Police raid on gay bar, sees numerous rights of patrons violated

At the Atlanta Eagle, an Atlanta bar with gay patrons, police conducted a raid in 2009. A website dedicated to the memory of this raid, states on their website:

"An independent investigation has confirmed that Atlanta police officers broke the law during the raid of the Atlanta Eagle gay bar in September, 2009 by unlawfully searching and seizing patrons who were not suspected of any crime. Twenty-four Atlanta police officers were found to have falsely imprisoned patrons during the raid; ten officers were found to have lied about their actions; and ten officers destroyed evidence in a federal lawsuit by deleting data from their mobile phones. Eagle patrons were forced to lay face-down on the bar’s floor in part because of the anti-gay prejudices of the raid commander, and some police officers made anti-gay comments during the raid."

Of course, an even more famous raid by the police against a gay bar was the Stonewall Inn raid by police in New York City, in 1969. Indeed, men who were dressed in women clothing and women dressed in non-feminine clothing, were commonly arrested by raids on gay bars at that time. Any bar that catered to a gay clientele was a target by the police and city government. So, what the police could get away with in 1969, shouldn't be what they can get away with now.

This isn't Saudi Arabia or Iran, nobody should live under religious inspired anti-gay sentiment, as expressed by representatives of our government, in this case, the police. By the way, there was a million dollar payout to the patrons of this bar and these businesses for this illegally conducted raid. Good.