phil@amd.UUCP (Phil Ngai) (10/11/84)
The following quote should not be construed as an indication that I
approve of Mr. Ardnt.
From the San Jose Mercury News, Oct 10, 1984.
In a prepared statement on Tuesday, San Francisco public health director
Mervyn Silveman said "These businesses (gay bathhouses) have been
inspected on a number of occasions and demonstrate a blatant disregard for
the health of their patrons and of the community.
"Make no mistake about it. These 14 establishments are not
fostering gay liberation. They are fostering disease and death."
He then ordered the commercial sex establishments closed.
Silverman had threatened to close the bathhouses and other commercial
sex establishments last March, but instead ordered a ban on sex in such
establishments in the city. Silverman said his decision (to close the
bathhouses) was reached because "we now have solid evidence that AIDS is a
sexually transmitted disease - often spread by people who are unaware that
they are carrying the virus. The virus, he said, has been found in 40 to 50
percent of the gay male population in San Francisco.
--
Phil Ngai (408) 982-6554
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