New York gay bar VERS attacked for fourth time a month

Contents:

• INDICTMENTS ARE HAND UP NNECTN WH NYC GAY BAR KILLGS, SOURC SAY
• DEATHS OF 2 MEN THAT WERE DGGED, ASSLTED AT GAY NIGHTCLUBS LED AS HOMICIS
• BRICK THROWN AT AN NYC GAY BAR IS BEG VTIGATED AS A HATE CRIME
• NYPD IS VTIGATG A STRG OF ASSLTS POTENTIALLY LKED TO ATHS OF 2 GAY MEN
• PATRONS OF NYC GAY BAR PACATED AND ROBBED OF THOANDS VIA FACIAL REGNN ON THEIR PHON
• MULTIPLE BRICK THROWG CINTS REPORTED AT NYC GAY BAR
• DGGGS, DEATHS AND ROBBERI PUT NEW YORK’S GAY COMMUNY ON EDGE
• NEW YORK CY GAY BAR ATTACKED FOR FOURTH TIME A MONTH: ‘WE N NOT STAND FOR THIS’
• SPECT NYC GAY BAR ATTACKS ARRTED
• MAN ARRTED NYC GAY BAR ATTACKS SAID WAS ‘REVENGE’ ON BEHALF OF FEMALE IEND
• NYC GAY BAR ATTACKED SEVERAL TIM, NYPD QUTNG POSSIBLE SPECT
• VIO SHOWS MAN THROW BRICK AT WDOW OF NYC GAY BAR; 4TH ATTACK AT SAME SPOT A WEEK
• MAN THROWS BRICK INTO WDOW AT NYC GAY BAR, VIO SHOWS

INDICTMENTS ARE HAND UP NNECTN WH NYC GAY BAR KILLGS, SOURC SAY

Photograph: Marie Le Ble/Zuma Wire/Rex/ShutterstockThis week, New York Cy’s mayor, Eric Adams, posned the cy as a welg place for queer people ntrast to plac like Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis jt signed a “don’t say gay” law. New York Cy’s most well-known cint is the police raid at Stonewall Inn that sparked the 1969 Stonewall Uprisg – and helped lnch the morn gay rights movement. A Manhattan grand jury has dicted several spects nnectn wh the aths of two men who were dgged and killed separate cints followg viss to New York Cy gay bars last year, two law enforcement officials said Wednday.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office cled to ment, as did an NYPD spokman, cg the ongog Umberger and Jul Clary; Fay photoUmberger and Ramirez were both found ad after visg gay bars the cy’s lively Hell’s Kchen neighborhood last sprg. It is unclear, however, if they were of gay men found ad after visg gay bars or whether they were nnected to the dicted spects.

”In the months followg the aths of Ramirez and Umberger, more gay New Yorkers stepped forward wh eerily siar acunts.

DEATHS OF 2 MEN THAT WERE DGGED, ASSLTED AT GAY NIGHTCLUBS LED AS HOMICIS

NBC News has spoken wh several gay men who said they survived siar cints om December 2021 to October 2022, both before and after the aths of Ramirez and NYPD nfirmed mid-November that was vtigatg addnal acunts of grand larceny at other Manhattan gay bars that had siari to the Umberger and Ramirez s.

The New York Cy Office of the Chief Medil Examer led Friday on the aths of two men who died after they were dgged and beaten at gay nightclubs Hell's 2022 aths of John Umberger and Jul Ramirez were led homicis after they were given dgs tated wh fentanyl, acrdg to police. It brought public attentn to several patterns of dgggs and robberi, some volvg members of the gay muny, that rulted as many as seven overdose medil examer’s termatn the aths were homicis now allows tectiv and prosecutors to beg pursug charg agast the spects who are unr vtigatn other, siar, aths. 22, 2022, 12:31 AM UTCOne of New York Cy's newt gay bars has had a brick thrown at s ont wdow four tim recent weeks, s owner says.

