New York State Senators Introduce Bill To Require Hotels To Provide Condoms
New York lawmakers earlier this month, in an effort to curb the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, introduced a bill (SB 1634) that would require all hotels in the state to have condoms available to guests in the registration office, the New York Post reports. The measure, which is sponsored by Sens. Velmanette Montgomery (D) and Carl Andrews (D), states that "[e]very keeper of a hotel or motel or inn shall ... sell or offer for sale to registered guests ... devices designed to prevent conception or venereal infection during sexual intercourse." Andrews said, "You know hotel and motel gift shops sell toothpaste [and other sundries], so why not condoms?" However, John McArdle, spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R), said, "There are better ways to raise public awareness about AIDS than to have the state make hotels put chocolates on the pillows and condoms underneath them" (Dicker, New York Post, 2/20).
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