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Nightclub Sharply Criticized |
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Compiled by GayToday Triangle Foundation
"The apparent treatment and targeting for harassment of Cobalt, by the Ferndale Police and other Oakland County law enforcement agencies should alarm anyone, but especially anyone who wishes to do business in Ferndale, even more especially anyone who hopes to establish a gay, or gay-friendly, business in Ferndale. "Cobalt has been in the news lately because of allegations of drug sales at the bar. These allegations are the result of a investigation by an Oakland County Task Force. They have yet to proved true. "What is known, however, is that the police claim they acted against the bar after a four-months-long "investigation" during which police apparently, and by their own admission, were buying drugs in the bar from selected patrons, and encouraging dealers to continue selling drugs. "The police encouraged and perpetuated drug sales for months. Did they stop the practice immediately, arresting those people involved? No. Did they notify Cobalt's owners and seek cooperation from them to stop the activity? No. Were any of the owners, operators or employees of the bar charged with this activity? No. "As we have seen other police departments target gays by encouraging illegal activity, such as rest area and other decoy-entrapment operations, here, in the Cobalt case, we find the cops cooperating in, and promoting illegal drug sales, and then trying to bring down one of the most popular establishments in the community for tangential proximity to the activity. "In addition to attempting to destroy the reputation of the most visible owner/partner, Neil Hilton, this operation and appalling misappropriation of police resources has also been designed to ruin the business itself. By shamelessly publicizing their version of events, police leaders seem to be hopeful that Cobalt patrons will stay away, and that the community will become hostile toward the business.
"But we also are alarmed and frightened when the mechanisms of law enforcement are used to target and harass our community under whatever pretense such pestering and persecution is carried out. "Thirty years ago, the modern 'gay rights' movement took off as a result of police harassment and misconduct at the Stonewall Inn in New York. A gay bar. These many years later, the police still target the venues where we go to play, dance and be ourselves; and the people who own and operate them." |
Triangle Foundation's Jeffrey Montgomery 