Whether it is significant on the ground depends on if entrepreneurs with the vision and financial capacities and the savvy to open and operate one of these,” said Mandelman about the impact of the new rules. “It is symbolically significant right now. The archaic and easily avoidable laws, (it’s just a quick cheeky trip across to San Jose or Berkeley, less than an hours drive for those unfamiliar with the area, if you have a hankering to hunker down with an anonymous special someone), have been rescinded thanks to the efforts of gay local government representative, Rafael Mandelman. These rules were enacted out of fear that such establishments were contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS and included the prohibition on private locked rooms and mandated surveillance of patrons, all of which combined essentially amounted to an outright ban on such premises. The laws that resulted in the closure of bathhouses were left over from the early days of the AIDS crisis. Gay bathhouses can now open in the city under looser restrictions for the first time in almost 40 years. It’s been almost four decades but San Franciscans will soon be able to get down and dirty in their neighbourhood gay bathhouse, just like the good old days.
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