New York legislature considers requiring hotels to provide condoms

Members of the New York senate this week introduced a bill that would require all hotels in the state to have condoms available to all guests, the New York Post reports. The bill, sponsored by Democratic senators Velmanette Montgomery and Carl Andrews, would require every keeper of a hotel, motel, or inn to either sell condoms or offer them free to registered guests who request them. "You know hotel and motel gift shops sell toothpaste [and other sundries], so why not condoms?" asked Andrews. The measure is intended to help prevent the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases in the state's hotels. The measure is strongly opposed by senate majority leader Joseph Bruno, a Republican. "There are better ways to raise public awareness about AIDS than to have the state make hotels put chocolates on the pillows and condoms underneath them," said a Bruno spokesman.