Seattle Police Crack Down on Gay Nightclubs

Eric Gelbart started showing porn at R Place, the bar he manages, to deter clueless homophobes and bar cruisers who wandered in to start trouble. Gelbart was trying to reclaim the atmosphere of his club, and as far as that's concerned, he thinks he succeeded. "We knew it was illegal, but it really cleaned up our bar," Gelbart says.

But SPD officer John O'Neill wasn't as enthused. O'Neill and fellow SPD officer Ryan Gallagher—who have been on the bar beat ever since violence at two Capitol Hill clubs renewed concerns about safety in the neighborhood—paid Gelbart a visit to warn him about the videos back in March. "[O'Neill] was shaking with anger," said Gelbart. "I don't know why, but it really seemed to strike him in a personal way."

After the visit, R Place stopped playing the videos (which, according to Gelbart and a couple of the club's DJs, consisted of a few guys flashing their pubes), but other bars around Capitol Hill say they've run into similar issues with the pair. Neither officer was available for comment, and an SPD spokesman did not return a call.

State law bans clubs and bars from displaying pictures or videos "depicting pornography, or a sexual act." The law—a vestige of the days when liquor was first banned from strip clubs and bars were required to have seating for children—holds all clubs and restaurants to the same standards. Susan Reams, a spokeswoman for the state liquor control board, says, "All licensees have to follow the law."

See   Seattle Police Crack Down on Gay Nightclubs
TheStranger.com, WA