New York could lift ban on gay saunas after 40 years
Gay saunas were effectively banned in New York in the 1980s during the height of the AIDS Crisis (Getty)
Lawmakers are attempting to bring gay bathhouses back in New York by repealing legislation that effectively bans the venues, which played an important part in the city’s LGBTQ+ culture.
New York Senator Erik Bottcher and Assembly member Tony Simone, who both represent Manhattan’s queer-friendly West Side, are spearheading the proposal.
During the height of the AIDS crisis, many adult saunas across the US were closed completely in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus, rather than being more carefully regulated.
The current law against them bans any establishment made “available for the purpose of sexual activities where anal intercourse, vaginal intercourse or fellatio,” calling them a “threat to public health.”
A handful of gay bathhouses still exist in New York City, but a change in policy could provide a boost to the city’s queer scene.
“We should bring it out of the shadows,” Simone said in a 5 August interview with the New York Post. “It was part of gay culture. These people are adults. S*x is consensual.”
“The year is 2026, not 1986,” Simone continued in a statement announcing the bill. “Evidence-based practices informed by the past 30 years of public health research make it clear we should repeal the ban on adult-use bathhouses and saunas.”
