When Murphy's Place, a popular gay bar in Louisville, Kentucky closed its doors for good on June 30, Tony Elble and Murray Powell, proprietors of MT Closets, a gay and lesbian gift store next door- -and an advertiser in The Letter, Kentucky's gay newspaper, hoped they could stay at that location for the foreseeable future. The leasing agent seemed agreeable. It was a good spot near several other gay and lesbian bars, and business remained healthy.

But those hopes were dashed in early August after the old Murphy's space was leased to three partners for a new bar called Freddie's. Because their plans called for opening a restaurant in the MT Closets spot, the leasing agent sent them an eviction notice on July 21. He also raised the rent to an amount over twice what it had been paying.

Elble and his partner, Murray Powell, could do nothing about the eviction and began considering their options. But they weren't prepared for the harassment that ensued.

Louisville police and a private investigator have yet to determine who might be behind the harassment. Jesse Francis, Freddie's manager, and Fred Pizzonia, two of the three new owners, adamantly deny any involvement by the partners, and there is no evidence to link them to it. But whoever it was succeeded in forcing MT Closets out ten days earlier than planned. It will be reopening at two nearby gay bars, The Connection Complex and Tynkers Too, in October.

The problems began July 23 after contract painters for Freddie's sprayed grey paint over a storefront sign and splattered it liberally on the pane-glass windows. Several rainbow flags had to be removed, but the store wasn't notified beforehand. At the same time, sidewalk access was blocked by trucks from the west, where most of its customers generally came from.

When Elble began taking photographs, one of the painters called him a "faggot." Elble stood up to him forthrightly. He notified Freddie's owners, who fired the painters as a result of the fracas and paid for a new sign. But more serious problems soon arose.

With trucks blocking the entrance over the next two weeks, business fell precipitously. Several customers later told Elble they thought the store was closed. When he and Powell complained to the owners, they said they'd obtained a permit to park their vehicles on the sidewalk to load and unload materiel.

Pizzonia says they tried not to block access during business hours, but Elble counters he saw trucks on the sidewalk on several occasions while the store was open. At the same time, arguments with the leasing agent over the rent grew heated.

Then, about 3 am on July 29, someone attempted to break into the store's back door but was scared off by the alarm. Nothing was taken. That afternoon, according to Elble, one of the new landlords, Ed Henley, asked him how much money they could "throw" their way to help them move out. Elble and Powell dismissed the idea. Pizzonia confirms that an offer was made, but no agreement could be reached.

About a week later, Elble and Powell started receiving hang-up phone calls at their homes. The first, they believe, came from the new bar next door: they could hear the familiar background noise from the construction. But others soon followed. Most were placed after hours to the store phone, which they transfer to their homes at night. The calls couldn't be traced.

Events came to a head on August 7 when Elble and Powell arrived at the store only to find a truck blocking the sidewalk once more. They asked one of Freddie's owners to move it, but three and a half hours later it was still there. Elble says he saw Francis and Pizzonia casually leaning against it.

When Elble proceeded to take a photograph, he says Pizzonia mumbled a few "choice" words, turned around, mooned him and shouted profanities. Francis and Pizzonia both assert that Pizzonia simply turned around and shook his buttocks "playfully."

Over the next four days, someone rummaged through Elble's car and broke into the store's South End warehouse, but the final indignity was a brick thrown through the store's front window.

Elble filed two police reports which characterized the break-ins and vandalism as hate crimes. He also named Freddie's co-owners as suspects. But when he got the initial reports back from the Louisville Police Department, there was no mention of suspects or hate crimes. Elble returned to the department to demand that the reports be changed. After some initial reluctance by the policewoman handling the report, they were.

Louisville's media were contacted but failed to cover the story.

Powell and Elble, both of whom suffered stress-related illnesses as a result of the harassment, have hired a private detective to gather evidence and are weighing their legal options. "I'm not going to let them tear down a business that we worked extremely hard to get here," Elble told Cleveland's Gay People's Chronicle.

It's not the first time MT Closets has been forced to move. Last year, the city of Louisville zoning department told them to shut down operations at their previous location in the South End because it wasn't in compliance with zoning restrictions.

An investigation by The Letter discovered that at least two other businesses in the same block also appeared to be in violation of zoning laws but were still operating with impunity. They're still there.

In August, a banner across the front of Freddie's claimed it will have the largest lighted dance floor in Louisville. Francis and Pizzonia hope the bar, which is due to open at the end of September, will attract both gays and straights.

Pizzonia, who once had a business partner who is gay, says he welcomes everyone to the club; if it turns strictly gay, it doesn't matter to him. "A mixed crowd would suit me just fine," he notes. He's visited The Connection on many occasions. Concerning MT Closets, he comments, "We would have loved to rent to them because it was a nice, clean place. But we just didn't have a spot for them" in the floor plans.