News/Commentary

Sodom on the Northern Plains: Minneapolis set to roll back ban on bathhouses allowing gay sex

April 8, 2026 | | Print Article

The Minneapolis City Council could be on the verge of rolling back prohibitions on bathhouses that allow consenting adults to engage in sexual activity.

Minnesota’s biggest city is making headlines for news unrelated to Somali scammers as local officials are set to mull ordinances that would legalize and regulate venues permitting the sort of raunchy gay sex that was banned during the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.

The ordinances under consideration would replace “stigmatizing language” with “new definitions to be inclusive of establishments where sexual activity between consenting adults may be facilitated,” according to the Star Tribune, which first broke the news that could trigger a run on lubricants in the Twin Cities.

“Such men’s bathhouses were popular until the 1980s, when the AIDS epidemic led to closures. Now some want to bring them back,” the outlet reported, noting that such bathhouses freely operated before a 1988 ordinance banned establishments that facilitated “high-risk sexual conduct,” defined as oral, anal, and vaginal sex for pay.

The 1988 ordinance’s language was changed in 2023 as a result of pressure from the Safer Sex Spaces Coalition, a pro-sodomy activist group that describes its mission as “repealing the outdated and ineffective local laws (ordinances)that made facilitating sexual conduct in commercial spaces illegal and modernizing the code to allow for safer sex spaces.”

The activist group “argued that the ban discouraged outreach to communities and drove sex-related gatherings to ‘unsafe and inaccessible spaces,” according to Fox News.

ADVERTISEMENT

“The Minneapolis Health Department and other public health organizations acknowledge this ordinance is no longer the tool needed to promote public health. Social science research tells us that commercial sex spaces, like gay saunas, are important for promoting safer sex practices, enhancing HIV prevention, and increasing access to testing and treatment,” the coalition said. “These spaces also enhance feelings of identity, camaraderie, authenticity, and belonging. They are spaces where people overcome isolation and develop a sense of community and pride.”

The Star Tribune quotes City Council member Jason Chavez, who claimed that “LGBTQIA+ gathering spaces, including bathhouses, have long been targeted by criminalization and policing, and our communities have paid a devastating price for that.”

“The last adult bathhouse in Minneapolis, the 315 Health Club, closed in 1988 before the ban was passed,” according to the Tribune, which said the club closed its so-called “orgy rooms” two years before shutting its doors. Additionally, prior to its closure, the club handed out free condoms and information on AIDS prevention, according to the outlet,” Fox News reported, citing the Star Tribune article, which is behind a paywall.

X users threw in their two cents.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

“Social science research tells us that commercial sex spaces, like gay saunas, are important for promoting safer sex practices, enhancing HIV prevention, and increasing access to testing and treatment. These spaces also enhance feelings of identity, camaraderie, authenticity, and belonging. They are spaces where people overcome isolation and develop a sense of community and pride,” the Safer Sex Spaces Coalition said in a statement posted to the group’s website.

Just call it Sodom on the Northern Plains.

Chris Donaldson
Latest posts by Chris Donaldson (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles