Article By Jon Brown
Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey signed a package of ordinances Sunday that included repealing a 38-year ban on adult bathhouses and sex venues in the city.
“Minneapolis stands with our LGBTQIA+ neighbors — we always will. That’s why I’m proud to have stood with members of the City Council and community advocates to sign the Bathhouse Repeal Ordinance and Pride in Policy package into law,” Frey posted to X on Sunday.
Frey posted a video of himself signing what he called “the bathhouse ordinance.” He celebrated at the Twin Cities Pride Parade in a sleeveless muscle shirt and was dispensing alcohol to participants.
Minneapolis stands with our LGBTQIA+ neighbors – we always will. That’s why I’m proud to have stood with members of the City Council and community advocates to sign the Bathhouse Repeal Ordinance and Pride in Policy package into law.
— Mayor Jacob Frey (@MayorFrey) June 28, 2026
Nine of the 13 members of the Minneapolis City Council, all of whom are left-of-center, voted last Thursday to repeal the AIDS-era ban on adult bathhouses, with some supporters calling the ban “legalized homophobia,” according to The Minnesota Star Tribune. Two voted against, one abstained, and one member missed the vote because he was out of the country competing in the beach handball world championships.
Bathhouses, famous for rampant homosexual activity, were routinely raided by police in Minneapolis beginning in the 1970s. The city council banned them in 1988 amid the surge of AIDS. The ban, which included other venues that permitted “high-risk sexual conduct,” was promoted at the time by gay men who frequented them.
The Safer Sex Spaces Coalition has been lobbying in recent years “for repealing a local law passed in 1988 that bans sexual activity in commercial spaces,” according to its website.
The ordinance Frey signed establishes licensing and updates zoning regulations for venues where adults may engage in consensual sexual activity, and also revises the city’s health standards, according to CBS News.
Councilmember Jason Chavez, the “first LGBTQ+ Latinx” member of the Minneapolis City Council, expressed support for repealing the ban during a city council meeting last week.
“These are places of refuge, and I think it’s important to acknowledge that these establishments were even picketed by signs that said ‘AIDs kill’ and ‘avoid gay bathhouses,'” Chavez said. “What we’re doing today is clearing the path for a proper public health and zoning framework to follow in the future.”
Chavez observed that Minneapolis saw the largest adult bathhouse raid in U.S. history in 1979, when two undercover police officers criminally charged nine people and ticketed 125 others.
Councilmember Robin Wonsley, an independent Democratic Socialist, echoed Chavez’s support.
“Our LGBTQ2S+ communities have long been advocating for this policy,” Wonsley said. “Our former president, Councilmember Jenkins, the first black trans woman to sit on this body and in that particular leadership role, spent years advocating for this policy.”
Councilmember Elizabeth Shaffer, who was one of two to vote against the ban, suggested the city should be focusing on other issues amid a budget shortfall.
“I don’t think this is a top priority for expanding city services,” she said.
Minneapolis has been the focal point of national headlines in recent years for its far-left policies, especially in the wake of George Floyd’s death there in 2020. In August of that year, the Minneapolis Police Department advised residents in the city’s embattled 3rd Precinct to “be prepared” to hand over their belongings to robbers.
Minneapolis has more recently featured as the epicenter of the federal crackdown on illegal immigration earlier this year, as well as the Somali daycare fraud scandal that drew widespread attention and ultimately led to Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz withdrawing from the gubernatorial race.
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