BRICK THROWN AT AN NYC GAY BAR IS BEG VTIGATED AS A HATE CRIME

The latt cint, jt this past weekend, is beg vtigated as a hate crime, the New York Police Department taken Saturday night and verified by NBC News shows a person, whom thori are still tryg to intify, hurlg a brick at the ont wdow of VERS, a gay bar loted on Nth Avenue that opened July.

Erik Bottcher, a New York Cy uncil member who reprents Hell’s Kchen and is gay, lled the cints “hate crim” a tweet on Sunday and urged anyone wh rmatn that uld intify the perpetrator to reach out to the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force. “A well-known gay bar on Manhattan’s wt si has been attacked repeatedly recent weeks. ”The attacks e as the NYPD also vtigat a seri of robberi and asslts that may be nnected to the aths of two gay men earlier this year after they left Hell’s Kchen gay bars, the NYPD nfirmed this month.

The brick that was thrown at VERS did shatter the glass but sred patrons Wrabetz / NBC NewsOn the other si of the untry, wh hours of the cint at VERS on Saturday, a gunman Colorado Sprgs opened fire at a gay nightclub, leavg five ad and 19 wound. While DeParola strsed that his bar is a safe place and that no one was hurt durg any of the cints volvg his tablishment, he said he also feels the untry is a moment of “embolned anti-gay, anti-trans rurgence. REUTERS/Kev Mohatt/File PhotoNEW YORK, Nov 23 (Rters) - After the 2016 massacre at the Pulse nightclub Florida, the owners of New York Cy gay bar C'mon Everybody hired more secury staff, and the LGBT landmark Stonewall Inn ran active-shooter safety drills wh s bars and other LGBT spac around the untry are aga weighg how to keep their staff and patrons safe after a gunman killed five people and jured 17 more at an LGBT club Colorado Sprgs.

NYPD IS VTIGATG A STRG OF ASSLTS POTENTIALLY LKED TO ATHS OF 2 GAY MEN

Many worry that physil secury measur n only go so far, and that stnchg a surge of flammatory anti-LGBT rhetoric is a better Club Q attack, which is beg vtigated as a hate crime, has pound the fear and anger of a muny already nontg a wave of Republin legislatn directed at transgenr youth and gay Amerins, and what they say is a related rise threats and vlence agast s members. "It's really tirg for the gay muny that time and time aga we have to e up wh the solutns for problems that other people make, " said Jonathan Hat, executive director of Drag Queen Story Hour, a nonprof group that aniz drag performers readg books to children 45 stat that has been repeatedly targeted and threatened this year.

"Jt hours before the attack at Club Q Colorado Sprgs, someone threw a brick through the wdow of gay bar Vers the Hell's Kchen neighborhood of New York Cy for the fourth time this month, acrdg to police.

PATRONS OF NYC GAY BAR PACATED AND ROBBED OF THOANDS VIA FACIAL REGNN ON THEIR PHON

Erik Bottcher, the cy uncil member reprentg Hell's Kchen, has joed other officials over the last week to warn that one or more people are dggg and robbg gay men the rponse to those attacks and the Colorado shootg, the Anti-Vlence Project, a non-prof group found 1980 after a spate of attacks on gay men, plans to hold a safety event at a Hell's Kchen gay bar on Wednday night. Volunteers will talk wh staff and patrons about ways to heighten vigilance bars, on hook-up and datg apps, and wh partners at attack on the Pulse gay nightclub Orlando six years ago, durg which a man shot ad 49 people, forced many bars to review their secury plans.

In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott has said he is tryg to protect children om abe by prohibg many typ of genr-affirmg medil re for Lentz, a -owner of Stonewall Inn, the se of the 1969 rts that talyzed the gay liberatn movement, echoed others the dtry sayg venu are reachg the lims of what physil fens n achieve. A state senator Tennsee has troduced a bill that would crimalize drag performanc the prence of still performs for adults, cludg a drag bgo night he was hostg on Tuday at a Nashville gay bar.

The Stonewall Rts, also lled the Stonewall Uprisg, began the early hours of June 28, 1969 when New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn, a gay club loted Greenwich Village New York Cy.

MULTIPLE BRICK THROWG CINTS REPORTED AT NYC GAY BAR

The Stonewall Rts served as a talyst for the gay rights movement the Uned Stat and around the world.

