Back to the bathhouse.It may soon be up to San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden voters to decide whether gay men should be able to have private sex in public sex establishments. A group of San Francisco gay men want to put an initiative on the November ballot that would kill a city policy banning closed rooms in all public sex clubs. San Francisco shut down gay bathhouses Gay bathhouses, also known as (gay) saunas or steam baths (and sometimes called, in gay slang in some regions, "the baths" or "the tubs"), are places where men can go to have sex with other men. Not all men who visit such bathhouses consider themselves gay. , which had private rooms, in 1984 to stem the spread of HIV HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. , a decision that was--and remains--controversial. Those opposed to lifting this ban include the city's openly gay health director, Mitch Katz, who has said reopening the bathhouses could lead to an increase in unsafe sex and HIV transmission. Supporters of this initiative, however, say that because the health commission refuses to debate the issue, they are taking it to the people. "We will be out in the streets collecting signatures, singing, 'Vote yes for gay male sodomy sodomy Noncoital carnal copulation. Sodomy is a crime in some jurisdictions. Some sodomy laws, particularly in Middle Eastern countries and those jurisdictions observing Shari'ah law, provide penalties as severe as life imprisonment for homosexual intercourse, even if the ,'" said Michael Petrelis, a spokesperson for the initiative drive. |
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