It has been well over a decade since scientists first figured out that AIDS can’t be transmitted in a swimming pool. And no one since the Middle Ages has claimed that one’s morality could be changed by being in the same area as another person. That didn’t stop the Charlotte World, Charlotte’s self-proclaimed Christian newspaper, from publishing an article suggesting that a gay group shouldn’t be allowed to use a public swimming pool owned by Mecklenburg County because of health and moral concerns. The Charlotte World article referred to a listing in the Happenings section of a November issue of Creative Loafing. The listing, by the Charlotte Gay Swim Club, welcomed gay swimmers of all levels to gather for lap swimming and lunch on Saturdays at the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center.
The World article quoted Martin Davis, who is known in Mecklenburg County for reading sexually explicit passages from library books out loud at county commission meetings.
“It seems to me it’s not a good idea for public health reasons, but the county would never say that,” Davis told the paper. “I don’t think it’s the public’s responsibility to provide recreation for homosexuals.”
After the Charlotte World article was published, the organizer of the swim group sent an email asking CL to discontinue the listing. “We are being harassed by (Mecklenburg County Commissioner) Bill James and the religious right and we have no desire to engage them in the media,” the email read.
Because of the way the Charlotte World article was written, it’s difficult to tell if the paper was trying to raise concerns about the supposed “health issues,” or if it was merely reporting that Davis was concerned about them. An email from CL to the publisher of the paper wasn’t returned, but when CL called Davis, he was happy to elaborate on his position.
“There’s so many STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) the gay community exposes itself to,” said Davis. “There’s so many viruses that can’t be treated with antibiotics. I wouldn’t be jumping into that petri dish.”
When asked about whether he meant that AIDS could be transferred from one person to another in a swimming pool, Davis referred to a diving accident at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea, when gay diver Greg Louganis hit his head on the diving board and bled in the pool. Davis said he thought it was reported afterward that uninfected swimmers could have caught AIDS by swimming in the water.
Jessica Frickey, a spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, said that HIV and STDs can’t be contracted by swimming in the same pool with an infected person, even if that person bleeds in the water.
The Mecklenburg Aquatic Center (MAC) is open to all county residents regardless of their sexual orientation. Fred Gray, the center’s executive director, said that MAC only has individual members and doesn’t provide any group or club membership.
“If individual members form unofficial groups and advertise for them, they do that on their own accord,” he said.
In a return call from the club’s organizer to CL, the group’s leader asked CL not to run a story on the situation.
“We just think it’s craziness and it will blow over and we don’t want to stir things up,” the caller said. “We would appreciate no more stories.”
It’s not clear whether the group was still using the pool as its meeting place when the Charlotte World article ran because the article referred to a November listing by the club. More recent versions of the same listing don’t include the location the club swims at because a club representative called CL several weeks ago and asked that it be removed.
Grant Nielson contributed to this article.
This article appears in Jan 22-28, 2003.
