With Texas Governor Greg Abbot (R) issuing directives that bars can reopen tomorrow, several popular gay bars in the city have opted to remain closed for the protection of patrons. On the other hand, the gay bathhouse Club Dallas has announced it will reopen May 25.
Towleroad reports that Club Dallas made the announcement on Facebook before subsequently deleting the post. “Social distancing must be maintained in all areas,” it said.
Related: Gay bathhouse shuts, saying it’s “immoral to remain open during” pandemic
The same report also says that showers and public play areas will remain closed, though private rooms will be available for rent. Club staff will require face masks in some areas, and offer temperature checks at the door.
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The reopening announcement comes at a precarious time in the COVID-19 epidemic. Texas, along with several other Republican-led states have rushed to reopen public spaces despite warnings from public health officials of a second wave of coronavirus infections. The news also comes as the Washington Post reports that the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center has predicted cases of COVID-19 infection will triple in the next few months.
Sister Bertha Bedderthanyu
With no operating steam or sauna rooms nor showers dont expect that bathhouse to be open for very long. I have to admire The Clubs that they are financially prepared to weather a hurricane on the scale of the coronavirus but I doubt even they can last much longer. I still can’t figure out how the Hangar on Christopher street in NYC is still open with the criminal rents they are no doubt paying.
ShiningSex
bath houses are trashy. think abut it. it’s where people have anonymous unprotected sex (and you know most are unprotected). Just meet up with someone on grindr. There shouldn’t be a place for such gross activities. As a gay man, this is shameful. It’s nothing more than a whorehouse masked as a spa.
Creamsicle
Maybe they’re washing dirty cash, and the illicit funds are keeping them afloat. In the age of Amazon slaying the Big Box stores, I’m now convinced that 80% of small stores are drug fronts.
TMBisAOK
Good god SteamySex probably best to leave your ignorant, sex shaming ideas of what happens at a bathhouse to yourself. It’s bad enough we have to deal with ignorance from the straight community, what IS SHAMEFUL is being shamed by our own like you did.
And Creamsicle, I’d be a little more careful before publicly slandering a business with such looney ideas without any proof whatsoever!? Smh
Sister Bertha Bedderthanyu
GC, I know this is a stupid question to ask but what proof do you have that the person you are hooking up with on Grindr doesn’t go to bathhouses and your paths haven’t crossed in them? Think about that. And by the way, you are much safer in a bathhouse than you are if you picked up a stranger at a bar, online hookup site or off the street. There is video surveillance of people going and coming and you must provide valid ID in order to enter. You chances of catching an STD are the same as they are anywhere else unless of course you have the means to test them right there on the spot when you meet.
Chrisk
Yeah, sounds like they’re desperate. Social distancing in a bathhouse. Are you freaking kidding me?
Brian
They have to say that. You know they’re not really going to enforce it. Anyone who goes there certainly isn’t going to care about social distancing. And there are plenty that will. There is a cruisy park that I drive past on my way home from work and let me tell you, nothing has changed. It’s really easy to distinguish the cruisers from the exercisers, and there have been plenty of cruisers this whole time.
jdr11201
The Hangar on Christopher street in NYC is open “Dear god those poor desperate boys”. More ghost walking the streets of NYC ;/
Wicked Dickie
What a diverse gay crowd. If you are over 185 pounds, no admittance for you. If you have blonde hair, sorry, no admittance. Did I miss any of the boxes?
Brian
It’s a bathhouse. Surely you don’t believe the people they use in their advertising are the actual clientele?
Creamsicle
I don’t know anything about gay bathhouse culture. Do people actually get turned away at the door? I thought the whole point was that they take anyone’s money, and guarantee nothing.
Kangol2
At a bathhouse, the only people usually turned away are people who cannot pay, are not of age, appear visibly mentally or physically ill, or some combo of all three. And at some of them, even the last category is no bar.
TMBisAOK
Let alone what a bad idea this is at this time, opening a bathhouse without any shower facilities would seem to be a violation of some health ordinance you would think.
Dick Gozinia
Club Dallas is also an actual gym with members who go there to exercise. Gyms in Dallas reopened on Monday, May 18 so Club Dallas may have been doing the same. All gyms in Dallas are required to keep the wet areas closed, practice social distancing and to clean even more than usual. No showers, no steam, no sauna, no jacuzzi, no water fountains.
Aires the Ram
I get it, I guess…..But my question, not of you Dick Gozinia, is for ‘bathhouses’ and gyms re-opening. When thinking of the possible points of exposure while working out in a gym, or cruising around in a ‘bathhouse’, I can think of nothing more “safe” than a shower afterwords with hot water and soap all over your body. Perhaps I’m missing some medical fact regarding this, but can anyone explain?
Neoprene
I love my local bath house (one of the two, anyway). I go 1 or 2x a week (pre-covid) around 7am. It costs 7 bucks. Virtually no one is there except staff. I swim, use the hot tub and steam room. I don’t hook up. Been there, done that. The local non-gay “russian-type” bath house costs $22, only has dude days 4 x a week and is nowhere near as nice or clean. Yes, this bath house is amazingly run. Anyway, to each their own and I miss the hell out of it. May be slated for a late June opening, fingers crossed. But social distancing, ain’t gonna happen, girl.