Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Prostitution Protest Seems to Be Making Progress
By
Billy Parker
Published Feb 15, 2009
Modified Feb 15, 2009
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Billy Parker
Published Feb 15, 2009
Modified Feb 15, 2009
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Yesterday's protest in front of Mayor Bloomberg's residence at Gracie Mansion seems to have drawn the attention that demonstrators were hoping for after weeks of growing anger from within the gay community over claims that the NYPD has been targeting gay men and the porn shops they patronize under trumped up charges of prostitution. Activists compared the situation with the Stonewall raid of 1969. Attorney Bill Dobbs said, “Forty years later, the NYPD is still targeting gay men and places we gather."
While Mayor Bloomberg has only addressed the issue indirectly, he did send senior staff members to a meeting this week at City Council offices where leading voices within the local gay community sat down with police officials and Speaker Christine Quinn among others. Andy Velez of the Coalition to Stop the Arrests tells Gay City that police at the meeting admitted to taking a pause from said arrests.
30 men were arrested by city vice cops in six porn shops in 2008. NYPD spokesman Paul Browne defends against charges that the Department is going after gay-themed video stores pointing out that only 3 of the 100 nuisance cases that involved prostitution last year were at such businesses.
One of those businesses is Blue Dog Video in the East Village, which settled a lawsuit filed by the city on the heels of several arrests coming from a sting operation at the store. Its owner spoke to the Times on the condition of anonymity because he said he did not want his daughter to know that he worked at the store. He told them, “It is like any other video store...all these people who got accused — I cannot believe they are prostitutes.”
Many of the men who claim that they were lured into the prostitution charges despite never agreeing to anything more than consensual sex have pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Openly gay State Senator Thomas Duane told the Times, “There is a certain amount of discomfort that these men would be having consensual sex with someone that they just met."
Tagged
bill dobbs
gay city news
gay community
nuisance laws
nypd
prostitution
Thomas Duane
Billy Parker
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Deer are all over New Jersey roads looking for sex, state officials warn
Mid-October through mid-December is deer mating season, which can be a danger to drivers as the sex-seeking creatures cross roadways throughout the Garden State.
By
Rosemary Misdary
Published Oct 16, 2026 at 4:22 p.m. ET
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
A transcript from an April court hearing sheds new light on what transpired at Fashion Institute of Technology.
By
Samantha Max
News
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
A transcript from an April court hearing sheds new light on what transpired at Fashion Institute of Technology.
By
Samantha Max
Inside the plan to fix the nearly collapsed Pfizer Building, 1/64th of an inch at a time
By
David Brand
School bus carrying autistic students got lost in Brooklyn for 4 hours last year
By
Jessica Gould
NYC’s bridges can last 'forever,' if we take care of them
By
Clayton Guse
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .