We all agree unsafe sex is a problem. Barebacking is inching its way back into gay culture, and no one seems to have a clue how to stop it. That is, except, the Los Angeles County board of supervisors. Instead of increasing funding for HIV prevention and education, they’ve decided to make unprotected sex illegal. Yep, that’s right. If you choose to bareback, you’re going to do hard time. Well, OK, not exactly, but L.A. did ban unprotected sex in all county commercial sex venues, such as bathhouses and sex clubs.

Let’s think about this for a minute. How will we even begin to enforce this law?

Is vice going to perform stings on bathhouses, now? Just how would that go?

“Hey, you two, break it up!”

“OK, now let’s see what you guys got going on here.”

“Lookie here, sergeant, these two bums ain’t wearing a rubber.”

“Book ’em!”

Is staff expected to perform random condom checks to ascertain who is in violation of county law? “Uh, excuse me, could you pull out please? I just need to take a quick peek.”

And what constitutes safe sex? Based on the current regulations, we don’t know if that means condom-less oral sex or anal only.

Los Angeles hasn’t gone completely nuts, though. This new regulation comes with some pretty strict guidelines we actually agree with. According to the Los Angeles Times, the new regulations were passed by the supervisors following studies showing that patrons of commercial sex venues were significantly more likely to be HIV positive than the general population, and were more likely to engage in unprotected sex, often with multiple partners during a single visit to a sex club or bathhouse. The new regulations will require commercial sex venues to undergo quarterly health inspections, and provide free condoms, lubricant and information on HIV prevention and safer sex. Regulations also prohibit entry to anyone appearing to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and require commercial sex venues to offer HIV-antibody testing and counseling.

We all know that men who are under the influence will still be allowed entry into many sex establishments, or will just use once inside, but the regulations are a step in the right direction.

San Diego bathhouses have been making headlines lately, with the dead body of a 42-year-old man recently discovered submerged in the hot tub at Club San Diego, and criminal charges pressed against the 2200 Club for allegedly operating without the proper permits. Will we see the same ban that has gone into effect in L.A. here in San Diego?

We understand the mounting frustration over the rise of unprotected sex and the spread of HIV. Granted, not much seems to be working to curtail infection rates, but prohibiting unprotected sex is a violation of our community’s rights. Government has no right to dictate how two consenting adults have sex – even in a venue people frequent to have sex.

The correlation between rising HIV rates and decreased funding is no coincidence. The first step in protecting the community should be increasing education and funding for community outreach programs. Hey, we won’t lose any sleep if bathhouses and sex clubs are required to implement testing, counseling and prevention, but we’ll be damned if a board of straight elected officials are going to mandate how some members of our community choose to have sex.