Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer is continuing her crusade to shut down small businesses like barber shops and hair salons for violating stay-at-home-orders, all the while what has to be the dirtiest, dingiest gay swingers club in existence is free to operate with nary a protest or a citation.
As a result of the governor’s aggressive and intrusive measures, she has been greeted with a string of protests and rallies outside the capital who are disdainful of draconian implementations. Most recently she had to contend with Operation Haircut, a protest which drew hundreds of residents fed up with her overbearing orders just two days ago. The event featured dozens of barbers and hairdressers giving out haircuts on the steps of the capital, in protest of the stay at home orders and in solidarity with Karl Manke, a 77-year old barber who had his license revoked for opening up for business in defiance of her orders. The protest resulted in the Michigan Police Service doling out dozens of citations for disorderly conduct to haircare professionals who were giving the cuts.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, “Club Tabu” a dungeonesque “gay swingers club” has been operating since the beginning of May without concern of fear of reprisal, and apparently being essential. We contacted the club and they confirmed they were open for business, just with reduced business hours. The underground private club describes itself as “complete with a large maze, changing areas, booths and more! It contains an extensive network of paths and hedges designed as a puzzle through which one has to find a way, and in our case, it is very dark and made with walls that have a few holes in them.” It services primarily gay, lesbian, and transexual clientele, with the odd event catered to heterosexuals.
Unlike these barbershops who are willing to enact safety and sterilization policies to ensure the haircuts are being done safely, the club gives no indication of what kind of precautions they may be taking. To that end, however, when you operate a club designed for secretive and anonymous full-bodied sexual encounters, with shenanigans such as group sex and gloryholes being a mainstay (don’t google it- gloryholes are holes in the wall where men stick their appendages into and then other strangers anonymously do sexual things to them) it would be difficult to enact any sort of meaningful precautions.
One industry is being fought tooth and nail by the governor and deemed non-essential, and the other is open for business. It doesn’t take much to know where the government’s priorities lie.
