In this extensive early 1980s case, the ACLU submitted an amicus brief in support of a large class action lawsuit in which the People of the State of California, including the the City of San Francisco Attorney, George Agnost, as well as Mervyn Silverman, the Director of Public Health, brought a lawsuit against the owners and operators of city bathhouses, such as Ima Jean Owen and several others who operated San Francisco bathhouses such as the Academy, the Animals, the Boot Camp, and the Club Baths of San Francisco. Also under threat of closure were gay bookstores throughout the city.

This particular case happened almost concurrently with the ACLU's 1986 assertion that "civil liberties policies need to be developed in respose to the AIDS crisis." A 1984 internal document notes an effort by the City of San Francisco to regulate or spy on bathhouse behavior "threatens unwarranted infringement of protected privacy, associational and liberty interests even when it is thought to be demanded by considerations of 'public health necessity.'" San Francisco was the first city to ask these questions. Over the course of the case, much research was conducted and many scientific experts testified and debated the impact of bathhouses on the spread of AIDS. In a letter to Silverman, an ACLU staff attorney informed him that the ACLU's policy "requires the staff to carefully scrutinize any government effort designed to combat AIDS which would retulate, restrict, or prohibit consensual sexual behavior among gay men, including those sexual activities thought to be associated wi the spread of AIDS..." She goes on to state that such action must be "justified by a 'compelling government interest which cannot be achieved by any less restrictive alternative.'" An important component of the ACLU's argument was that these acts happen in private, where "such conduct will not be observed by people who are likely to find it offensive." They requested access to any information that the city had used in coming to the conclusion that bathhouses helped spread the AIDS virus. Silverman had also conducted a campaign to educate gay men about high risk sexual behavior and the spread of AIDS.

These case files also contain related files concerning a similar case in New York City. A scholar notes: "As reported by the CDC, by March 11, 1985, there were a reported 3088 cases in New York, versus 1030 cases in San Francisco, the city only second to New York hit hardest by the epidemic." The virus was little understood, and greatly feared, and much of the debate is colored by this lack of understanding. At one point, the city attempted to hire private investigators to spy on bathhouse activity, which the ACLU argued is a clear violation of the Constitutional right to privacy. It also, as staff attorney Maggie Crosby notes, "raises equal protection issues." She also writes: "The City may also close the bathhouses by revoking their licenses through Section 2616 of the Police Code" which requires a police permit for operating bathhouses. She grants that "Generally, states and local governments have broad authority, under their police powers, to establish regulations to protect the health of their citizens." However, she also writes: "the application of the quarantine laws to the bathhouses presents a rather unique situation." She notes is disproportionate impact on the gay community, with regard to equal protection laws, and notes that there is little legal precedent for the current situation. Many activists spoke out against the closures, and many interesting histories and legal analyses of this case have been written.