Timeline is a regular feature in each issue looking back to events and milestones that have helped us evolve into the community we are today.

April 27, 1984

Upon deciding that establishments which “facilitate anonymous sexual encounters between gay or bisexual men” should be closed involuntarily, the city of San Francisco found support from the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Inc., (GMHC) the largest social service and education agency in America dealing with AIDS. In response to the decision handed down by San Francisco officials, GMHC issued the following statement:

GMHC believes that the baths should voluntarily go out of business because informed, educated gay men choose not to go to them. We feel that it is difficult to believe that any gay man could make an informed decision to continue going to the baths because there is clear evidence that unsafe sex with multiple partners increases the risk of contracting AIDS. The baths are not conducive to the safer sexual activities which are recommended for gay men not in monogamous relationships. However, the drop in business so far has not been sufficient to close most of the bath houses. The clear conclusion is that existing educational efforts, while successful, are not adequate. The remaining question is whether those efforts should be supplemented by a forcible closure of the baths.

GMHC went on further to comment that as an entity, they are opposed to government involvement in the decisions of adults about individual sexual behavior. Heavy scrutiny of the data, however, had not shown clear justification for governmental involvement. GMHC made it known that they would continue of monitor the information and stay in close contact with the New York State AIDS Institute and the New York City Department of Health, both of whom were conducting similar reviews.

Opponents of closing the bath houses commented on the small part of the gay community using the bath houses. A comparison was made to heterosexual clubs and the non-gay population who frequents them. It was argued that closing non-gay establishments would not reduce the number of deformed infants born each year because of herpes in expectant mothers. Similarly, closing the bath houses would not ensure that the number of AIDS cases would diminish.