NYC Forum Adresses Rising HIV Rates, MRSA, The Media and Public Sex Venues

A standing-room only crowd packed an assembly hall at the LGBT Center in New York’s Greenwich Village on Thursday night, Feb. 21, for a lively town meeting to address a number of concerns facing the New York’s gay community.

Organizers called the forum "Staph, Bath and Beyond" a lighthearted reference the retailer, although moderator and Center director Dr Barbara Warren jokingly informed the mostly male audience that towels would not be on sale that night.

In truth, the forum sought to address HIV prevention, sensational reporting in the media surrounding new MRSA cases and finally, what to make of rumors that the city was reacting to these reports by considering a crackdown on public sex venues. The various speakers on the dais and men and women on the floor seemed united in their vehement opposition to the city shutting down sexual venues, whether bath houses, sex clubs or private impromptu sex parties.