March 5, 2014 | Sex & Society

Gay former soldier: 'Want equality? Close icky bathhouses'

An openly gay former British soldier is causing quite a stir in the UK after he penned an editorial saying that true equality for homosexuals can only be accomplished when gay saunas are closed down.

James Wharton wrote his opinion piece for the new LGBT lifestyle mag Winq. He claimed the existence of gay saunas - where he said men congregate to have anonymous sex with strangers, often in an alcohol and drug-infused haze - only "feeds the haters."

"Sex saunas need to be history," he wrote. "The time has come to close them down. ... [They are] thorns in our side that mark our community as different for the wrong reasons. 

"If we don’t, we feed the haters and we hand the bigots who remain a vocal minority ammunition with which to attack us."

Of course, with that logic we should stop letting men wear ass-less leather chaps or perform in drag, because that dastardly vocal minority will whine about them. (Oh, and no more anal sex. Bigots don't like that, either!)

Although he claimed he was not a prude, he admitted that he was turned off by the idea of these bathhouses. "For me as a gay man, the notion that there exist within our communities a series of places that actively promote the convening of gay men for participation in sex of shades various and in groups of all sizes rather revolts me – and I‘ve been round the block a few times, believe me."

Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell disagreed. '‘It would be very wrong if the gay community became proscriptive and moralistic over consenting adult behavior," he argued. "Plenty of gay and bisexual men use saunas without resorting to drugs or unsafe sex. A small minority may act recklessly and that should be challenged but it would be wrong to penalize the majority."

Gay former soldier: ‘If LGBTs want equality, shut down saunas’ [Gay Star News]

James Wharton responds to backlash over closing gay saunas [Gay Star News]

Gay Soldier James Wharton "Shut Down Gay Saunas" [The Gay UK]