Mike Alvear's Urge & Merge

Update on the police raid of The Eagle: Civil rights attorney Daniel Grossman convinced Lambda Legal, the gay civil rights organization that focuses on impact litigation, to help represent patrons who were victimized in the police raid of the The Eagle, a gay bar in Atlanta. Grossman’s quote says it all:

“Imagine if the police walked into a Wal-Mart and see someone shoplifting, and because they see what they think is a crime taking place in Wal-Mart, they take everyone at Wal-Mart, throw them on the floor, spread their legs, put their hands in their pockets, take their IDs, put their name in the computer, simply because they’re out of place or someone else may or may not be doing something wrong.”

For more on the story: CNN.

For the legal implications of the case–and more importantly, to donate money or support to the legal defense– visit Grossman’s site at Atlantaeagleraid.com.

Pride Goeth Before The Fall

Six weeks ago, the Atlanta police threw everybody in a gay bar called The Eagle–including sixty year old men–to the ground, handcuffing them face down on the floor (many were laying on broken glass), confiscating their IDs, and shouting homophobic slurs. After two hours, they finally let everyone go. Without a single arrest of the patrons.

Stonewall anyone?

So it came as quite a shock when the Atlanta Pride Committee named the city’s gay police liaison as co-grand marshal of the quarter million person+ parade (coming up this weekend). On the 40th anniversary of Stonewall, no less.

The Pride Committee had actually selected the officer before the unconstitutional police raid but announced it afterward. Indeed, the gay liaison, Dani Lee Harris, was an admirable choice BEFORE the raid. But after? Especially after Harris was booed when she defended the police raid at a city hall rally?

It’s like asking Chris Brown’s publicist to lead a march against domestic violence. Complete with parade organizers telling us to put a little makeup over the black and blues and man up.

Shut Up, Rihanna. It Wasn’t That Bad. With it’s insistence that Harris remain as Read the rest of this entry »

That’s how much she thinks of the gay community. The woman who couldn’t be bothered to make an official statement about the police raid, listen to a deluge of citizen complaints, respond to dozens of media inquiries or answer letters written by respected gay organizations, finally gave us her thoughts.

Near the Hand Tools department.

A reporter for Southern Voice. “Southern Voice spotted her and presumably did a Red Dog take down of the Woman Formerly Known as the City’s Leader. She told the reporter that she was unaware that the police raid had torn the gay community apart.

“Early in the media I recall that there had not been complaints, there had been complaints in the media, but not formal complaints to the Atlanta Police department, so I don’t know what the flow [of information] was.”

Right. She just didn’t know. Never mind the five local channels carried the story along with every local print and online publication, not to mention the Associated Press and United Press International. Or the press conference that police chief Pennington gave about the raid.

She didn’t know. After all, she was shopping.

“If there are any allegations about misconduct it’s our intention to investigate them and take the appropriate action,” she said. “I believe that every person who lives or visits Atlanta should be treated fairly and justly.”

Presumably she cut off her one statement on the matter because she was later for the blue light special in Hardware.

What happened to the woman that gay people voted for in droves? I understand she’s got “Senioritis” as one friend put it (seniors in high school facing the last couple of months of school can’t bear the thought of attending classes).

I even understand that as a lame duck mayor she’s got very little power. But half the power of being a mayor is that you own the bully pulpit. You are the spokesperson for the conscience of the city. How much power would it take to simply say, “This is Atlanta, the home of Martin Luther King Jr. We don’t do shit like this.”

Forgive me, Martin.

Mayor Franklin, do you really care so little that you couldn’t make a simple statement unless your cart accidentally bumped into a reporter?

Mayor, if your yawn about this city gets any bigger they’re going to name a hurricane after it.

What Really Happened the Night of the Raid.

About a hundred people showed up in the middle of an unrelenting downpour to hear community leaders voice everyone’s outrage over the police raid of The Eagle, a peaceful gay bar in Atlanta.

The best speaker by far, was Patti Ellis, the mother of two boys–one straight; one gay. Patti is one of the co-founders of the emotionally wrenching Family Acceptance, a site that helps conservative southern parents accept their gay children. At the end of her speech people were shouting, “We’re your kids too!”

I’d rather publish the text of her speech, but she did it off the top of her head, angering the rest of us who spent time preparing and still couldn’t hold a candle to her. Instead, you’ll have to settle for mine:

First, let me say what everybody’s thinking and nobody’s saying: forcing anybody to lay face down on the grubby floors of that bar constitutes a human rights violation under the terms of the Geneva Convention!

I mean, I’d rather be water boarded.

It’s a good thing the raid didn’t happen somewhere like Blake’s, where the crowd is younger, meaner and drunker. Imagine the police bursting into Blake’s in the middle of one of their drag shows when one of those queens was trying to hit the high note on her finale.

Oh. My. God.

