![]() Instead, he’d prefer officers to talk directly to the business owners about what the problem is. ![]() “They definitely don’t need to be coming up with flashlights and inspecting people’s bodies, they definitely don’t need to be taking pictures,” he says. Kauer says that one problem is the conduct of officers when they perform these checks. He tells Eater Seattle that the targeting of LGBTQ spaces by law enforcement has “ebbed and flowed over time” but that lately, authorities seem to be monitoring these places especially closely. Kevin Kauer is the owner of Seattle LGBTQ club Massive and one of the signers of the letter. “These recent events not only compromise the community’s sense of safety but also threaten to reverse progress in improving relationships between the LGBTQ+ community and law enforcement,” the letter read. On January 29, owners of the Eagle and Cuff wrote an open letter about these “unjust raids,” which they said conjured up memories of past homophobic actions by Seattle cops, like when authorities threatened to shut down gay bar Tugs Belmont for hosting underwear parties in the ’90s (Cal Anderson, the first openly gay state legislator in Washington, showed up at one of these underwear parties to intervene). The following night, LCB officers entered the Seattle Eagle, another gay bar, and did much the same thing, finding patrons who were in jock straps, another potential violation of the same regulation prohibiting various types of “lewd conduct” at venues with liquor licenses. The potential violation these officers witnessed, the Seattle Times reported, was a bartender’s exposed nipple. At the Cuff Complex on Friday night, LCB officers entered with flashlights, owner Joey Burgess later told the Stranger, which spooked some patrons into leaving according to reports, officers also took photos of patrons. LGBTQ clubs and their patrons were put on edge last weekend, when JET performed unannounced inspections at several LGBTQ establishments, sparking outrage in the Seattle queer community. The group of club owners of celebrated this decision with a statement that said, “This is a huge victory for queer people, queer spaces, and queer self-expression.” The LCB also ended its collaboration with Joint Enforcement Team (JET), a coalition of law enforcement agencies that monitors bars, nightclubs, and other venues for illegal activity, and said that it would be pausing enforcement of the lewd conduct regulations. On Thursday, February 1, the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) announced that it wouldn’t issue violations for any of the potential infractions observed by officers during raids conducted over the weekend of January 26. LGBTQ bars and nightclubs in Seattle are celebrating a victory this week.
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