: Bahrain Hates Fags, Poland Hates Fags, Singapore Hates Fags
Sex Venue Inspections Continue (GayCityNews)
Utah Court Saves Gay Gym (GayCityNews)
Steam Room Sex Etiquette (Gay.com)
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