There would have been a riot. The cops could’ve been killed! We can’t let this happen because there aren’t enough cops in the street as it is.

My point, and I do have one, is that this protest has nothing to do with The Eagle. It’s not about defending this bar, it’s about protecting the next one. Because if we don’t draw a line in the sand, these raids are going to happen again and again.

It’s my personal belief that the raid on The Eagle was motivated in part by a deep hatred and fear of gay people. You heard of the Gay Panic Defense? This was the Gay Panic Offense.

How else can you explain the police’s judgment that the possibility of two men making out in the corner of a bar poses a greater threat to this city than rape, robbery or murder?

How else can you explain a mentality that says the possibility of a handjob is more dangerous than the reality of a home invasion?

Over 50 crimes a day occur in the city of Atlanta and the police diverted up to 30 cops into a gay bar to arrest 8 people dancing in their underwear?

Why?

Gay panic. The belief that gay people pose a greater risk to the city than crooks, criminals and convicts.

I want to say this as plainly and bluntly as I can:

We got mugged by the police.

They stuck a gun in our ribs and said, “Give it up or else.”

They stole our dignity the way crooks steal our wallets.

The standard advice when you get mugged is Don’t Resist. We didn’t. But as any cop will tell you, the key to avoiding future muggings is not to make yourself vulnerable. Because muggers are always looking for an easy target.

Is that what we want to be? An easy target? Or do we want to take defensive maneuvers and make sure we never get mugged by the police again?

DON’T BE A VICTIM.

Atlanta’s gay community woke up with a shock last week when they learned that dozens of cops stormed into a tranquil gay bar, forced 62 patrons to lay on the grubby floors face down for an hour, ransacked through their pockets, rounded up their ID’s, threatened jail time to anybody who asked why they were being held against their will, and then threw them out–without letting them have access to their cell phones, wallets and other personal belongings.

All so they could arrest eight men for dancing in their underwear.

That’s the only charge police could come up with. They traumatized 62 men, violated their constitutional rights against illegal search and seizure, threatened them with arrest if they didn’t comply, trashed an iconic neighborhood bar so they could do what?  Arrest a few guys doing the Macarena in their Calvin Klein underwear?

Of course, that’s not what the police were looking for. They were looking for something that posed an intolerable danger to the city; something that menaced the public safety; something worse than home invasions or armed robbery:  Sex.

Or rather, the possibility of it.

The police had raided the bar because anonymous tips–and their own undercover work–showed that in a few instances, a few men were kinda, sorta, MAYBE doing the deed at the back of the bar.

The operative word being maybe.

This of course, sent law enforcement officers into an orgy of panic. If there was ever a reason to divert police resources from armed assaults plaguing the city, this was it!

Welcome to a southern-style sex panic. The only thing missing from the police action was the captain waving goodbye to the tyrannized and saying, “Ya’ll come back now, ya hear?”

Here’s how a sex panic works in the south:  First, you convince yourself that two guys looking at each other like Elvis looked at a pork chop poses more of a threat to public safety than two guys who look at your property as if it were their own.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mark Danack was watching the football game at his favorite bar, The Eagle, when he heard somebody yell, “HIT THE GROUND!” He thought a fight had broken out. The lights switched on and up to 30 cops were yelling, screaming and ordering everyone to the ground. The police had raided the bar.

“Shut the fuck up!” a cop yelled at one of the bar patrons who asked why they were being forced to lay face down on the grubby floors.

An acquaintance saw the police shove an 80 year-old man to the ground because he was moving too slowly.

“No questions! Do what you’re told or we’ll arrest you!” The officers threatened jail time to anybody asking why they were being held against their will.

The search and seizures began. Everything in everyone’s pockets was taken away.

“None of your goddamned business! Get back on the floor and shut the hell up!” Driver’s licenses were taken and put through a laptop screening.

“I said SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Three paddy wagons were waiting outside.

Nick Koperski was enraged. He knew he had done nothing wrong. Yet there he was, lying on the floor, face down, his pockets emptied. He had it better than some of the others, like Du-wan Ray, one of the bar’s managers. He was handcuffed on the back deck.

“I hate queers,” a cop said. Other officers–some plain-clothed, some uniformed– walked around the bar demanding to know who was in the military, threatening to report them to their commanding officers.

Sixty two men and the cops didn’t find a suspended license, a criminal prior, nothing. Not even a parking ticket.

The search and seizure uncovered nothing. No drugs. Not even a joint.

Finally, the men were ordered to leave but without their cell phones, wallets and other personal belongings.

Postscript:
Eight staff members were arrested and put in jail without bond. The charge: Dancing in their underwear without a permit. If it were not for the intervention of two Atlanta City Council candidates who contacted a judge who then set bail, the men would have spent the weekend in jail.

The lawyer retained to defend the bar said:

Anatomy of a Southern Sex Panic.