Plaque Honoring Victims of Nail Bomb Attack at UK Gay Pub Missing

In 1999, the Admiral Duncan Pub on Old Compton Street in London's gay SoHo district was bombed. Three people died. Now a plaque in memory of Andrea Dykes, John Light and Nick Moore has gone missing, No To Hate Crime reports:

Mark Healey from 17-24-30 noticed that it had gone during recent checks. “If anyone has taken the plaque I hope that they will return it. It is a shame that it has gone missing as we approach the 14th anniversary of these horrific attacks.”

Mark has been in touch with the Moore family, St Anne’s Church, the local police and Westminster Council – unfortunately no-one knows where the plaque is.

A new plaque is on order.

More background on the Admiral Duncan attacks:

The Admiral Duncan bombing was the third of three nail bomb attacks carried out by David Copeland who wanted to stir up fear and hatred so that the British National Party would be elected. Luckily his plan failed but not before he had planted three bombs over the course of three weeks targeting the Black communities of Brixton (17th April), the Asian communities of Brick Lane (24th April) and the Gay communities of Soho (30th April).

The three nail bomb attacks left three people dead in Soho and over 150 people injured (47 people in Brixton, 6 in Brick Lane and 97 in Soho).

Gay Bar Attacked Amid Marriage-Related Homophobic Violence in France: VIDEO

Three employees of a gay bar in the northern city of Lille, France were attacked and assaulted by four men who broke the bar's windows, The Local reports:

  The bar's owner linked the incident to "tensions" surrounding the parliament vote.

"I was hit by a chair," thrown through the window, he told AFP. Police later detained the suspects.

Watch a French news report on the gay bar attack, AFTER THE JUMP...

Meanwhile, homophobic violence conbtinued elsewhere in France on Wednesday, The Local adds:

Several thousand opponents to the bill crammed the streets of Paris on Wednesday, waving banners that read "A father, a mother, it's basic" or criticised French President Francois Hollande. Interior Minister Manuel Valls condemned acts of violence during the protests "in spite of promises made by the organisers". Several people were detained for questioning after cars and public property were damaged and police officers and journalists attacked, said Valls. Police put the number of detentions at 11.

Organisers put the number of demonstrators at 8,000 while police said 2,400 people had protested. Twenty-four people who took part in a counter-protest denouncing homophobia were arrested, police said.

The day before, some 2,700 opponents had gathered in Versailles outside the capital to protest the bill, leading to scuffles with police.

Opponents have vowed new mass demonstrations in the next week.

Watch a French news report on the gay bar attack, AFTER THE JUMP...

Chelsea's 'Rawhide' Bar to Reopen on Upper East Side

Rawhide, the longtime Chelsea gay bar, is now closed. The owners are going to reopen it near East 58th street and 3rd Avenue, DNA Info reports.

So what of its space?

"A lot of people know the history, everyone knows Rawhide, so we've gotten a lot of calls looking to open up another men's bar or another restaurant that supplements the area," said JD Sutro, a broker with Lee & Associates.

Lee & Associates is advertising the 1,320-square-foot space at 212 Eighth Ave. for $25,000 a month. It's available immediately and perfect for "all uses."

...Despite being surrounded by chains, Sutro said that most of the interest in the location was coming from small and medium-sized restauranteurs — not big companies or franchies.

"They know residents around there are great to their neighbors and patronize local businesses," Sutro said.

(via eater)

NYC's 'Rawhide' Gay Bar to Close

Chelsea's Rawhide bar, opened in 1979, is set to shutter, according to Vanishing New York:

"The building that houses it on 8th and 21st in Chelsea was sold a couple of years ago and the new landlord has jacked up the rent, nearly doubling it from $15,000 to $27,000 a month. The Rawhide has officially been evicted. Their last day will be March 31."

Mayoral frontrunner and Council Speaker Christine Quinn said this about the Rawhide in a recent New York magazine profile:

“One of the things I loved about Chelsea,” she said, “is that on Eighth Avenue, there is the Rawhide bar—not a luxury product. And for many years there were Latino guys from the neighborhood who had a folding card table every Friday and Saturday night and played dominoes. And they knew every guy who walked into the Rawhide, and every guy that walked in the Rawhide knew them. A leather bar may or may not be the best example, but it is the type of neighborhood experience we want to be able to have, what Jane Jacobs called ‘the eyes on the streets’ all watching out for each other.”

What will Quinn do about it?

Is there room on the street for yet another bank or nail salon?

Oldest Gay Bar in NYC, Julius, Found Eligible to Become National Landmark

Iconic West Village gay bar Julius has just been named eligible for State and National Historic registers, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation reports:

Based upon research and a request made by GVSHP, the New York State Historic Preservation Office has determined Julius’ Bar at 159 West 10th Street/188 Waverly Place in Greenwich Village eligible for the State and National Registers of Historic Places (read GVSHP’s nomination HERE, and the State’s finding HERE). The oldest gay bar in New York, Julius’ was also the site of a groundbreaking gay civil rights action in 1966 which resulted in the end of New York State’s prohibition on serving alcohol to anyone known to be gay. The “sip-in,” in which several members of a gay civil rights organization known as the Mattachine Society went to the bar identifying themselves as ‘homosexuals’ and asked to be served a drink, was based upon the “sit-ins” being staged at segregated lunch counters throughout the South, and was one of the first recorded instances of civil disobedience against anti-gay discrimination. At the time, the New York Times covered the incident referring to the protesters as “sexual deviates.”

The State and National Registers of Historic Places are the official record of the places most important to our state and nation's history, as defined by New York State and Federal government. Currently, only two places in the entire country are listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places for their connection to the gay civil rights movement — the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village (site of 1969’s Stonewall Riots and considered the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement, co-nominated by GVSHP in 1999) and the Washington D.C. home of Frank Kameny, the co-founder of the Mattachine Society.

Four U.S. Marines Arrested for Beating Gay Man at Long Beach Bar: VIDEO

Four Marines from Southern California's Camp Pendleton were arrested early Sunday morning after they allegedly beat a gay man after taunting him with homophobic slurs inside the Silver Fox bar in Long Beach:

Police arrested the four Marines after they say the suspects beat the full-time film student until he passed out. They may be charged with a hate crime.

Charlie Harris (right) was working in the bar and ran to help. “You could hear the punches…it was bad,” Harris said.

“You just saw fists, and muscles, and tattoos, and all those guys were on top of him,” David, the victim’s boyfriend, said. He said he was too shocked to move.

Watch a report from the CBS local affiliate and interview with the victim, AFTER THE JUMP...

The Press Telegram reports:

Silver Fox Manager John Barnes told the Press-Telegram on Monday that the four men came into the bar late Sunday or early Monday and the primary culprit, who seemed visibly uncomfortable while at the bar, called Barnes "sweetheart."

"You could tell by the tone of his voice that he was uncomfortable, he was making a demeaning remark," Barnes said.

The attack occurred as the bar was closing, with the primary suspect punching a young gay man who was much smaller, Barnes said. Police were on scene within moments of the call, and the suspects were detained and arrested for assault.

Watch CBS Local's report, AFTER THE JUMP...