Comments/Discussion

Ok guys, we’re starting to get some real mouth-breathing conservative idiots posting to this. Don’t go crazy arguing with them. They’ll go away once they stick their heads back up their butts.

Make sure you read the letter to Mayor Franklin from the residents of the apartment building/house next-door to the bar. It’s perfect.

Someone, or many someones, need to be fired over this bull-shit.

“Mayor Franklin” – what a waste. She’s continuing to demonstrate her lack of spine.

Oh, and find another APD liaison to the LGBT community. This one is a failure, or, maybe just an imbecile. What to do about the Pride parade? DISINVITE her from being Parade (Co-)Marshal. What is Pride all about? What was it that happened exactly 40 years ago to start the modern LGBT civil rights movement? A police raid of a gay bar in NYC. This dolt should remove herself from the Pride event and get out of that special position at the APD. She’s an insult to the whole community.

I’ve talked about this issue a couple of time on my Show and will continue to do so. This is just another horrid example of how the police view the people of the communities that they are supposed to serving. The treat us a revenue generators and serfs.

Please continue to fight this atrocity and stand up for your rights.

In Freedom,

Rick Pearlstein

Let’s see….
The Atlanta Eagle is Gay bar where there’s a huge history of late-night sex, drugs and partying going on. It attracts all kinds of characters, inside and outside.

Bottom line, stay out of clubs and gay bars. All this nonsense about rights being violated. There’s a reason cops bust late-night, shady gay leather bars, known for certain kinds of activity.

Do you see cops “raiding” coffee houses, ice cream parlors, and restaurants? Not really… there’s a reason. Listen to your mama and don’t hang out with shady people. It’s that simple.

Pete,
As the son of a police officer, someone who himself spent much of his life positioning for a career with the FBI, I take extreme exception to your defense of this raid. Are the items you outline unlawful? Yes. Are they used to our detriment as generalizations of “all gay people” in homophobic drum beating? Absolutely. Let’s review your points:
1. You and the ‘anonymous tipster’ seem to be alone in your awareness of these complaints. The Midtown Ponce Security Alliance (MPSA) – which is a cooperative effort between the ‘local community,’ as you put it, and off-duty Atlanta Police Department officers – has repeatedly denied observing such activities. If the people who live nearby and regularly drive past the establishment, and the trained police officers who patrol the area with the mission of protecting those residents, both state they haven’t seen it, from where have YOU been watching?
2. The laws put limitations on people around WHAT naked? The reality is you may be questioned for your sanity, but as long as your penis is not visibly turgid you can walk around Piedmont Park all day wearing your Fruit of the Looms. So if you meant ‘people *dancing around for money* … in their drawers,’ then yes. If you meant to say ‘people *walking* around … in their drawers,” then no.
3. I beg to differ. Had they sent in officers that first night to take action against the unlawful dancers, then you might have a valid point. However they took action ONLY after four visits over a full SIXTEEN WEEK investigation. This indicates that they were unable to find anything significant to charge anyone with. Further, based on your statements, you should be aware that cocaine found inside a nightstand may not be submitted as evidence in a court of law if such cocaine was found while the arresting officer was executing a search warrant of a home based on probable cause to believe a hostage was being held inside.
4. There aren’t many officers who are professional football players, so I presume that – by your logic – they wouldn’t know how to act appropriately if they had to arrest someone running through the Falcon’s training camp with a knife. Or, should an officer not be Jewish, your logic supposes that he or she should not be held accountable for their conduct should they have to arrest someone in Temple. Unfortunately this does not wash. Had the officers acted this way in a bar primarily catering to African-Americans, and then let the customers go from a predominately white bar, there would be complete – and justified – outrage. Their actions must be consistent when executing similar raids regardless of the clientele.
5. I’m with you on this one. However, the investment of this number of hours and over $324 of cash spent at the bar by officers is not in line with the weight of the charges, which are obviously the most egregious acts they could find to prosecute. The concern for the public’s welfare over ‘dancing without a license’ does not merit the loss to the city it is taking to prosecute it. Should it be allowed? No. But should the officers in a major metropolitan area dedicate this amount of scare resources to these misdemeanor charges? Absolutely not.

this is becoming a common problem across the country..abuse of SWAT-type teams and tactics.

anyone ever hear the old saying “when the only tool you have is a hammer..everything starts to look like a nail.”?

a simple uniformed cop, should have told the bar owner to “cease and desist” the illegal behavior, and perhaps issued a summons.

im inquiring about the case i just read, I have a case similiar but i was in the barbershop getting my haircut. when police stormed in with a search warrant making everybody lay on ground also handcuffed. detained for atleast 15 minutes. we were all subject to a body search for weapons. after they failed to find any weapons, police officers searched me again this time going in my pockets, where they found cocaine packaged in a sandwich bag. i was then charged with pwi. wasn’t my 4th amendment rights violated?

Give em hell, you guys!

