S.F. to Renew Effort to Close Bathhouses

City officials will renew efforts to close gay bathhouses in an attempt to stop the spread of the fatal disease AIDS, Mayor Dianne Feinstein announced.

“I am absolutely convinced that the public health--not just of the people here but all over the world--would be better served by closure of the bathhouses,” she said in a statement.

Researchers have said that AIDS, which destroys the body’s ability to fight off disease, can be transmitted through blood, or the exchange of body fluids during sexual intercourse. Male homosexuals have been identified as a high-risk group.

“The basic reason for bathhouses is to enable activity that results in the spread of the (AIDS) disease,” Feinstein said. “Unfortunately, some have chosen to make this a civil rights issue, which it is not. It is hard to understand how people can have the right to spread a disease that is 100% fatal.”