Saturday At Noon: Protest At Bloomberg's Home Over Gay Men Falsely Arrested For Prostitution

Tomorrow at noon there will be a protest at Mayor Bloomberg's Upper East Side home over the NYPD's practice of falsely arresting gay men for prostitution at the city's adult bookstores. Duncan Osbourne at Gay City News has been following this story for months; I first mentioned his coverage here in late October.

Basically, the cops are sending hot young guys into porn shops where they offer to pay much older gay men for sex off the premises. As ridiculous as that scenario may be, if the customer does leave with the young man, he is arrested outside. So far over 50 gay men have been arrested. Some have plead guilty in order not to go to trial. Others are vigorously denying the charge.

The protest is being organized by Robert Pinter, who was arrested in October. Pinter's story is here. The arrests have been condemned by several high-ranking NYC officials, including City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Mayor Bloomberg lives at 17 E.79th Street near Central Park. I'll be there and get some photographs of the protest.