Minneapolis has been embroiled in controversy in recent months. In December, YouTuber Nick Shirley uncovered massive fraud that prompted the Department of Health and Human Services to freeze over $185 million in Somali childcare funding pending investigations.
The city's police also refused to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during the winter's federal crackdown on the city. Operation Metro Surge resulted in over 4,000 arrests by federal agents, with officials identifying many as violent criminal illegal aliens.
Now Minneapolis is considering legalizing and regulating adult bathhouses, venues where consenting adults may engage in sexual activity.
During the 1970s, bathhouses and sex venues were affordable places to stay, but they were frequently used as homosexual "cruising" hubs, a major component of Minneapolis nightlife prior to the advent of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, which led to ordinances banning them among virtually all U.S. urban areas.
By 1988, all of the city's major bathhouses had closed, either voluntarily or due to the changing political and health landscape. The closure of these spaces was controversial within the homosexual community, with some feeling they had been unfairly targeted and others acknowledging their contribution to the spread of HIV.
However, the Minneapolis City Council recently referred a package of four proposed ordinances that would create a licensing framework, update zoning regulations, revise health standards and add exceptions to existing indecency laws to bring the bathhouses back.
"The city of Minneapolis has been invaded by homosexuals, by communists, by Muslims, by everything that's either wicked or far left," reports Jan Markell, founder and director of Olive Tree Ministries. "This is not the Minneapolis I grew up in. It's just turned into debauchery, and it's just heartbreaking."
She says "there's no way" former sportscaster Michele Tafoya will win the Minnesota U.S. Senate race as a Republican and be able to change anything.
"She has no chance of winning," Markell asserts. "The reason for that is the cheating machine that's here. It's perfected. The machine is going to make sure that Minnesota is always going to be a hard blue state."
The proposed changes come as the city council also considers a proposed ordinance that would decriminalize drug paraphernalia.
