Curtains for New York Sex Clubs?

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1995. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Curtains for New York Sex Clubs?

Advocate (03/21/95) No. 677, P. 20
Morales, Jorge

In February, AIDS activists united against the New York City health department, which is required to enforce the New York State Sanitary Code. The code, which is posted all over sex clubs, warns patrons that it is illegal for them to have oral, anal, or vaginal sex on the premises. "I think the city is clearly negligent in upholding the public-health law," said Darren Britton, the editor of the newsletter "Cure AIDS Update" and a founding member of Gay & Lesbian HIV Prevention Activists--a group formed to monitor gay commercial establishments for compliance with public health laws and safer-sex guidelines. Britton said the laws have not been enforced because the department is afraid of being seen as insensitive to gay rights. Margaret Hamburg, the city's health commissioner, said it was not "the politics of homophobia" that made the department move slowly in some instances, but "a question of...having a strong enough case for closure." Although other cities have also struggled with the problem of HIV transmission in bathhouses or sex clubs, New York's problem is compounded by staff cutbacks and underfunding of the health department, noted Mike Isbell, deputy executive director for public policy at Gay Men's Health Crisis--a nonprofit AIDS group.

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