Pinter’s case, the officer said he saw Mr. One man said he wanted the undercover officer’s body, not his money, according to the officer’s statements. Both were arrested once they left the store, so as not to tip off the business or other patrons about the operation. Another, it says, said, “O.K., let’s go” when offered $100. One man who was promised $25 for a sex act offered to do a different sex act for $50, the lawsuit says. There, the officer would meet men and offer to pay for sex. An undercover officer paid a $10 fee to enter the basement, where there is a theater and viewing booths.
The case file describes how the operation was typically conducted. Pinter’s, were cited in a nuisance abatement lawsuit filed against Blue Door Video, at 87 First Avenue, in November. “There is a certain amount of discomfort that these men would be having consensual sex with someone that they just met,” he said. Senator Duane said the men did not want the embarrassment of a trial. Pinter, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, disorderly conduct. But few, if any, have taken their cases to trial. Pinter, a number of men arrested said that they did not agree to accept money for sex, the key element of a prostitution charge. 11 meeting, which he called “productive.” Bloomberg, said that the mayor’s staff took part in the Feb. 7, saying: “The Police Department is looking at it and you can rest assured that Speaker Quinn is working with our administration to take a look and make sure that whatever was done was done correctly.” Asked about Saturday’s protest, Jason Post, a spokesman for Mr. Bloomberg commented on the arrests on Feb. “To be unfairly targeting members of a group on trumped-up charges is something that shouldn’t be happening today,” said Zachary Woolfe, 24, the president of the Gay and Lesbian Independent Democrats. Some held up handwritten signs that read: “Shame on Bloomberg” and “Being gay is not a crime.” Bloomberg’s town house, to speak out against the arrests. Pinter and a group of about two dozen men, most of them members of gay-rights organizations, met at Fifth Avenue and 79th Street, near Mayor Michael R.
Pinter, who attended the meeting, said, “It was a great beginning, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions.” Browne said that there was “general agreement” at the meeting that the police should address quality-of-life issues and illegal activity “but also in a way that reassures the gay community that none of its members are being targeted because they are gay.” “And it is the first time middle-aged men are being arrested for prostitution,” particularly odd, he added, when none of them had prior arrests for anything. “I have been an elected official for quite a while, and this is the first time I have heard of such a large cluster of anything like this,” said Senator Duane, who represents parts of Manhattan and who, like Ms. Duane, other elected officials, activists and the commanding officer of the Police Department’s vice squad, Brian Conroy, met on Wednesday at City Council offices to discuss the police activities. Staff members of City Council Speaker Christine C. Browne said he could not immediately confirm that figure, but said that there were 1,650 female and 233 male prostitution arrests citywide in 2008. Pinter, who started a group called Coalition to Stop the Arrests. “That is just not true.”Īt least 34 men were arrested in 2008 and early 2009 in those types of police operations in sex-themed businesses, according to Mr. “The impression is being put out there that it is all concentrated on gay Manhattan,” Mr. Though the police have been criticized for targeting gay-themed video stores, only 3 of the 100 nuisance cases that involved prostitution last year were at such businesses, Mr. Many of those cases involved under-age drinking, drug dealing and gambling in clubs. Browne said, the city obtained 900 nuisance abatement closings or “stipulations,” settlements in which a business agrees to change its practices. Browne, said that the police were not singling out gay men but merely responding to complaints about illegal activities. Some of the arrests have been used by the city as evidence in “nuisance abatement” lawsuits, a tactic used for many years to try to shut down businesses where unlawful behavior is taking place. is still targeting gay men and places we gather,” said William K. A police raid at the bar in 1969 led to protests that are now considered the beginnings of the organized gay and lesbian rights movement in New York City. Pinter, whose narrative differs from the police account, and more than two dozen similar arrests in more than a year have touched a nerve among many gay New Yorkers and raised the concerns of some elected officials.Ī recent editorial in Gay City News said the city’s actions were reminiscent of the era of the Stonewall Inn, which was frequented by gay men.