Constant Raids at Gay BarsThe 1960s and precedg s were not welg tim for lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) Amerins. For stance, solicatn of same-sex relatns was illegal New York such reasons, LGBT dividuals flocked to gay bars and clubs, plac of refuge where they uld exprs themselv openly and socialize whout worry.

DGGGS, DEATHS AND ROBBERI PUT NEW YORK’S GAY COMMUNY ON EDGE

However, the New York State Liquor Authory penalized and shut down tablishments that served alhol to known or spected LGBT dividuals, argug that the mere gatherg of homosexuals was “disorrly.

But engagg gay behavr public (holdg hands, kissg or dancg wh someone of the same sex) was still illegal, so police harassment of gay bars ntued and many bars still operated whout liquor licens— part bee they were owned by the Rights Before StonewallThe first documented U. Gay rights anizatn, The Society for Human Rights (SHR), was found 1924 by Henry Gerber, a German immigrant. Police raids forced them to disband 1925, but not before they had published several issu of their newsletter, “Friendship and Freedom, ” the untry’s first gay-tert newsletter.

In 1966, three years before Stonewall, members of The Mattache Society, an anizatn dited to gay rights, staged a “sip-” where they openly clared their sexualy at taverns, darg staff to turn them away and sug tablishments who did. When The Commissn on Human Rights led that gay dividuals had the right to be served bars, police raids were temporarily Stonewall Inn The crime syndite saw prof terg to shunned gay clientele, and by the mid-1960s, the Genove crime fay ntrolled most Greenwich Village gay bars.

NEW YORK CY GAY BAR ATTACKED FOR FOURTH TIME A MONTH: ‘WE N NOT STAND FOR THIS’

In 1966, they purchased Stonewall Inn (a “straight” bar and rtrant), cheaply renovated , and reopened the next year as a gay bar. It weled drag queens, who received a bter receptn at other gay bars and clubs. It was a nightly home for many naways and homels gay youths, who panhandled or shoplifted to afford the entry fee.

SPECT NYC GAY BAR ATTACKS ARRTED

And was one of the few—if not the only—gay bar left that allowed were still a fact of life, but ually rpt ps would tip off Mafia-n bars before they occurred, allowg owners to stash the alhol (sold whout a liquor license) and hi other illegal activi. Stonewall's LegacyThough the Stonewall uprisg didn’t start the gay rights movement, was a galvanizg force for LGBT polil activism, leadg to numero gay rights anizatns, cludg the Gay Liberatn Front, Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD (formerly Gay and Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn), and PFLAG (formerly Parents, Fai and Friends of Lbians and Gays) the one-year anniversary of the rts on June 28, 1970, thoands of people marched the streets of Manhattan om the Stonewall Inn to Central Park what was then lled “Christopher Street Liberatn Day, ” Ameri’s first gay pri para.

MAN ARRTED NYC GAY BAR ATTACKS SAID WAS ‘REVENGE’ ON BEHALF OF FEMALE IEND

”In 2016, then-Print Barack Obama signated the se of the rts—Stonewall Inn, Christopher Park, and the surroundg streets and siwalks—a natnal monument regnn of the area’s ntributn to gay Gallery The Stonewall Inn is a bar loted New York Cy’s Greenwich Village that served as a haven the 1960s for the cy’s gay, lbian and transgenr muny. At the time, homosexual acts remaed illegal every state except Illois, and bars and rtrants uld get shut down for havg gay employe or servg gay patrons. Most gay bars and clubs New York at the time were operated by the Mafia, who paid rptible police officers to look the other way and blackmailed wealthy gay patrons by threateng to “out” them.

Here, protters monstrate outsi the New York gay bar, Christopher's the early hours of June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Inn was raid by police wh no warng.

Sylvia Rivera was a Lata-Amerin drag queen who beme one of the most radil gay and transgenr activists of the 1960s and '70s. As -founr of the Gay Liberatn Front, Rivera was known for participatg the Stonewall Rts and tablishg the polil anizatn STAR (Street Transvte Actn Revolutnari). After the Stonewall Rts, a msage was pated on the outsi of the board-up bar readg, "We homosexuals plead wh out people to please help mata peaceful and quiet nduct on the streets of the village.

