Another Minneapolis City Council committee will take more public testimony Wednesday afternoon on allowing bathhouses back in the city, after the public was allowed to comment on Tuesday.
Bathhouses, which allowed sexual activity between consenting adults, were banned in the 1980's amid the AIDS epidemic, including the first positive HIV test in Minneapolis in 1982. Some blamed bathhouses for contributing to the spread of HIV and facilitating prostitution.
Some of those who testified at Tuesday's hearing disagreed.
"Prostitution remains illegal in the state of Minnesota and it will remain illegal with the presence of bathhouses," one person said. "This has nothing to do with expanding access or safety to sex work. We would never advocate for brothels, and it's important that people know that bathhouses are not brothels."
"This ordinance is not about vice, it is about self-expression," said another. "People are flocking to Minneapolis from all across the country because they can't express themselves where they live without being persecuted. I'm asking the council to pass this so people in Minneapolis can have a sanctuary where they can express their full being in a safe setting."
The facilities would allow sexual activity between consenting adults as they did for decades, before bathhouses were shutdown.
Another person who testified made the cast times have changed.
"The freedom of sexual autonomy for all consenting adults is tantamount to human rights for everybody," they said. "We want everybody to have the same sexual freedom and autonomy that other people in other cities have access to, because we got bathhouses all over the nation, but not in Minneapolis.
Several other cities around the country have them, as does Duluth, Minnesota. Some of the cities that do allow these adult, sex-positive facilities are Chicago, Berkeley-San Francisco, Atlanta, Portland, Seattle, Fort Lauderdale and Miami.
Councilmember Aisha Chugtai said in April that she doesn't understand why the process of even considering them has become so politicized.
"Suddenly, we just have, like, you know, media reporting on this ordinance as like a 'oh, scary thing about to happen, adult bathhouses legalized in Minneapolis, people are gonna go crazy.' What? I'm heartbroken because of the rhetoric that I hear about our LGBTQ community," Chugai said.
The proposal to change city code and once again legalize bathhouses is expected to go before the full city council next week.