Few points that all of the prior posters seem to be a bit too verklepmt to address:

1. There had been MULTIPLE prior complaints about naked dudes doing each other in the parking lot in the past. The local community asked the police to do something.

2. There are laws in Atlanta that put limitations on people around naked or in their drawers.

3. The officers in the club saw “guys” dancing on the bar in their drawers. It was a violation and as officers of the law they had to do something.

4. Police have to protect themselves, and whenever they go into an unfamiliar situation they may err on the side of caution. There aren’t too many fairy cops, so they are by definition in an unfamiliar situation.

5. How about facing the problem that walking around in public with your ass hanging out and doing each other on the f/in sidewalk is just not acceptable behavior. If you were there, do the world a favor and invest in some psychological counseling in an effort to keep it in your pants in public. And be glad you didn’t get thrown in jail as you should have been.

I fled Atlanta in the summer of 2007 after years of denigration of gay life in this PREVIOUSLY very comfortable gay city of the south. I moved to Atlanta in 1986. That was when being an openly gay [single] man in midtown Atlanta was not looked on as something to hate and the nightlife was vibrant and a lot of fun. At that time, and for years after that, you could go anywhere in midtown Atlanta and see gay couples out walking around holding hands, even after dark. There were numerous gay owned businesses (more than there were when I left in 2007), and, the gay pride celebration was an all inclusive event and focused on ALL gay civil rights concerns, not just marriage rights for the lucky few.

All of this, including the gay [male] nightclub raids of 2003, 2004 and now 2009, are the result of the changes in the population of Atlanta, gentrification of real estate and the huge changes (and growth) in the influence of [conservative] GLBT money and politics. [Think Cathy Wollard and her ilk here.] Yes, I said it. Gay life in Atlanta has been taken over by big GLBT money and it’s influence which has led to a ridiculously conservative attitude that has put an end to almost all of the fun nightlife Atlanta WAS FAMOUS FOR in the past. “Hotlanta” is a thing of the distant past. Get used to it or do what I did, get the hell out of there. Remember, Cathy Wollard was a very loud voice in the city counsel when the ridiculous bar raids by the police of 2003 and 2004 were perpetrated. Mayor Franklin completely caved to her strong political influence. Mayor Franklin has been a huge disappointment for me.

There are infinitely FEWER single or “openly” coupled gay men in Atlanta now than there were, I’d say, before the olympics, and, due to property values, those who remain are more spread out physically (in the metro area) than ever. Atlanta is also a popular place for lesbians to visit and settle. For the most part, lesbians are just naturally must less inclined to be attracted to kinds of nightlife that gay men are. Lesbians in Atlanta have also earned both strong monetary and political influence in the city.

You are in the south. The south is probably the most conservative part of the country. Atlanta has always been the GLBT mecca of the south. With the increasing comfort (success of the larger GLBT movement) that invites more and more of us to come out (and come out earlier), it is inevitable that those who come out in the south will be more influenced by conservatism. I personally feel that is especially true of women.

None of what I’ve said here is in any way meant to justify what the police did in this incident. It was gut-wrenching to hear this story and the Dallas story. Those two stories make me glad I made the decision I did to move away. That action on my part has been very good for me in many ways.

I really don’t really think anyone has ever been impressed by the Atlanta police. I think that city would be better off with Andy and Barney! Seriously though, all the crime in Atlanta and it takes these guys over two hours to bring down a few guys dancing in underwear? Let us pray that Atlanta is never attacked by terrorists! Are we sure their “under cover’ work wasn’t just an excuse to frequent the bar? It would be funny to know how many man hours the police spent frequenting the place before deciding to arrest the underwear dancers. Sounds like there may be more than a few closet cases on the force down there.

As I read the article, it made me wonder what would happen with the charges against the dancers, doorman, bartender, and manager. Since the raid was already illegal, could they still press the charges against the staff? I have a degree in Paralegal Studies..but this kind of situation wasn’t exactly something we talked about to much so I’m a little confused as to what would happen. Personally, I think that the charges will be dropped in exchange for the bar staff not filing a lawsuit against the police or something. I thought people were smarter than this. The article also talked about people complaining about the bar? I’m curious to know who these people were. It’s a gay bar, were they straight? Or just complete assholes who wanted to make a scene?

This whole incident is wrong on so many levels and scares the hell out of me.
I’ve been to the ATL Eagle, and to every Eagle or leather bar in what ever city I go visit.
This could have been me.
I hope all involved in this very illegal search from the police stand up and file complaints and sue the hell out of whomever they can.
I know I would.
For the rest of you folks in ATL, Don’t stop the protests, and demand action till you get it. That action would be firing all who were involved in this mess of a raid and a vow from city officials that an illegal search and treatment such as this will never take place again.
If you don’t get the action, then the queers need to band together and hit ATL where it hurts and that is in the pocket book and boycott Atlanta. Period. I know I will now think twice about ever visiting again and spending my money in Atlanta. Someone should call CNN about this. This would be a good story for Anderson Cooper. The mainstream media should be picking up on this story.

Andrew : GLAAD (and Al Sharpton) aren’t going to do a thing about this case, because the homophobic “culprits” involved are mostly African-American.

Her time is up for being a mayor and she’s moving on. She used us in both elections with lip service then forgot us when it mattered the most. Just another typical policitian speaking from both sides of her mouth, well, except when she trying to hide something like this!!!

This so-called Atlanta Police GLBT Liaison Officer Dani Lee Harris is a traitor and just a hired mouth-piece the police are using to shut us faggots up. Had she really been there to help the gay community, she would have resigned in protest.

i am in no mood to discuss homophobia. the reason cops do what they do is they believe it is their job to put everyone in america in jail. there are more prisons built each year than schools. the more money we spend on incarceration the less we can spend on education. the less money we spend on education the more qualified individuals to become police officers. the future looks dim.
the question i have is how can we talk trash about cops when there are people like mike rogers making movies about outing people who do not want to be outed? he should have been a cop.

APD (Atlanta Police Dept.) should be put in permanent quarantine at the ADP. (Atlanta Dog Pound) The last time I checked this was America. I hope the taxpayers in Atlanta have deep pockets, because something tells me that they’re gonna endure several taxhikes and service cuts to pay for their illegal activity.

Got chills reading this, even weeks post-event. Wrong on every level. Glad to have been part of the Yelp group who had a small event to spread word and keep attention to this story – will continue to be a vocal supporter of this story being told and remedies made, etc.

On September 10, 2009, Atlanta Police illegally detained and searched dozens of patrons at a gay bar without a Warrant, Reasonable Suspicion, or Probable Cause.

Regardless of the outcome of any pending investigations against the bar owners or individuals, and despite any empathy for the police officers, in my opinion this event should be placed in the spotlight – in the courts, in the news, in conversation, etc. This event was not only unlawful, it was rooted in homophobia, and until the homophobia can be eliminated from the equation, events like this will happen again.

Picture this scenario: Several highly trained officers go under cover to the Eagle to build a case leading up to the September 10, 2009 event. Unless these officers were openly gay, and due to the event itself, it seems reasonable to project in hindsight that some officers might have been “uncomfortable” watching men, some provocatively dressed, socializing closely with each other, sometimes touching each other and perhaps even going a bit further. Basically, watching the same thing men and women do at any straight bar, only in their own style.

Now, let’s put several of these officers in a room to discuss their under cover findings in order to determine an action plan. It seems fair to further project that these “uncomfortable” (ok, let’s call it homophobic here), homophobic feelings were not discussed at the action plan meeting. Instead, to make up for these feelings as well as the repression of these feelings, good people conspire, almost creating fantasies (e.g., there must be drugs and guns in each gay man’s pocket in that gay bar where men are dancing in underwear without a license). In the end, these good people made collective bad decisions such as illegally detaining and searching dozens of patrons at a gay bar without a Warrant, Reasonable Suspicion, or Probable Cause. It’s a classic pattern.

These violations have extraordinary meaning in our society, and are so acknowledged under the law. To ignore these violations, and to keep repressed the root cause that led a group of highly respected officers down this criminal path, is simply unacceptable.

This just shows the acceptance of gay people is a thin facade and that the police are NOT our friends. I had a conversation about this on the weekend about whether the police are the ‘good’ guys or the ‘bad’ guys if you’re a gay person, and unequivocally it comes down on the ‘bad’ side.

Chief Pennington should know better. Having served in leadership capacity in Washington, DC and New Orleans he had to be familiar with gay bars and clubs. Sounds like this bar had less action than those in the other cities mentioned here. Maybe it’s time for him to move on again.

And the Grand Marshall of the Pride Parade is a police officer who is supposed to be a GLBT advocate but who defends what the cops did at the Eagle rather than apologizing for it. What is the Pride parade supposed to be about anyway.

There are Eagle employees with unresolved charges, so I’m sure they’ve been advised to officially keep silent. I’m pretty sure all charges will be dropped for lack of merit. However, there’s no dispute that the APD over-reached their authority in detaining and running background checks on the patrons.

Because the actual charges resulting from the raid are of a licensing/procedure nature, the relevant analogy is this: if a pharmacist at a Wal-Mart didn’t get the legally required signature and picture ID from a customer purchasing suphedrine, would the police have the right to detain and run background checks on all the hundreds of patrons and employees in the store? No.

I know every situation has its differences, but in all honesty, I wish some of the old patrons of Stonewall would have been there. To allow oneself, and in this case many, to be pushed around like this knowing that the whole thing was illegal is disheartening. Have we learned nothing?

MAN! this reeks of pre-70’s police raids in New York! Gays and Lesbians should be in an uproar of this kind of treatment in this day in time! The Black society would not. If the police figure they will get away with this kind of hate crimes and nothing is done to right this wrong then other unlawfull raids will surely follow!