It has been 38 years since the last bathhouse closed in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the height of the AIDS crisis, and the city has finally voted to repeal a ban on the venues.
Following a vote this past Thursday, June 25, the Minneapolis City Council voted to repeal the city’s longstanding ban on adult bathhouses.
Jason Chavez, the only out LGBTQ+ member of the council, co-authored the two ordinances required to repeal the ban and, during his remarks, invoked the name of Brian Coyle, a former out gay member of the Minneapolis City Council who voted to pass the ban in 1988, per MPR News. Coyle died in 1991 of AIDS-related complications.
“Today is the first step, and it will not be the last. And it is an important one,” he says. “I believe if Brian Coyle was here with us today, with everything we know about public health, he would be standing with us proudly, and me on this council, so I would not feel alone taking this vote.”
Council members emphasized that this does not mean that bathhouses in the state can open immediately, but rather that pending a signature from Mayor Jacob Frey, who supports the measure, the council must begin to decide upon regulations for the functioning of the bathhouses.
However, according to that same MPR article, Mayor Frey has also stated that he does not believe the matter to be an immediate top priority.
“We need to have a laser focus right now on public safety, on economic development, and housing. And so, am I supportive of the general direction that the council is going on this, I am. It’s just not the first thing that I want to be working on,” he says. “I think we should be focused on the core city services that people are expecting us to improve upon.”
Several individuals are in favor of a similar framework to the guidelines that have been implemented in San Francisco with a focus on safety and public health.
This would include requirements for condom availability, monitoring, staff training, waste disposal, and facilities where people can shower.
“This won’t leave bathhouses in a gray area,” Chavez says per the Minnesota Star Tribune. “We still need to work on zoning, the safety and regulations. So, bathhouses won’t be able to open tomorrow or next week.”
Council member Elizabeth Schaffer voted against the repeal and said that she had spoken to constituents who also opposed repealing the ban, including former Senator Allan Spear, the first LGBTQ+ Minnesota state senator.
“My constituent has spent decades in this fight. He shared with me that many gay men in his own network either oppose the return of bathhouses or have real questions about whether this is the right path for a variety of reasons,” she says.
The road to the repeal began with the Minneapolis group known as the Safer Sex Spaces Coalition, which lobbied the city to remove language from the 1988 ordinance that specifically targeted queer people. After that specific language was removed in 2023, the group began to advocate for the repeal.
“Social science research tells us that commercial sex spaces, like gay saunas, are important for promoting safer sex and enhancing HIV prevention, testing, and treatment efforts,” a FAQ on the group’s website reads. “These spaces also enhance feelings of identity, camaraderie, authenticity, and belonging. They’re spaces where people can overcome isolation and develop a sense of community and pride.”
