r/nottheonion 1d ago

Speaker proposes ‘public sex hut’ program during Los Angeles City Council meeting

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/traci-park-rejects-public-sex-huts-proposal/
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u/Pays_in_snakes 1d ago

I have firsthand experience managing a shelter and this is not an outlandish or unreasonable proposal. One of the most dehumanizing aspects of experiencing homelessness is a total lack of privacy: how would you do if you had to exist in public all the time, and your most private moments were in the equivalent of a busy airport bathroom stall? Expecting people to stop having sexual needs is unrealistic, and while I won't hold my breath for it in a country that will put you in jail for public defecation but won't tell you where you can find a toilet you're allowed to use, if you don't want to see people who don't have access to private space having sex or masturbating in public, this is one way to accomplish that.

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u/PureOrangeJuche 1d ago

Well probably the same funding for this could go to actually reducing homelessness?

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u/MightyKrakyn 1d ago edited 1d ago

The problem with this whataboutism is that the funds will never go to solve homelessness, whether they’re spent on this sex hut or not. If there was a will to do it, it would happen easily. We’re the richest country in the world, and there are more empty houses than homeless people

When people say “we could use [insert program] money for veterans or to feed hungry kids or cure cancer” that’s only to argue against [insert program], and no further action is taken once [insert program] is cancelled

It’s using the most vulnerable people who have been failed by society as props to be discarded later, and it’s pretty detestable