Health News
2006-01-12
Los Angeles
officials ban unprotected sex at bathhouses
New regulations
ban unprotected sex and require sex clubs to meet strict
health guidelines.
New regulations
passed Tuesday by the Los Angeles County board of
supervisors bans unprotected sex in all county commercial
sex venues (such as bathhouses and sex clubs)
and requires them to pay $1,088 in annual
licensing fees and undergo quarterly health
inspections, the Los Angeles Times reports. All
sex clubs and bathhouses will be required to display signs
and posters stating that unprotected sex is prohibited by
patrons, and they must provide free condoms,
lubricant, and information on HIV prevention and safer
sex. Owners of sex venues also are now required to
prohibit entry to anyone appearing to be under the influence
of drugs or alcohol.
The measure,
passed 3–0 by county supervisors, also requires
commercial sex venues to offer HIV antibody testing
and counseling. County health officials are expected
to begin issuing permits in mid February. Sex clubs
and bathhouses must begin offering at least 20 hours of HIV
testing and counseling availability per week beginning
March 1, according to the new rules. Venues that
don’t comply with all new regulations can be shut
down.
The new
regulations were passed by supervisors following studies
showing that patrons of commercial sex venues were
significantly more likely to be HIV-positive than the
general population and were more likely to engage in
unprotected sex, often with multiple partners during a
single visit to a sex club or bathhouse.
Scott Campbell,
president of a firm that runs three bathhouses in Los
Angeles, told the Times he believes the new
regulations unfairly target sex clubs as primary
facilitators of unprotected sex and of placing gay men
at risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted
diseases. He notes that many gay men meet and engage in
unprotected sex with partners they meet through Internet
sites or at area bars and nightclubs. He also said his
three commercial sex venues already spent $200,000
annually on safer-sex materials and HIV prevention
information before the new regulations were approved.
The Times
did not mention what county supervisors and
health officials consider to be unprotected
sex—whether the definition
applies specifically to anal sex or includes oral
sex. (Advocate.com)
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