You have to be kidding
A suit claims gay sex is rampant at Chelsea's David Barton Gym, owned by fitness guru David Barton.
25G SUIT VS. GYM 'RANDY'
By TODD VENEZIA
May 9, 2005 -- A high-end Chelsea gym has been slapped with a $25,000 lawsuit claiming that gay sex is rampant in the locker room and that the club's staff has been unable to stop the steamy high jinks.
Carlos Sosa, 34, of Manhattan says he expected the posh David Barton Gym on West 23rd Street to be the normal exercise center its management says it is.
But he says he was shocked to see men performing sex acts on each other in the shower, ogling him in the locker room and leering at him as he changed clothes.
"The gym misrepresented what they are all about," said Sosa's lawyer, Brian Kennedy. "They represented themselves as a serious place where you actually work out — but it became a saucy steam room that reminds me of the ancient Roman baths."
The David Barton Gym was hailed as one of the city's hottest new workout centers when it opened last year in a building that had housed the YMCA that reputedly inspired the famous Village People gay anthem
Is this like a fucking joke? Everyone who cares to know realizes that David Barton Gyms are very gay friendly. So I'm supposed to believe that this guy joined a David Barton Gym in Chelsea and is shocked by gay sex there? Hello, it's Chelsea. Don't you see the rainbow flags hanging in the shops windows? The gay mags in the windows? The neatly dressed men?
I have a friend who's thin, fit and blond and straight. He used to wear a Barton T around and I asked his brother, who's also a friend, how many times he got hit on by guys, and the answer was every time he wore the shirt. How do I know he's straight? Well, there was the time he got into a fight with his stripper girlfriend in a friend's bar. But I looked at him and said "what did you expect to happen in that shirt?"
Come on, this guy is either new to New York, has NO gaydar or is the most clueless man alive. I know people who avoided Barton for this reason.
Yes, I know it's unsafe, and uncomfortable, but look, if you join a gay-friendly gym in a gay neighborhood, calling the Health Department is acceptable. Suing? A bit much.
posted by Steve @ 9:08:00 AM
