Quote · The Megyn Kelly Show
NPR's Embarrassing Excuse, Another Socialist Victory, and Smug Serena Williams, with Matt Taibbi and Rob Finnerty | Ep. 1351
Where this was said
Minneapolis Bathhouses, HIV Normalization, and the 'Joy' Defense
At 1:11:40 · chapter starts 1:07:55
Kelly flags a Minneapolis policy move to repeal the ban on public bathhouses — originally enacted in the 1980s, when Mayor Ed Koch closed them in New York and cities across the country as AIDS spread without treatment. A local Minneapolis lawmaker defends the repeal by arguing that critics are 'weaponizing hypersexualization' to suppress queer community life, and that allowing these spaces would bring 'joy' to the city. Kelly and Finnerty both respond with skepticism, with Finnerty noting that bathhouses in the 1980s operated with significant corruption and documented trafficking of minors, and that there was no viable health inspection framework for them then or now. Finnerty also critiques pharmaceutical ads that normalize living with HIV rather than emphasizing safe sex, and both hosts question why the city is reviving a public health risk in an era when HIV remains incurable despite being treatable. Kelly closes by noting the Minneapolis Star Tribune published an op-ed framing the bathhouse revival as a potential 'public health win.'
Minneapolis is moving to repeal its ban on public bathhouses — originally closed in the 1980s due to the AIDS epidemic. A local lawmaker defended the move as preventing 'weaponization of hypersexualization.' Finnerty notes that these venues historically facilitated minor trafficking and sees no viable public health framework for regulating them today.
Minneapolis is revisiting a decades-old ban on public bathhouses originally enacted to combat the AIDS epidemic, drawing criticism as a public health regression.
