Police raid: Hollywood, Florida Police targeted gay men. Photo: Florida Police Facebook
A gay man has been fired from his job after being arrested in a police sting on an adult boutique.
The man was arrested for having consensual sex with another man in the Pleasure Emporium in Hollywood, Florida.
Raided: Gay man arrested at the Pleasure Emporium, Hollywood, Florida. Photo: Pleasure Emporium Facebook
Trial attorney Abbie Cuellar, who represents the man, said Hollywood police department officers allegedly went undercover at Pleasure Emporium. Once there, they reportedly encouraged the unsuspecting men to commit sexual acts.
Cuellar said the officers allowed the men to complete the sexual acts, then allowed them to leave before arresting them. ‘If they touched themselves for one second, then under the police department’s logic, wouldn’t that have been enough?’ She told LGBTI community website them.us.
Cuellar said that after her client’s arrest, his name and photograph were published in a number of local media outlets, including the Miami Herald.
Sting was like gay bar raids in 1960s New York
‘It makes me feel like we’re back in the ’60s and we’re in New York City, back when the bars were being raided,’ Cuellar told LGBTI community platform them.us. ‘How is it different?’
The man was arrested on 25 July and fired from his job as a nurse at a hospital in Broward County on Monday.
‘He had no opportunity to explain himself’, Cuellar told them.us. ‘He was humiliated. When he tried to access his email, it had been blocked. They sent him a letter saying he was terminated due to him being arrested, and he was indeed terminated on Monday.’
Abbie Cuellar: Trial attorney visited raided boutique to assess case. Photo: Amador & Cuellar
The man’s attorney said she visited Pleasure Emporium, where the sting was carried out. Her aim was to see if it was possible that her client’s activity could be seen by any member of the general public.
‘You can’t go back there unless you pay the front desk person to use the theater, or go into one of the private rooms, and you get escorted back there,’ she said. ‘You can’t get into the theater otherwise. These rooms are locked. You can’t see in them unless you’re seven feet tall.’
Victim vows to fight back against arrest
She said her client fell into a deep depression after losing his job. While she admitted to being concerned for him, she said he does plan to fight and she hopes the other men who were arrested will do so too.
‘They [the police] hope these men will take a plea because they’ve already suffered so much humiliation,’ she said. ‘I hope they won’t. My client was so depressed. I wasn’t sure he was going to get through this, but he thought, ‘I either let them shame me to death, or I stand up.’’
‘That’s why gay people have rights to begin with,’ she said.
See also:
A photo of a gay couple kissing is sparking outrage at a Brazilian tourist spot
