jdg@ncrcae.UUCP (James Griggers) (04/17/84)
Today, 4/16/84, I heard something on National Public Radio's 'Morning Edition' that made me want to post to this newsgroup. The article dealt with the banning of public sex at San Francisco's bathhouses. One point that was brought up was `where does such legislation stop?'. The measure was meant to reduce the spread of AIDS by "eliminating???" anonymous sex among gay males. There seems to be many people on both sides of this argument, and I would like to be included in the group against this law. Agreed, the spread of AIDS is bad, but the passage of such laws are equally bad for the gay movement. I am NOT saying that I am for public sex or agreeing that such behavior is okay. Actually, I have no strong feelings for or against it. What I *AM* wondering about is; was this law passed in the name of preventing the spread of disease or simply a way of eliminating a rather icky practice. Can such laws really reduce the number of anonymous sexual encounters? It was always my understanding that many such encounters could at least start in any public place and then finish in private. Right? Gays crusing in bars are usually looking for 'a good time' and not merely looking to get drunk. A logical progression would be to close down ALL places where gays could meet with the hopes of picking someone up for sex. I don't think this last statement is too far off the mark, given many of the statements I've seen by your friend and mine, the Rev. Jerry Falwell. Anyway, maybe this will stimulate some thought about what could someday affect YOU. (and possibly stimulate some more contibutions to net.motss) Jim Griggers
brower@fortune.UUCP (Richard Brower) (04/18/84)
Actually, the proposal to stop sex in Gay Bathhouses is not law, it
is a regulation by the Public Health Department in order to slow down
the "epidemic" of AIDS. That being beside the point when discussing,
"Where does it stop?".
I tend to agree that this sets a bad preceedent. Part of the struggle
for gay rights that I have been involved in for about 15 years, was to
get the "straights" out of our sex lives... wherever we decide to have
them at. (Although, on the other hand, I do not think that sex should
be practiced in public places like parks, the bathroom at Macy's, etc.)
Part of the reason for bathhouses was to remove a large quanity of public
sex to "private" places that allowed the persons involved to meet in
somewhat more dignity than the parks provide. Also, I still remember
bathhouse raids in days of yore, when police ran hundreds of nearly
naked men out into the streets to be arrested and harassed.
I do not not wish to go back to the past. We need to get far more
organized to prevent this kind of thing in the future. Also, we need
to fight AIDS on the level where it will do some good, i.e. in the
medical labs, rather than having to deal with these shortsighted
and damaging "solutions".
Richard Brower Fortune Systems
{ihnp4,ucbvax!amd70,hpda,sri-unix,harpo}!fortune!brower