NYC GAY BAR ATTACKED SEVERAL TIM, NYPD QUTNG POSSIBLE SPECT

" This sign was wrten by the Mattache Society–an early anizatn dited to fightg for gay unintified group of young people celebrate outsi the board-up Stonewall Inn after the rts. More and more supporters gathered outsi the bar, chantg slogans like “gay power” and “we shall overe.

VIO SHOWS MAN THROW BRICK AT WDOW OF NYC GAY BAR; 4TH ATTACK AT SAME SPOT A WEEK

”Over the next several nights, gay activists ntued to gather near the Stonewall, takg advantage of the moment to spread rmatn and build the muny that would fuel the growth of the gay rights movement. They are pictured here marchg Tim Square,, Sylvia Ray Rivera (ont) and Arthur Bell are seen at a gay liberatn monstratn, New York Universy, 1970 Marsha P. Johnson is seen at a Gay Liberatn Front monstratn at Cy Hall New York, a large crowd memorat the 2nd anniversary of the Stonewall rts Greenwich Village of New York Cy 1971.

MAN THROWS BRICK INTO WDOW AT NYC GAY BAR, VIO SHOWS

The New York Cy Police Department nfirmed Monday that is vtigatg a strg of robberi and asslts that may be nnected to the aths of two gay men earlier this year shortly after they left gay bars Manhattan's Hell's Kchen neighborhood. His fay prevly told NBC News that approximately $20, 000 had been draed om his bank acunts and that they believed he was Umberger and Jul Ramirez were dgged and killed separate cints followg viss to New York Cy gay Clary / Fay photoAbout a month later, Umberger, a 33-year-old polil nsultant, was found ad after he and two unintified men left another popular Hell's Kchen gay bar, the Q. Three men who vised a New York Cy gay bar were robbed of thoands of dollars g facial regnn accs on their phon, the New York Police Department nfirmed on three men, who were their late 30s and 40s, vised a Chelsea gay leather bar, The Eagle NYC, on separate nights October and November and were each robbed of $1, 000 to $5, 000, acrdg to the NYPD’s puty missner of public rmatn.

”The police spokperson said the cints at The Eagle NYC and Hotel Chantelle are not related to any other pattern of robberi happeng the recent robberi bear a remblance to the s, reported by NBC News November, of Jul Ramirez, 25, a social worker, and John Umberger, 33, a polil nsultant, who were targeted siar fashn and suffered unexplaed the separate evengs of their aths, Ramirez and Umberger were seen leavg New York Cy gay bars wh groups of men before their bank acunts were draed of thoands of dollars g facial regnn accs to their phon, acrdg to their fay members. A gay bar New York Cy has been the target of multiple recent brick attacks, wh at least one cint ught on bar is VERS on 9th Avenue the Hell's Kchen neighborhood of Manhattan, acrdg to New York Cy Councilman Erik Bottcher. AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTAt first, the men’s aths were treated as overdos, until tens of thoands of dollars were found draed om their bank Umberger was seen leavg the Q nightclub Manhattan, his mother Moon for The New York TimJul Ramirez died the back seat of a taxi April after he left a popular gay bar Manhattan wh a group of men.

They stole his wallet, phone and ID before they abandoned his body the r wh a distrsed month later, John Umberger was found ad an Upper East Si townhoe after he and a group of men left another popular gay bar jt three blocks om the last place Mr. Muny at first regard the aths as isolated dg overdos: men who partied too hard, quotidian tragedi a gay nightlife scene that has roared back to life as the ronavis panmic has the men’s fai soon disvered somethg more sister: Cred rds the men’s nam were maxed out and their bank acunts draed of tens of thoands of dollars. Muny, which emerged om the panmic to the jaws of a monkeypox outbreak, a landspe of stgglg and sometim shuttered bars and an creasgly hostile natnal polil have also spread fear and mor, while startg a broar nversatn about siar attacks that have quietly plagued the cy’s gay nightlife for years.