In a move that underscores the selective priorities of progressive governance, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has quietly lifted longstanding restrictions on so-called “gay sex bathhouses,” allowing venues once shuttered for public-health and zoning reasons to reopen under the banner of personal liberty. While the mayor frames the decision as an affirmation of individual freedom and inclusivity, the timing is telling: the same city that aggressively restricts lawful firearm carry, imposes red-flag laws, and cheers for magazine bans now celebrates the deregulation of high-risk sexual environments. The contrast is impossible to ignore—when it comes to guns, Democrats demand prior restraint and bureaucratic hurdles; when it comes to bathhouses, they suddenly discover the virtues of deregulation and “my body, my choice.”

For the 2A community, the episode is a textbook illustration of the modern left’s hierarchy of rights. The same officials who treat the enumerated, fundamental right to keep and bear arms as a conditional privilege requiring training cards, waiting periods, and “may-issue” discretion suddenly treat venues linked to elevated STI transmission rates as sacrosanct expressions of autonomy. This isn’t principled libertarianism; it’s a political sorting mechanism that elevates certain lifestyle choices above the plain text of the Constitution. Gun owners watching from flyover country see the pattern clearly: if Minneapolis can flip a switch to green-light bathhouses while simultaneously pushing “ghost gun” registries and safe-storage mandates, then every claim that gun control is about “public health” rings hollow.

The deeper implication is strategic. By normalizing the idea that government may pick and choose which liberties deserve protection, cities like Minneapolis create a precedent that will eventually be turned against gun owners again. The 2A community should treat this not as a culture-war sideshow but as fresh evidence that progressive officials view constitutional rights as negotiable based on political utility. When the next round of restrictions arrives—whether on pistol braces, private sales, or ammunition—Second Amendment advocates will have yet another data point showing that the same voices celebrating “freedom” for bathhouses have no intention of extending that same latitude to lawful gun owners.