Source URL: https://americanendeavor.blogspot.com/search/label/New%20York%20CityGay activists and civil rights lawyers will go to court Thursday to try to stop the NYPD from closing Chi Chiz, a Christopher Street bar that caters to homosexual and transgendered black men.
The police claim in Manhattan Supreme Court that on four instances in a six-month period, undercover officers witnessed the sale of marijuana, cocaine and other controlled substances in the bar, which opened 12 years ago.
But Chi Chiz supporters say the crackdown's motivated by racism and homophobia in a community that's increasingly white, wealthy and worried about property values.
"These are the same people who forced the city to tear down the Women's House of Detention on Sixth Avenue and Christopher Street," activist Allen Roskoff told Page Six.
"Manhattan so-called liberals are only so when it affects others. Otherwise, they cry 'quality of life' and 'not in my neighborhood.' "
Chi Chiz's lawyer, Tom Shanahan, told Page Six the city asked the bar to make an iron-clad guarantee that no drugs would be sold or used on its premises -- but Chi Chiz couldn't promise that.
"We can't guarantee that," Shanahan explained. "I said to the judge, when the city figures out how to keep drugs off Rikers Island, they can hold us to the same standard. The terms they are insisting on would put us out of business. This is what they wanted all along."
Source URL: https://americanendeavor.blogspot.com/search/label/New%20York%20CityNew York City’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is standing with the Puerto Rican community to demand that the rash of anti-gay and transgender murders in Puerto Rico be properly investigated and covered by the media.
The New York City Council along with other elected officials, in a press conference, will declare July 13 the “New York City Day Against Homophobia” to symbolically stand in solidarity with the LGBT Puerto Rican community.
WHERE: Steps of New York City Hall – 2 Lafayette St (Chambers Street)
WHEN: Tuesday – July 13, 2010 11:00 am
WHO: New York State Senator Thomas K. Duane, New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, New York City Council Members Rosie Mendez, Melissa Mark-Viverito, Daniel Dromm, Jimmy Van Bramer, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Latino Commission on AIDS, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, New York City Anti-Violence Project, The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, The Puerto Rican Initiative to Develop Empowerment, Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund
Since 2002, 25 gay and transgender people have been murdered in Puerto Rico—six of these murders occurred since last November. Most of these crimes were not investigated by the local authorities as hate crimes and very few have received media coverage.
“This is about the concrete harms that members of our community still face even with inclusive hate crime protections. Everyday LGBT people face, harassment, violence and even murder simply for being who they are. The media has a responsibility to elevate these important stories,” said Rashad Robinson, Senior Director of Media Programs for GLAAD. “We are proud to work with the New York City Council and our fellow community partners to raise visibility around this issue and demand these stories be told in the media.”
“This is about members of the Puerto Rican lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender community feeling safe in their communities and being able to take care of the ones they love,” said Pedro Julio Serrano, communications manager, for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. “New York City’s LGBT community stands with the Puerto Rican community in response to this rash of murders and demands that they receive proper investigations by the local authorities and coverage by the local media,” he continued.
