06/15/2009
NYC Activists and Leaders Protest False Arrests of Gay Men by NYPD
On Saturday afternoon, activist Brendan Fay, NYC
Councilwoman Rosie Mendez, Stonewall Veteran Yvonne Ritter, Candidate
for City Council Danny Dromm, NYCLU Representative Matt Faiella, NGLTF
Representative Cynde Horne, and AVP Local Organizer Jennifer Ramírez, spoke out about the false arrests of gay men by the NYPD at a rally in New York's
Sheridan Square.
An earlier statement from the Coalition to Stop the Arrests explains: ""In an overzealous and illegal effort to close down adult video stores
in Manhattan, the New York Police Department has been found to be
engaging in the false arrests of gay male patrons of these stores,
charging them with prostitution. The cops then cite the establishments
for condoning illegal activity and the City sues to shut them down as
public nuisances. Scores of innocent men have been swept up in these
false arrests, documented in the Gay City News."
Watch the demonstration on Saturday, AFTER THE JUMP...
Posted 3:05 PM EST by Andy Towle in Activism, Law Enforcement, New York, News | Permalink
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U know
At this moment in time I can't seem to feel much sympathy or support for their cause.
Iranian college kids are getting shot at, falsely arrested and beaten, etc over the right to vote and that vote to count.
The possibility of a moderate reform movement coming to power in Iran which has publicly stated it would recgonize Israel, stop iranian gov financing of hezbollah and palestinian suicide bombers, wants to negotiate with the US, and give more rights to women is amazing.
Quite a few of the college kids amongst the protesters look like gay brothers, and one wonders how much the Iranian underground gay community is contributing to the protests.
I enjoy a roll in the woods with the boyfriend but not some stranger. sometimes though there are more important things going on in the world
Oh, and it is totally cool and ironic that Andrew Sullivan an openly gay man is being credited along with BBC, Huffpo, and DKOS as covering the Iran thing better than the MSM.
:-) A Gay man helping the cause of democracy in Iran where ahmadine-crazy said they don't have any gays and have hung gay men.
Irony is great
Posted by: jimmyboyo | Jun 15, 2009 4:30:22 PM
Brendan Fay is yet another useless foreign Manhattan clown.
Posted by: JT | Jun 15, 2009 4:38:43 PM
@Jimmyboyo
Your points are well taken but the two situations can be compared in that this is an abuse of power by the NYPD. This smacks of the 50's in NY when men were arrested for simply entering gay bars pre-stonewall.
While it certainly isn't as important as the events unfolding in Iran, apparently many of those arrested are innocent and I imagine it's important to them.
However, I do agree, major props to Andrew for his work on exposing the aftermath.
Posted by: X-opher | Jun 15, 2009 10:30:06 PM
1) so when one of us gets beat up the police either don't show up or don't respond properly, but if one prude gets offended they show up and shut it down?
2) there are provocative sexually charged images EVERYWHERE in new york - even the ads on the subway. this guy wasn't reacting out of moral outrage (if that's really his problem, it would be a full time job!) but out of sheer homophobia. why should he be scared that his son see two men touch each other? this sort of reaction is primitive and embarrassing, and should be ignored, not reenforced by the police.
Posted by: clayton | Nov 11, 2009 12:05:22 PM
oops i posted that comment on the wrong article!!! was re: the chelsea storefront.
Posted by: clayton | Nov 11, 2009 12:08:36 PM