Estimates of the number of sex clubs vary from about seven to 10. There are now 11 gay bathhouses in the county, fewer than at the onset of the AIDS epidemic but about the same number as the late 1980s. Enforcement was left largely to the owners. Others fought back in the courts, beginning a legal battle that ended with a 1992 settlement keeping them open with the understanding that they would prohibit anal sex without a condom and offer safe sex information and condoms to patrons. And a club that won a zoning variance to remain open is facing an appeal by a neighborhood group. The building department has cited others for the same reasons. The city attorney’s office recently filed misdemeanor charges against three clubs for operating too close to residential zones. Now they are running afoul of local zoning laws dealing with sex businesses, which the city of Los Angeles started to enforce in 1995 after settling a court challenge. Most of them aren’t where they’re supposed to be. Whereas elsewhere these indoor trysting grounds for gay men have come under attack for allowing unsafe sex, that most Southern Californian of concerns is at work here: land use.Ĭentered in Hollywood and Silver Lake, the clubs have tended to open without regard for permits. They are under fire, as they have been in other cities in recent years. The past year has been tough for gay sex clubs in Los Angeles.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |