Atlanta Police Department Sued Over Gay Bar Raid | Fox News

Contents:

• TORPY AT LARGE: WHAT DID APD LEARN OM THE EAGLE GAY BAR FIAS?
• LEGENDARY GAY BAR ATLANTA EAGLE IS REOPENG MIDTOWN
• AFTER ILLEGAL RAID OF GAY BAR, ATLANTA POLICE REQUIRED TO REFORM CONDUCT
• EAGLE GAY BAR RAID STILL HNTS ATLANTA POLICE DEPARTMENT
• POLICE TO DISCS RAID AT GAY BAR
• ATLANTA POLICE DEPARTMENT SUED OVER GAY BAR RAID
• ATLANTA POLICE RAID GAY BAR, ARRT 8
• ATLANTA MAYOR KASIM REED APOLOGIZ FOR EAGLE GAY BAR RAID
• ATLANTA GAY COMMUNY TO PROTT POLICE BAR RAID
• PLATIFFS PRAISE SETTLEMENT LAWSU OVER ATLANTA EAGLE GAY BAR RAID
• LAWYERS: POLICE ERASED DATA IN GAY BAR RAID

TORPY AT LARGE: WHAT DID APD LEARN OM THE EAGLE GAY BAR FIAS?

The ps are loggg to puters to watch a turgid and termable trag vio that teach them about legal search and to law enforcement, hardly anythg is more basic and the product rolled out by the police force, which was urt-orred, shows eher a partmental disda for learng, or a cy law partment’s thumbg s nose at a pky lawyer named Dan Grossman, who, like a terrier, grabbed hold of the cy’s ankle eight years ago and hasn’t let ’s go back to the September 2009, durg the last (real) mayoral electn, Atlanta police raid a gay bar on Ponce Leon Avenue and ma ham-hand policg a red-hot mpaign issue. Perhaps the gay bar raid was a new twist on an old the lawsu settlement me a mayoral apology and a cy vow to nduct proper trag as to when ps uld legally go through people’s pockets, rs and hom.

After closg two years ago, one of Atlanta’s olst and most legendary gay and leather bars is reopeng Midtown, and right before Pri next month. In 2009, a paraary, SWAT-type force of Atlanta police officers stormed to a gay bar lled the Atlanta Eagle whout a warrant, claimg to be searchg for public sex, dgs, and illegal weapons. Several patrons report that some officers ma racist and anti-gay slurs.

I ually go there to drk a beer, unwd, and watch a football game after rehearsg wh the Gay Men's Chos, " said Mark Danak, an SCHR client named the se.

LEGENDARY GAY BAR ATLANTA EAGLE IS REOPENG MIDTOWN

Perhaps, more notorly, durg s n as the Atlanta Eagle—a gay leather bar om 1987 to 2020—the nightspot ma headl for a botched 2009 police raid, where members of the vice squad, lookg for illegal dg e and acts of public sex, yelled anti-gay slurs and handcuffed patrons and employe face down on the bar floor. P’s and the Eagle are signifint, pecially as two inic gay-iendly bs serve up last ll—Este’s on Juniper Street shuttered after 30 years on June 1 wh s sister rtrant, Joe’s on Juniper, set to follow later this he helped to iate the savg of the Atlanta Eagle’s addrs, Charlie Pae, who grew up Atlanta’s Did Hills neighborhood and serv as the LGBTQ Historic Prervatn Advisory Commtee chair at Historic Atlanta, is also exced to see the rurrectn of Mrs. ”After a brief stt as the first home for after-hours night spot MJQ om 1994 to 1997, the fortun of the former gay bar the basement of the dilapidated Ponce Leon Hotel flounred, until eventually beme a board-up eyore on Ponce.

”Kg, who ed to drive past the space as a high schooler back when was MJQ, is pecially gnizant of what means to prerve one of the cy’s remag LGBTQ+ spac 2021, when Atlanta marks the 50th anniversary the cy’s first Pri march—a gay rights prott origally attend by participants sportg brown paper bags over their heads sce many feared beg fired for their sexual orientatn. P’s when he moved to Atlanta 1983, Clay Miller, now an admistrator of the 1, 761-member You’ve Lived Gay Atlanta a Long Time If You Remember… Facebook group, vividly rells a factoid he me across a book about that perd the cy’s history.

But by the 1960s and 1970s, the space had been largely taken over by gay men and transformed to a leather-and-Levi’s bar that featured some of the cy’s first drag shows.

AFTER ILLEGAL RAID OF GAY BAR, ATLANTA POLICE REQUIRED TO REFORM CONDUCT

Longtime rints who are members of the You’ve Lived Gay Atlanta a Long Time If You Remember… group recently reflected on their nights sippg 25-cent drafts si the small basement bar wh the black pated walls, where trysts ocsnally occurred the darkened rners and inic drag performers such as Atlanta’s Diamond Lil were regulars.

P’s skillfully navigated the cy’s strict ordanc and drs s, many put place to target gay bars and the drag performers who equented the tablishments.

“In the ’70’s, gay bars required patrons to wear neckti after 6 p. As the cy ntu to grow, ’s gog to bee more difficult to prerve the cy’s gay inty if we don’t thk about upont. Check for owners of the Atlanta gay bar on Ponce Leon Avenue have said their tablishment was unfairly targeted by police nductg a raid Thursday eveng.

EAGLE GAY BAR RAID STILL HNTS ATLANTA POLICE DEPARTMENT

"Danni Lynn Harris, Atlanta Police's liaison to the lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenred muny, said the volume of plats she's received om Eagle ctomers suggt an vtigatn is raid, nducted by the vice squad, was a rult of a tip sent to Mayor Shirley Frankl's office allegg “illic sex” at The Eagle, Harris said. “What I’ve been hearg is a lot of people sayg they were verbally abed, wh anti-gay overton, ” the LGBT liaison said.

POLICE TO DISCS RAID AT GAY BAR

ATLANTA – A natnal gay rights group filed a feral lawsu Tuday agast the cy of Atlanta and the Atlanta Police Department on behalf of 19 people who say they were illegally searched and taed durg a late-night raid on a crowd gay lawsu filed by Lambda Legal and other groups ntends that the police partment backed an illegal policy of searchg and tag every patron of the Atlanta Eagle Bar, regardls of whether they were spected of a crime.

ATLANTA POLICE DEPARTMENT SUED OVER GAY BAR RAID

It said terrorized patrons were forced to lie on beer-soaked floors while police nducted background checks and hurled anti-gay of the 62 patrons were arrted durg the Sept.

Police rerds show that unrver officers had also been to the club and wnsed men havg sex while others raid has galvanized the cy's gay muny, leadg upset activists to host ralli, prod Atlanta's mayoral ndidat and file plats claimg the officers ed excsive force and anti-gay language. "It's not about gay or straight, black or whe, " said Weber. The owners of an Atlanta gay bar say their tablishment was unfairly targeted by police nductg a raid Thursday eveng.

The protts are creded wh kick startg the morn gay rights a statement released early Friday eveng, the APD said the cy "received several plats wh scriptive rmatn about alleged crimal nduct at the Atlanta Eagle Club loted at 306 Ponce De Leon. ”Danni Lynn Harris, Atlanta Police's liaison to the lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenred muny, said the volume of plats she's received om Eagle ctomers suggt an vtigatn is raid, nducted by the vice squad, was a rult of a tip sent to Mayor Shirley Frankl's office allegg “illic sex” at The Eagle, Harris said.

ATLANTA POLICE RAID GAY BAR, ARRT 8

”Lopez said he didn’t hear any anti-gay ephets om the officers, as has been alleged several plats ma to Harris. Koperski also said he also didn’t hear any homophobic sults, “but that don’t mean they didn’t say .

Patrons of the Atlanta Eagle who were searched and taed when police raid the gay bar last September fally got their longed-for apology late Wednday, when Mayor Kasim Reed held a prs nference to speak out on a settlement agreement reached between the cy and platiffs a feral civil rights lawsu over the raid.

ATLANTA MAYOR KASIM REED APOLOGIZ FOR EAGLE GAY BAR RAID

There was also no doubt anti-gay prejudice played a role how the men were treated.

ATLANTA GAY COMMUNY TO PROTT POLICE BAR RAID

As he has done the past, Reed poted out that the raid on the Midtown gay bar happened September 2009, before he was elected mayor. Seven of 10 officers volved the Atlanta Eagle raid — cludg one sergeant who said he nsired gay people vlent — have been put on admistrative duty for vlatg the Atlanta Police Department’s tthfulns policy. Anti-gay prejudice by lead officers Sgt.

In the Greenberg Trrig terview wh Brock, he said he believed gay people were more vlent than other muni. “In the past I have as a patrol officer handled lls where there are gay upl livg rince where one is mad at the other, and they slash cloth, furnure, anythg they n do.

A fdg the OPS report addrsg the alleged anti-gay slurs hurled agast patrons of the Eagle remends disciplary actn agast Officer Jeremy Edwards. Gay activists Atlanta, Geia are. planng to prott Sunday agast a police raid on a gay leather bar.

PLATIFFS PRAISE SETTLEMENT LAWSU OVER ATLANTA EAGLE GAY BAR RAID

that rulted 8 arrts, gay weekly. towards the gay patrons, ” he add. “A lot of anti-gay ments were.

LAWYERS: POLICE ERASED DATA IN GAY BAR RAID

lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr muny liaison said. the gay rights group GLBTATL.

Patrons of the Atlanta Eagle filed the feral lawsu agast the cy and dozens of Atlanta Police Department officers November 2009 followg the botched raid of the gay bar on the night of Sept. The lawsu stated the Atlanta Police Department and s Red Dog un vlated the patrons’ feral and state nstutnal rights by illegally tag them, searchg them whout warrants and g anti-gay slurs durg the raid. Other ongog vtigatns The lawsu settlement also do not fully rolve all of the fallout om the raid, which shocked LGBT Atlantans and drew parisons to the 1969 raids on New York Cy’s Stonewall Inn that sparked rts and the morn gay rights movement.

And while the APD and cy lears have taken steps to rebuild tst wh Atlanta’s gay muny, cludg appotg a send police LGBT liaison officer and an LGBT cizen advisory panel, the wound ed by the raid uld take years to heal. Raids on gay bars and bathho served to spire the historic Stonewall rts that lnched the morn LGBTQ+ rights movement the U. Fifty years after the Black Cat protts Los Angel, which directly led to the lnch of The Advote, we take a look at some of the most nsequential strik on gay bars and bathho datg back more than a century.