SF supervisors panel OKs gay bathhouse zoning update
A proposed zoning change to allow gay bathhouses and other adult sex venues to open in the city's historic LGBTQ neighborhoods is close to being finalized.
The new rules for such businesses should be in place by Pride Month in June.It will allow Eros, the sex club for queer and trans men, to reopen its doors at 132 Turk Street.
After closing its longtime upper Market Street location in the Castro LGBTQ district in December, Eros began remodeling and moving into its new space, where the gay Bulldog Baths had operated in the late 1970s and 1980s.The San Francisco Board of Supervisors' Land Use and Transportation Committee voted 2-0 Monday, April 18, in support of the changes to the city code needed for Eros and other such businesses to legally operate.
The full board is expected to vote in favor of the zoning change at its May 3 meeting and cast a final vote the following Tuesday."Bathhouses are a common feature in LGBTQ communities in many cities around the world, and they used to be quite common in San Francisco as well," noted gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman at the committee hearing.He ended up voting along with District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston in support of the zoning change 2-0 due to the absences of committee chair District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar and District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin.
