Posted on 07/16/2006 6:55:39 PM PDT by DBeers
CLEVELAND - City health officials want the owner of a new, upscale gay bathhouse to provide condoms, offer customers regular HIV testing and appoint employees to answer questions about preventing sexually transmitted diseases.
The Flex club, which is scheduled to open next month, will become part of a chain of six bathhouses extending from Atlanta to Los Angeles. Plans for the 50,000-square-foot complex inside a defunct Greyhound bus depot feature three pools, two saunas and a gym and include 110 cabana-like spa rooms equipped with cots and televisions, 18 hotel rooms and a restaurant.
City leaders say the club could help spark the economic revival of a desolate commercial block, but they also worry that the bathhouse could fuel a growth of HIV/AIDS and other diseases.
"I think it's going to be a big mess in the not-too-distant future," said William Tiedemann, AIDS director for the Cleveland Department of Public Health.
Last year, an 11-year-high 118 new HIV diagnoses were reported among Cleveland residents, according statistics gathered by the city health department. As of Dec. 31, 2,458 Cleveland residents had been reported as living with HIV or AIDS, a rate of about 514 per 100,000 residents, and about four times the state rate.
Two of every three Ohio cases of HIV/AIDS occur in men, and homosexual sex is believed to be the source of many infections.
Charles Fleck, founder and owner of the Flex club, said he's concerned about health and safety at the club. He said he wants to work with the health department to ensure that customers are protected.
"Look, I'm a gay man," he said. "I went through the entire AIDS saga, and I am still going through it."
City leaders want to review Fleck's policy of evicting members caught using drugs or soliciting sex. They also want Fleck to sign an agreement outlining other guidelines.
City Councilman Joe Cimperman, who learned about the project 18 months ago when an architect contacted the city zoning board, said he has few concerns. Cimperman said he asked about public health measures and was told that condoms and prevention messages would circulate throughout the club.
Public health officials and AIDS activists in Cleveland said they aren't opposed to bathhouses. Research has shown they are a valuable and convenient venue for promoting safer sex practices, and AIDS organizations acknowledge that the clubs are safer for gay men than cruising other areas, such as parks.
Flex will compete with a smaller gay bathhouse, Club Cleveland, located in the same area. Club Cleveland has always provided HIV testing and free condoms, said owner Ray Wolf.
When Flex opens, it will become the fifth bathhouse in Ohio. The Flex and Club chains both have branches in Columbus. A bathhouse in Toledo is independently operated.
Flex's other location are in New Orleans and Phoenix.
DUH...
Ping.
If I didn't have a large amount of ready cash to spread around to deal with all the 'zoning issues' I'd be shut down in the blink of an eye.
But since this establishment is going to cater to homosexuals all that happens is a friendly visit from the Health Department for 'outreach'.
Astounding.
L
Bath House? Sounds more like a sodomy steam house to me.
Just what Cleveland needs. Something to replace all the companies the politicians have driven out of town. I can picture it now. Thousands of bathhouses will make it a tourists paradise.
The mayor will probably be down there cutting the ribbon for them. He'll cut it with a big... uh,...
All of my neighbors are going to be down at this place.
I actually didn't read any further than where it said that it was in the "now-defunct" Geyhound bus depot. Isn't that just perfect?
Someone tell me quick why Whore house are illegal and queer bathhouses arent. Now the fact that the city officials want the bath house proprieters to provide condoms should tell the most stupid liberal asshole alive that they know the purpose of these bath houses is for sexual relations. Why is it legal for queers to have a place to haul their ashes when a heterosexual man cannot be allowed to perform a perfectly natural sex act with a woman.?
Dont come up with the line that fruits are doing this without pay because I would bet some of them arent , and even if a place were open where women could provide the sex act free the City would close it down. Women cant even perform nude in most cities.While these characters are obviously nude since they call it a bath house. They have a chain of six of these across the country?? Let me try to open a chain of Massage parlors where women touch someones privates and see how long I would stay in business, Yet these characters dont have a problem?
I am seriously about to puke
Yep, noticed that did you? This has been a real thorny subject for me for the last twenty years or so. Reagan was the devil incarnate for not doing more to save people with AIDS, but if you asked homosexuals to refrain from public sex with numerous multiple partners per weekend, it was out of line.
It's a national scandle that there is even one public bath house in this nation that caters to homosexuals practicing group sex, that is still open at this time in our nation's history.
Course I never would have approved even without the AIDS epidemic. For the record, I don't approve of heterosexual clubs that promote sex between multiple partners either.
These are mostly endeavors that spread disease. That's not good for anyone.
It's a "club".
All you have to do is open up a hetero club. Then, if they shut you down, sue them for discrimination.
If you win, you will get no money since the city has none, but they can give you some empty factories or a bunch of vacant land. You could then sell that to the queer clubs.
Next cycle of HIV transmission at gate 1. With stops at
infectious diseases, cancer, kidney failure, brain disease
and finally death. Have a nice day, don't worry about who
will pay for your medical care. All Aboooooooaaaard.
I caught the bus out of that depot many years ago to get to and from college. It was an old art deco sort of relic even in the sixties. Dirty, down at the heel, with derelicts hanging around the cafeteria which served absolutely rubber jello. It is poetic that its new clientele will fit so well with the old regulars.
I caught the bus out of that depot many years ago to get to and from college. It was an old art deco sort of relic even in the sixties. Dirty, down at the heel, with derelicts hanging around the cafeteria which served absolutely rubber jello. It is poetic that its new clientele will fit so well with the old regulars.
That being said you are pretty much correct. This is a public health issue. The bath houses in San Fran were hot beds of disease when the AIDS outbreak started. Even though hundreds of people were dying they homosexual lobby demanded they stay open.
If this country were serious about stopping the spread of AIDS anyone infected with the disease would be quarantined post haste just as if they had Typhus or Yellow Fever.
Instead unless one is actively infecting others without their knowledge folks are free to walk the streets with a highly lethal communicable disease. That's just plain nuts.
L
You mean just like in that lib-uh-rhul's version of paradise on earth - Cuba?
L
As Aunt Ester said, "Sodom and Gomorrah".
My sentiments are pretty much the same as yours, regarding consenting adults. The problem is, people frequent these clubs and spouses or boy/girl-friends are then exposed to the communicable diseases that are spread in them. If this were limited to the adults, I still think it would be a shame, but kids enter into this. Pregnant women are infected and their infants are exposed.
The prices are very heavy for some of these activities. If we're going to take a frank view of the prices homosexuals are foisting off on society, as heterosexuals we need to be frank about our own contributions.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.