# What goes on inside a gay bathhouse? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 24, 2004, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-inside-a-gay-bathhouse/276555 "2004-11-24T23:44:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PaulFitzroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@PaulFitzroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulFitzroy)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-inside-a-gay-bathhouse/276555/1 "2004-11-24T23:44:10Z")
I keep hearing the term “Gay Bathhouse,” but I’m still not really sure what it means. My guess is that it’s a place where gay men go and sit in hot tubs nude with each other, and that there are rooms where they can go off and have sex with each other if they so desire. Is this basically it? If I’m wrong, could someone with more expertise set me, er, straight? And is there anything like this for heterosexuals? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-inside-a-gay-bathhouse/276555/2 "2004-11-25T00:00:56Z")
Yeah, that’s basically it. Naked guys looking for other naked guys to have sex with. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-inside-a-gay-bathhouse/276555/3 "2004-11-25T00:03:16Z")
> [@PaulFitzroy](#): > > And is there anything like this for heterosexuals? You mean like a bath house where heterosexual men sit around nude with other heterosexual men and then there are rooms where they can go off and have sex with each other? I am not sure, but I don’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![PaulFitzroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@PaulFitzroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulFitzroy)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-inside-a-gay-bathhouse/276555/4 "2004-11-25T00:12:50Z")
Where straight MEN and WOMEN go, Silly. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-inside-a-gay-bathhouse/276555/5 "2004-11-25T00:18:45Z")
Just wanted to comment that the OP has the best name possible with this topic. ---
**Author:** ![PaulFitzroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@PaulFitzroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulFitzroy)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-inside-a-gay-bathhouse/276555/6 "2004-11-25T00:20:18Z")
What’s that supposed to mean? ---
**Author:** ![kezami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eb8c5e/32.png) [@kezami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kezami)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-inside-a-gay-bathhouse/276555/7 "2004-11-25T00:25:34Z")
**What goes on inside a gay bathhouse?** A condom, if you were smart. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-inside-a-gay-bathhouse/276555/8 "2004-11-25T00:31:35Z")
> [@PaulFitzroy](#): > > Where straight MEN and WOMEN go, Silly. I don’t know if you could call it going silly, but there would definitely be a drop in inhibitions. ---
**Author:** ![PaulFitzroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@PaulFitzroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulFitzroy)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-inside-a-gay-bathhouse/276555/9 "2004-11-25T00:33:04Z")
My father told me that in New York there was a place called Plato’s Retreat that he described as a “sex club.” Would that be the straight equivalent of a gay bathhouse? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-inside-a-gay-bathhouse/276555/10 "2004-11-25T00:33:42Z")
> [@PaulFitzroy](#): > > What’s that supposed to mean? It’s like the joke about the two gay Irishmen, Patrick Fitzgerald and Gerald Fitzpatrick. ---
**Author:** ![PaulFitzroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@PaulFitzroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulFitzroy)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-inside-a-gay-bathhouse/276555/11 "2004-11-25T00:42:39Z")
Oh, ha ha. That IS funny! Maybe they could join together with the Wright brothers and start a gay resort. They could call it the Fitz-Wright Inn. ---
**Author:** ![jgroub](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b77776/32.png) [@jgroub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jgroub)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-inside-a-gay-bathhouse/276555/12 "2004-11-25T00:47:46Z")
> [@Biffy the Elephant Shrew](#): > > It’s like the joke about the two gay Irishmen, Patrick Fitzgerald and Gerald Fitzpatrick. No it’s much more obvious. PaulFitzroy = Paul fits Roy. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-inside-a-gay-bathhouse/276555/13 "2004-11-25T00:50:29Z")
If I’m not mistaken, **Otto** is gay, and answered your question in post #2. So, my options were to close it or move it. I choose to move it. If we get one factual answer in ten posts, I ain’t waiting around for the 100th joke post on this. Answered in GQ, and moved for your pleasure to MPSIMS. **samclem** GQ moderator ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-inside-a-gay-bathhouse/276555/14 "2004-11-25T01:02:58Z")
> [@PaulFitzroy](#): > > I keep hearing the term “Gay Bathhouse,” but I’m still not really sure what it means. My guess is that it’s a place where gay men go and sit in hot tubs nude with each other, and that there are rooms where they can go off and have sex with each other if they so desire. Is this basically it? If I’m wrong, could someone with more expertise set me, er, straight? > > And is there anything like this for heterosexuals? [It’s called “Bingo Night”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=287878) ---
**Author:** ![Kitchen\_Wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kitchen\_Wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kitchen_Wench)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-inside-a-gay-bathhouse/276555/15 "2004-11-25T01:06:37Z")
> [@chaoticdonkey](#): > > Just wanted to comment that the OP has the best name possible with this topic. Helpful hint (TMI): Do **not** attempt to suppress raucous laughter while you have pasta in your mouth. You’ll get a piece of it lodged in your sinus cavity. Actually had to blow the bastard out. Ewww. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-inside-a-gay-bathhouse/276555/16 "2004-11-25T01:17:19Z")
> [@jgroub](#): > > No it’s much more obvious. PaulFitzroy = Paul fits Roy. 😛 So he’s making him a garment? Those crazy queers! ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-inside-a-gay-bathhouse/276555/17 "2004-11-25T01:22:32Z")
> [@astro](#): > > So he’s making him a garment? Those crazy queers! \Aren’t tailors supposed to…cup?\ ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-inside-a-gay-bathhouse/276555/18 "2004-11-25T01:24:11Z")
I’ve been, once or twice, to a classy establishment downtown called the 456 (one of my friends works there). Upon entry, you may choose either a room or a locker. You are then issued a towel and some condoms. You go in and disrobe. At the 456, the lower floor is, indeed, a bathhouse: there is a large swimming pool, hot tub, showers, and a sauna. There is also a sort of drawing room with a TV and an Internet terminal, and a bar where health foods and light snacks are served. (In the basement is a gym; the place doubles as a health club.) The second floor has many tiny rooms, as well as a porno theatre; upstairs has larger rooms and glory holes, in a “jailhouse” theme. Officially the management frowns on actual screwing in the public areas, however the rule is sparsely enforced upstairs, and there is usually something going on in the porno theatre. I would say most of the people who go there, go there to meet people; some go with their dates, with or without the intention of supplementing their couple with another fellow or two. Condoms and lube are freely available; drugs are prohibited, and I don’t recall seeing anyone visibly sloshed. In addition to actual bathhouses, some gay-run bed and breakfasts have a reputation for being especially cruisy, but one doesn’t necessarily go there in order to have sex. Canada has some old, rarely enforced laws against running or being in a “common bawdy house” (i.e. a brothel). Although these establishments are not brothels (you are paying for the accommodation, and it’s up to you to find a partner; indeed, I know people who use it as a health club and/or cheap hotel), once in a great while the police force will take it into its head to raid one; the most recent case was in Calgary in December 2002, and I’m not sure what came of it. Other famous raids took place in Montreal in 1990, after which footage of rubber-gloved police beating up protesters galvanized the community and earned the sobriquet “Montreal’s Stonewall”; and a raid on a lesbian sex party in Toronto in 2000, where male officers roamed the building for hours and then left without filing any charges. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-inside-a-gay-bathhouse/276555/19 "2004-11-25T01:32:07Z")
Visions of _Brain Candy_ & dozens of gay men evacuating a public facility upon police infiltration. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-inside-a-gay-bathhouse/276555/20 "2004-11-25T01:37:24Z")
Yes, I understand that’s more or less how it goes, except with less comedy and more assault. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-inside-a-gay-bathhouse/276555.md?page=2)