"A libertine place with physical distance is like a game of pétanque without the balls". Christophe Doumerc, the director of the Hot Club in Roquesérière, near Toulouse (Haute-Garonne), does not hide his concern. Like him, many operators of libertine establishments, saunas and swingers clubs are hit by the crisis and are trying to find solutions to the coronavirus pandemic.
Since the start of deconfinement, these companies, the number of which is estimated at around 1,200 in France, have been reopening drop by drop. Their legal statuses are indeed multiple. Some are drinking places, others restaurants or sometimes discos. Saunas are assimilated to indoor sports halls, with regard to the presence of showers and pools, places where collective practice and contact activities are always prohibited.
A tangle of regulations that are a real headache for professionals in the sector. In particular because of the duty to respect distances, contradicting the activity of these companies.
"We are going to reopen on Thursday, June 25, but it's still the big blur," breathes Fabienne. With her husband Eric, she has been running Impudique for almost a year, a libertine place near Caen (Calvados). “We will not be able to celebrate our anniversary this year, regrets the mistress of the place. Frankly, we don't really know where we're going. For weeks, we've been drowning in demands. The phone keeps ringing. We feel that they have a real desire to return even if we know that we will lose part of our clientele. Some are still very afraid. "
Wild parties that bring together more than 100 people
For weeks, however, specialized sites are full of ads and lovers of orgies find themselves in private places. Discreet evenings sometimes welcomed more than a hundred guests. "I heard about it by word of mouth," explains Thierry, a libertine from Picardy who participated in a party in early June with his partner. It is a small environment where everyone wanted to meet. So since the clubs were closed, we organized ourselves. "
Wild parties denounced by a figure of the libertine night. “I went to a private party recently and I was shocked at the way it was going, deplores this forties. There was no hygiene measure, no shower, no hydroalcoholic gel. It is absolutely essential that the official establishments reopen their doors. We are professionals and there are rules to follow. »Faced with demand, the profession is indeed trying to comply with the recommendations of the various administrations and in particular those of regional health agencies. Behind the discreet doors of swingers' clubs, we take the temperature of customers upon their arrival and remind them of the barrier, distance and mask measurements.
"I don't feel like I'm taking a lot of risks"
"After we are not behind them, recognizes a boss of a Lyon club. They are adults. If they decided to play, we let them do it. That is exactly why they come to us. If they are prevented, they will go elsewhere. A point of view shared by Fabienne. "Take a shower, wash your hands regularly or use gel, people are used to it here," recalls the owner of the Impudique whose customers will frequent the restaurant but not the dance floor, which is always closed. We also have many hosts who come in groups, they are friends. This poses fewer problems as they can get closer. And with us, people come first for conviviality and to share things. "
Not enough, however, to hope to find the 50 customers who came every day to frolic in the dozen padded alcoves. So to diversify its offer, a “naughty naturist area” will now be open in the afternoon in the garden of the Norman house. "We are watching the weather because for the past two weeks it has only been raining," laughs Fabienne.
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The heat is not frankly not the problem of the gay sauna in which Mehdi found his habits. "There are just fewer of them," sums up the Marseille student. The boss is legally responsible for the behavior of his customers, but turns a blind eye to the relationships barely masked by moist steam. "Everything is super clean and it is no more dangerous than if I had met these boys in the street or in a bar, annoys the young man. I don't feel like I'm taking a lot of risks. "
For some establishments, however, the time to raise the curtain has not yet struck. All libertine discos or those with backrooms are still not allowed to reopen. "Anyway if the customers cannot get closer, there is no interest for us", annoys Christophe Doumerc, the director of the Hot Club in Roquesérière, near Toulouse (Haute-Garonne).
"If it lasts until the fall, it will be the death of most establishments"
No date is indeed advanced for the restarting of the clubs and the professionals expect a summer without dancefloors. "If it lasts until the fall, it will be the death of most establishments, predicts Christophe Doumerc who will demonstrate on June 24 in Albi (Tarn) with other night professionals. We were able to put the staff on partial unemployment, but there are still costs, including rents. For me, it's already complicated. I think I can last until September. After that will be the insured bankruptcy. "
A bleak economic outlook in a fragile sector where it is still difficult to convince banks. Difficult then to hope to have recourse to loans guaranteed by the State like many companies in France. "The operators are suffering, we leave them blind because they do not know when the distance rules will be lifted," warns Rémi Calmon, the executive director of Sneg & co, one of the unions in the sector. There are a lot of microenterprises and there is a real risk of closing many establishments. "
"It's an environment that is used to taking risks, but this crisis will cost us all dearly," said the head of a Parisian gay club. We knew about AIDS, then the competition of dating apps. I'm afraid the Covid is going to kill us. "
