From: Gabo3@aol.com
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 09:40:51 -0400

New York Newsday - Thursday, June 8, 1995
QUEENS GET UNDER A QUEENS COP'S SKIN
by Gabriel Rotello
	New York - For decades Manhattan was the only New York City borough where
lesbians and gay men felt safe enough to lead open lives. Lately, however,
the boroughs have been catching up fast. When folks in Queens began holding
their own annual gay and lesbian pride march three years ago, it was taken as
another sign that you no longer have to live in Manhattan to be openly gay.
	Which is why the nasty little police incident at Sunday's march in Queens
was so disappointing, and unnerving. 
	After the march, thousands gathered before an open air stage in Jackson
Heights for a show. At a few minutes after 7 p.m., with popular local singer
Caro on stage, the police officer in charge, Deputy Inspector Arnold Dansky,
approached one of the grand marshals and said that he wanted the show to end.
Now. Things were indeed scheduled to end at seven but there were still a few
performers slated to go on. In such cases it's standard procedure for the
police and organizers to amicably agree on how quickly to wrap things up. So
the marshal offered to go find one of the organizers. 
	He had barely turned to go when a police captain who works directly under
Dansky strode to the stage and (several witnesses say at Inspector Dansky's
instruction) physically yanked out the generator cord, ending the concert in
mid song. 
	This may sound trivial, but the effect was dramatic. A rousing concert, a
boisterous crowd, and suddenly the sound goes dead. Several witnesses I spoke
to - including two cops - say that once the crowd realized the police had
pulled the plug a disturbance almost broke out. Things got so heated the cops
even offered to turn the sound briefly back on, but organizers feared that
might make things worse and urged the crowd to peacefully disperse, which it
eventually did.
	This might seem a minor example police insensitivity in these days of cops
sliding naked down hotel escalator railings, but to lots of gay people in
Queens it seemed an inexplicable breach of trust. Inexplicable, that is,
until one talks to Inspector Dansky. 
	"It kind of happened accidentally," Dansky told me the next day, refusing to
acknowledge that he had ordered the sound cut. But he readily acknowledged
another problem that was foremost on his mind that day. "Upper body nudity,"
said Dansky. "Three persons decided to bear their breasts during the parade."
	Ah, ha. Three topless women parading in Queens. "Well, not really," said
Dansky. "Drag queens." Who had, according to Dansky, immediately covered up
at police request
	But drag queens are males. "Yeah, well, they had kinda big chests."
	But is that against the law, I asked? Didn't a judge rule that in New York
even females were allowed to go topless if they wished? "My decision was, I
felt that it was improper," said Dansky, 
	So a cop feels something is "improper" and before you know it the sound goes
dead at a gay festival kind of accidentally. Not a federal case. Nothing
illegal. Just oddly reminiscent of what used to happen in Manhattan before
1969. Back then lots of cops (and others) felt that it was improper simply
for men to dance with men and women to dance with women. To enforce their
version of propriety, they would routinely bust into gay dance halls and pull
the plug on the music. They did it one too many times at a bar called
Stonewall, and out of the subsequent riots modern gay liberation was born. 
	These days, if some cop feels that some homosexual's idea of perfectly legal
self expression is that cop's idea of improper, he's not supposed to pull
rank. Or plugs. Especially on a day meant to celebrate the end of that kind
of harrassment. 
	Gays in Queens have made great strides. Sounds like it's time for cops in
Queens to catch up. 

Copyright 1995 - Gabriel Rotello
(Gabriel Rotello's column appears in New York Newsday every Thursday. His
email address is gabo3@aol.com)