County Seeks Controls on Gay Bathhouses : Supervisors Cite AIDS Risk in Effort to Pressure Similar Action by City

In a move to pressure the San Diego City Council to regulate and possibly close gay bathhouses where unsafe sexual behavior can lead to the spread of AIDS, San Diego County supervisors Tuesday approved drafting an ordinance that would regulate the bathhouses in unincorporated areas.

Acting on a measure sponsored by Supervisor Susan Golding, the board directed Chief Administrative Officer Norman Hickey to work with the county counsel and Department of Health Services to draft the ordinance by Jan. 5.

Golding’s proposal is more of a preventive measure, since currently there are only five bathhouses in the county--all in the City of San Diego. The plan requires county officials to urge Mayor Maureen O’Connor and the City Council to adopt regulations that would govern the city’s bathhouses, which are frequented mostly by homosexual men.

In order for the county to regulate bathhouses, the Health Services Department has to declare them a public health hazard because they are contributing to the spread of the virus that leads to acquired immune deficiency syndrome, Golding said.

‘Activity . . . Not Facility’

“It’s the activity in the bathhouses, not the facility itself, that constitutes a public health hazard . . . I don’t think that in good conscience we can turn away from an activity that is promoted in a public facility that contributes to the spread of AIDS,” Golding said.

In a report to the board, Golding said bathhouses that “invite anonymous sexual activity” could legally be considered a public health hazard.

“But that will be up to the CAO, county counsel and health services to define what constitutes a public health hazard . . . . No, I’m not looking to shut down every bathhouse, only those that are found to be a public hazard,” Golding said.

She acknowledged that bathhouse owners have worked with the Department of Health Services and are educating patrons about safe sex through seminars, pamphlets and by promoting the use of condoms. But these measures are strictly voluntary, leaving the county and San Diego powerless to enforce them, Golding said.

Wants All Closed

Health Services Director William Cox, who will be working with Hickey in the drafting of an ordinance, said he would like to see all bathhouses closed.

“I never wanted to see them in existence in the first place,” Cox said. “ . . . I want to take every legal and doable provision that can virtually eliminate what has been defined as unsafe practices in bathhouses and other establishments.”

Under Golding’s plan, the county would have the authority to license only bathhouses in unincorporated areas.

Golding’s proposal to get O’Connor and the City Council to regulate the city’s bathhouses has stirred further controversy, however. O’Connor spokesman Salvatore Giametta said that the mayor’s position is that the county should regulate all bathhouses because AIDS is a public health issue.

Licensed by City

However, Golding and Assistant CAO David Janssen argued that the county can regulate only in unincorporated areas. Golding said that bathhouses, massage parlors, adult bookstores and peep shows in San Diego are licensed by the city, but only the last three are regulated by San Diego officials.

“She (O’Connor) is wrong. Those facilities, including bathhouses, are clearly under the police power of the city . . . . The buck (bathhouses) has been passed from jurisdiction to jurisdiction,” Golding said. “They can and should regulate them. There was a recent city ordinance that took the doors off of peep show booths. They can certainly take the doors off of bathhouses if they wanted.”

Golding proposed six regulations that San Diego city officials can use to regulate activity in current bathhouses. They are:

- Place monitors inside bathhouses to “observe” activities.

- Require owners to file weekly reports of the total number of patrons admitted.

- Expel patrons who engage in unsafe sex and report such activity to the city attorney.

- Allow only one person in a video or movie cubicle.

- Remove all doors to individual rooms.

- Keep the facility well-lit.