Why 35 years later, the reopening of the gay saunas in San Francisco is so symbolic…
Saunas have always been part of gay culture and in the early 80’s there were about 20 of them in San Francisco. Today there is only one but that could change very soon. We explain why.
Let’s go back a bit. We are in 1984 and San Francisco is THE LGBT world capital, a safe bubble where same-sex couples can live their love and sex life freely.
But this sexual freedom is disrupted by the HIV epidemic, which was first diagnosed in 1981 and peaked in the mid-1980s in the US.
The gay community is the most affected. At the time people were often tested for AIDS. At the time there was no treatment and the number of deaths exploded. It was a hecatomb.
In this very difficult context, the city of San Francisco pointed to the gay saunas as one of the culprits for the spread of the virus in the community. It goes so far as to file a complaint for “public health nuisance” and imposes very strict restrictions:
-prohibition to have lockable cabins.
-prohibition to have video booths (with porn).
-obligation for sauna managers to hire paid employees to monitor that clients do not have sex without condoms.
The consequences of these restrictions are quickly felt. Customers are abandoning these once friendly establishments and are beginning to organise private parties. Most saunas are closing down.
The same restrictions were imposed in other major cities in the USA, including New York in 1985, where most saunas also closed.
35 years later, things will change!
35 years later in 2020, Rafael Mandelman, a local elected official from District 8 (the famous LGBTQ neighborhood of Castro) wants these restrictions removed because he believes that saunas are not (and never have been) a threat to public health.
Mandelman is openly gay and explains in his plea that the 1984 restrictions are long outdated because the HIV epidemic of 1984 has nothing to do with today’s epidemic.
In fact, since 2012, the city of San Francisco has become a global model of HIV control with a strong political will to end the HIV epidemic. To that end, the city has implemented its “Getting to Zero” plan: zero new infections, zero deaths from HIV/AIDS and zero discrimination for people living with HIV.
It was the first city to approve and reimburse PrEP as early as 2012, a highly effective treatment that was quickly adopted by the gay community.
The city has also increased the availability of testing and has set up RAPID, a programme that aims to put those diagnosed on treatment very quickly, ideally on the same day. As we know, the sooner an HIV-positive person has access to treatment, the sooner his or her viral load becomes undetectable and therefore non-transmissible. This is the strength of TasP, treatment as prevention. HIV undetectable = ZERO transmission.
Thanks to repeated testing and new treatments (PrEP for HIV-negative people and TasP for HIV-positive people), the city of San Francisco has obtained spectacular results: fewer than 200 HIV diagnoses in 2018. This is the first time since the 1980s.
Making saunas places of prevention
For example, in his advocacy, Mandelman explains that not only is the HIV epidemic almost under control in San Francisco, but that by revoking the 1984 restrictions, saunas could be turned into sexual health prevention venues with free distribution of condoms and gel, information on PrEP, and instead of an employee monitoring whether or not you are putting on condoms, community associations that provide on-site HIV and STI prevention and testing could be set up.
Mandelman doesn’t make things up. Everything he proposes already exists in most gay saunas outside the USA and especially in France where community associations are often present.
But with these proposals, he seeks to recreate places of conviviality as they existed before the terrible advent of HIV/AIDS. Recreating community links outside private parties and turning saunas into prevention spaces.
This is an optimistic sign that the end of AIDS is possible when the public authorities give themselves the means to do so. If these proposals are passed, they could come into force as early as July.
So if you are planning a trip to San Francisco next summer and want to test the local sauna, treat yourself but don’t forget a few of Dr Naked’s basic rules.
