U.S., County Support Curbs on Bathhouses

In separate actions prompted by concern about AIDS, the federal Centers for Disease Control and local health officials in Los Angeles Thursday joined the list of agencies that favor regulation or closure of homosexual bathhouses that permit “unsafe” sexual contacts between customers.

In a letter to be sent later this week to state and local health authorities, Dr. Donald R. Hopkins, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control, said the agency supports action to curb or close establishments whenever they “represent a risk to the public health.”

Unsafe Encounters

In the centers’ view, bathhouses could be a public health risk if they promote unsafe sexual encounters with anonymous or multiple partners.

Bathhouse patronage has plummeted since the acquired immune deficiency syndrome epidemic grabbed the headlines.

Until now, many public health authorities had discounted the bathhouses’ role in spreading the AIDS virus. Some also believed that the baths served a use as places where information on how to avoid AIDS could be distributed, especially to bisexual men and other customers who are not exposed to the plethora of AIDS warnings carried in the gay news media.

However, the centers’ recommendation, which does not carry the force of law, adds an influential voice to those calling for restricting activity at the baths.

In an action taken before word of the centers’ decision was announced, Los Angeles County’s health director reversed an earlier stance taken by his department and called for strict new enforcement of safe-sex guidelines inside the county’s 19 gay baths and private sex clubs.

Robert Gates, chief of the county Health Services Department, rejected arguments from physicians and some of the top communicable disease experts in his own department that patronage at the baths is so small that a major enforcement effort would have little impact on the AIDS crisis.

Although details have not been worked out, Gates said he will send inspectors into the baths to write citations, using state Health Code authority that grants local officials the power to control the spread of communicable disease. Repeat violators will be shut down, he vowed.

“I believe if even one case of AIDS is prevented, it will be worth it,” Gates said.

Spread of Virus

Last week, New York state health officials called for a crackdown on gay baths that permit unsafe sexual behavior. New York city officials Thursday padlocked the Mineshaft, a private Greenwich Village sex club where agents allegedly viewed sexual contacts that researchers say could contribute to the spread of the deadly AIDS virus.

Last year, San Francisco tried to close down bathhouses but after losing in court, settled for a policy requiring bath owners to police their own establishments.

After decades of quiet existence on the fringes of male gay life, the AIDS crisis has dragged the bathhouse culture out of the shadows at a time when many bath establishments are closing for lack of customers.

AIDS is caused by a virus that destroys the body’s immune system, leaving it vulnerable to otherwise rare infections. In this country, it has struck primarily male homosexuals and bisexuals, intravenous drug users and their steady sexual partners.

Bodily Fluids

It is transmitted through some kinds of sexual contact, with the exchange of bodily fluids, and through the use of shared, unsterilized hypodermic needles. It has also been spread through blood transfusions, although a blood screening procedure now in effect has made this risk slight.

As of Monday, there were 14,519 reported cases of AIDS and 7,450 deaths in the United States. At least 1,185 cases and 628 deaths have been reported in Los Angeles County.

Several Los Angeles bathhouses have taken steps to reduce the risk to customers and appear responsible. About 10 baths here contribute $100 a month each to finance a mobile testing unit that gives medical exams to customers and disseminates AIDS information.

Many, but not all baths, have posted AIDS warnings and removed the darkened labyrinths and fantasy rooms that encouraged anonymous and multiple sexual contacts with little regard to hygiene.

Whirlpool Spas

While many bathhouses also offer swimming pools, whirlpool spas, saunas and the other accoutrements of a health club, they remain controversial for the semiprivate rooms--typically five feet by seven feet and furnished with a bed--that encourage men to come there and have sex.

“For a lot of people, I function as a hotel, I function as a community center and as a place where people come to work out,” said Gerry Goulet, co-owner of The Hollywood Spa. “And, yes, some people do come here to have sex. I’m not ashamed of that.”

Baths have been a constant source of controversy in gay circles. On the one hand, many gay leaders fear government efforts to close them down, because that smacks of official intrusion into private sexual activities.

“We have been trying so hard to get government out of our lives, so we are understandably nervous,” said Ron Najman, media director of the National Gay Task Force in New York.

Backed Campaign

However, gay activists have also been at the forefront of efforts to stop the spread of AIDS, and there is a deep split on the bathhouse issue within the gay community. In San Francisco, several gay groups supported an official campaign against the bathhouses last year, and several hundred gay men have endorsed a move to close baths in New York this week.

Najman said the National Gay Task Force, one of the leading gay groups, supports regulation of sexual activity at the baths but not blanket closure.

Bathhouse regulation has also proven controversial in the medical field.

Doctors and others who monitor the bathhouse scene say that openly gay men--only a minority of whom ever frequented baths--are less common at the baths now. More and more of the customers are closet gay men or bisexuals who turn to the baths as a safe location to meet men without risk of public exposure as homosexuals, according to various sources.

Oppose Closure

However, say health officials who oppose closure, these men pose a high AIDS risk because--unlike openly gay men who have long-term relationships with their lovers--they tend to have sexual relations without getting to know their partners. They are also less aware of information about AIDS, the officials said, and if the baths close, they will seek their sexual contacts in cars or public parks, where there is little chance of good hygiene.

“Closing the baths would have no impact,” said Neil Schram, a physician who is chairman of an AIDS task force established by city and county officials in Los Angeles. “The answer is education.”

Until Thursday, that was also the position of Gates and his department, and that view was still expressed publicly Thursday by some of his top deputies in the communicable disease area.

Surprise Visit

Gates said, however, that a surprise visit to some of the establishments this week revealed that some bath owners are doing nothing to inhibit the unsafe sexual contact that could contribute to the spread of AIDS.

Last week, the county Board of Supervisors asked Gates to take a new look at the issue and recommend ways to control the sexual activity at the baths.