Up to 20 percent of San Francisco's population of 700,000 is said to be homosexual. The city has recorded more than 700 cases of AIDS and 306 deaths, but closure of the bathhouses has been resisted by elements of the politically powerful gay community. The establishments closed Tuesday had names such as Academy, Animals, Boot Camp, Jack's Turkish Bath, Savage Theatre, The Slot and Tea Room Theatre. Some have areas so dark 'you can't see your hand,' Silverman said, and others 'have physical attributes that sometimes make it impossible to know who your partner is.'
He said the facilities had been found to encourage indiscriminate sexual contacts which help spread the disease. Silverman's investigators recently returned to the 14 public facilities and confirmed that unsafe sexual activity was continuing. Some militant homosexual leaders have said closure talk was a form of discrimination against gays, or an attack on gay rights.Īuthorities earlier this year yielded to pressure from the gay community, one of the largest in the United States, not to close the clubs. 'These 14 establishments are not fostering gay liberation. 'Make no mistake about it,' Silverman said at a news conference.
Silverman said he reached the decision to close the baths and clubs because of new evidence that AIDS - Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome - is transmitted among gays through sexual intercourse. It was determined those facilities did not actively encourage widespread sexual activity among patrons, authorities said.ĭirector of Public Health Dr. The city has 30 gay bathhouses, but 16 passed city inspections.