Steam Portland should be ready for action by next month
F ull S team A head
espite opposition from a few irate neigh
bors, a gay bathhouse is slated to open early
in 2003 at Northeast 29th Avenue and Sandy
Boulevard.
Steam Portland is positioning itself as a
cleaner and classier alternative to the seedy
scene found at many adult establishments.
David Anderson, a co-partner in the venture,
told Just Out that members will he provided
with deluxe towels, a pair of pajama bottoms
and flip-flops upon their arrival.
“W hat we’re hoping to do is to create an
upscale facility that really focuses on the mem
bership aspect— that our customers are members,
and they get treated specially,” he said. “W hat
D
we’re gonna try to do is to make it seem like a spa
club and bring the whole event out of the closet.”
Anderson, 49, hopes to bridge the genera
tion gap that is keeping young gay men from
checking out bathhouses.
“There was once six bathhouses in Port
land,” he said. “In the ’80s, public health con
cerns really stifled the development of the con
cept of a bathhouse and also really limited the
number o f users.... W hat we’re trying to do is to
completely update an old concept into some
thing really new and fresh.”
Like most bathhouses, Steam Portland will
provide free condoms for members. Anderson
also has assured the Multnomah County Health
Department that his business will be profession
ally staffed with low turnover.
“We have two firm rules: No drugs and alco
hol, no barebacking,” he said. “Unsafe sex prac
tices will not be tolerated by our staff.”
However, not everybody is excited to have
another adult business around. According to the
Hollywood Star, one man gave Central Northeast
Neighbors an earful during a recent board meeting
“O nce this goes in, the cancer spreads,”
Norm Stoll said. “San Francisco has become a
sewer, but they outlawed places like this.”
Anderson said those people are entitled to
their opinions, however misguided.
“T he only reason we ended up here was
because of zoning. We had looked for almost a
year for a building in a different part of the city,”
he said. “It’s ironclad: You cannot regulate busi
ness in Oregon by content.”
Besides, Anderson added, the increase in
foot traffic only will benefit area businesses such
as Wendy’s.
“We anticipate bringing a significant num
ber of people into the neighborhood in off
hours,” he said. “T hat alone is going to enhance
the security of the neighborhood.”
Anderson also promises outdoor monitoring to
ensure security and to scare of vandals. “The health
and safety of our customers, the positive impact on
the neighborhood and a living wage for our staff are
all responsibilities that we take very seriously.”
For more information visit the Internet site
www.steamportland.com.
L ively R eturns
T
he former right-hand man to Oregon C iti
zens Alliance chairman Lon Mahon has
reared his hateful head again.
Scott Lively, an attorney who now serves as
president o f Abiding Faith Ministries in Sacra
mento, Calif., was in Ashland, Ky., last month to
protest officials at Boyd County High for granting
a seven-month-old request by students to start a
Gay Straight Alliance. T h e school’s teacher-
parent council voted 3-2 O ct. 28 to let the club
meet after rejecting its application several times.
In September, Boyd County High received a
letter from the Am erican C ivil Liberties U nion
stating that barring the G S A violated the feder
al Equal Access A ct. T h e law requires schools to
treat all noncurricular clubs the same.
Ironically, the act was designed to ensure
that religious student groups were not barred
from campuses. However, it simultaneously
requires schools to permit G S A s to meet as they
would any other group.
More than 420 students— nearly half the stu
dent body— skipped classes Nov. 4 to express
their objections to the club. As many as 100 of
them, with the support of their parents, contin
ued to stay home the next week. More than 1,000
people also attended a protest rally Nov. 10.
T h e demonstrations were spearheaded in part
by Lively, who was brought in by the Boyd C oun
ty Ministerial Association. According to the Lex
ington Herald-Leader, he hopes Boyd County will
become a model for the rest of the nation by fol
lowing his idea to develop a curriculum teaching
tolerance for gay people while helping students
“clearly understand why homosexuality and relat
ed alternative lifestyles are wrong and harmful.”
“Most places where I fight this, the liberals are
in charge,” Lively said. “But I think they made a
mistake by pushing this in this community.”
Lively also wants to replace the G S A with
Free Sp eech Clubs. He envisions students
Continued on Page 8
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