An ordinance to repeal a ban on gay sex bathhouses in Minneapolis has been signed by Mayor Jacob Frey (D), who did so to support “our LGBTQIA+ neighbors.”
The prohibition on the adult facilities known for hosting sexual activity with strangers was originally passed in the city in 1988 as a response to the AIDS epidemic. Local leaders, including those who identified as gay, deemed the bathhouses too risky to be open to the public due to the rampant spread of disease.
When the “R-rated” bathhouses were banned nearly 40 years ago, the city had three, which the Washington Post says were “often frequented by gay men looking for sex.” San Francisco shut its venues down in 1984, and New York followed suit in 1985 as a measure to slow the transmission of HIV.
The Minneapolis City Council voted 9-2 on Thursday to do away with the ban, arguing that it is homophobic, Minnesota Public Radio reported. One council member abstained, and one was absent.
Frey, who had already indicated his support for reversing the ban, signed it when it came to his desk on Monday as a group of activists applauded.
“Minneapolis stands with our LGBTQIA+ neighbors — we always will,” Frey wrote on X. “That’s why I’m proud to have stood with members of the City Council and community advocates to sign the Bathhouse Repeal Ordinance and Pride in Policy package into law.”
Just two days before he signed the ordinance lifting the bathhouse block, Frey celebrated the Independence Day of Somalia, a country where there is a death penalty for homosexual activity.
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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