The background
The Republican National Convention is descending on Tampa Bay, Florida on August 27 and guess who’s excited?
Strip clubs, bathhouses and gay bars.
The Convention
With around ten weeks to go before Election Day, nearly 5,000 Republicans – delegates and alternate delegates from all 50 states – will gather at the RNC to decide whether putative presidential candidate Mitt Romney will in fact be the party’s nominee. Heading into the week, Romney is narrowly trailing incumbent President Barack Obama, at 46 to Obama’s 47 percent, according to recent polls, and has even closed the gap or taken a sliver of a lead in some swing states.
The strip clubs
In addition to the delegates, Tampa is expecting the city to receive more than 45,000 visitors. CNN reported that local strip clubs – of which Tampa boasts plenty – are looking for those visitors to “make it rain”, taking out adverts inviting delegates and visitors to “party like a liberal”. Strip clubs, it seems, to do a very brisk business during conventions, when “even upstanding men seem to seek out undressed women”. One local stripclub owner told the broadcaster that his establishment was “flooded” with patrons when the 2001 Promise Keepers convention, an event for Christian men to promise to be good, was in town. Republicans also spend well, according to the Association of Club Executives, a nationwide organization representing gentleman’s clubs – even more than their Democratic counterparts.
The bathhouses and gay bars
The Republican Party isn’t known for its gay-friendly policy-making, but Tampa gay establishments are certainly being friendly to it. A number of male strip clubs and bathhouses are offering RNC delegates discounts and deals on services, EDGE reported – and some are even touting their sexy VIP lounges with Paul Ryan lookalikes. Ybor Resort & Spa, one such bathhouse, is offering free admission to RNC attendees; according to Queerty, the “spa” includes such amenities as a regulation-size billiards table, communal showers, and free computer work stations.
More on the US election
- DJs for Obama
- Romney chooses Ryan as running mate
- Jared Diamond shames Mitt Romney
- Mitt Romney’s foreign tour: Success or disaster?
