New York lawmakers are demanding that Amtrak police stop arresting LGBTQ people on charges of public lewdness in a men’s bathroom at Penn Station, likening the crackdown to “the Stonewall era.”
The letter from Rep. Jerrold Nadler, two state senators and a state assemblymember follows reports by Gothamist and The City that 200 people have been arrested since June for alleged public lewdness or indecent exposure in the bathroom. At least 20 of those people were immigrants transferred to ICE custody after the arrest, law enforcement officials said.
“We demand that Amtrak Police immediately cease identifying and targeting members of the LGBTQ community for search, seizure and arrest on the basis of their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity,” the lawmakers wrote to Amtrak President Roger Harris. “While Amtrak is entitled to ensure that its facilities are not used for illicit purposes, we do not believe Amtrak should be doing so with a hostile arrest campaign reminiscent of anti-LGBTQ policing from the Stonewall era.”
State Sens. Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Liz Krueger, and Assemblymember Tony Simone, who all represent parts of Manhattan, also signed the letter.
The crackdown involved undercover officers posted in the bathrooms at urinals or in stalls, looking for men meeting up for anonymous sex. A cruising app called “Sniffies” featured a group dedicated to the bathroom. In recent weeks it featured numerous men warning others to avoid the bathroom because of the police presence.
The lawmakers alleged police were using “questionable and potentially discriminatory tactics.”
The lawmakers requested a meeting with Amtrak police to discuss the issue. The surge in enforcement comes as President Donald Trump’s administration has taken over the redevelopment of Penn Station from the MTA.
“As you may know, there is a long and painful tradition of police forces using loitering, identification, prostitution, lewdness and similar laws to target LGBTQ people for harassment, arrest and incarceration,” the letter read.
Amtrak Deputy Police Chief Martin Conway previously said the arrests came in response to complaints from customers. Amtrak spokesperson Jason Abrams said incidents at Penn Station have declined since the enforcement surge.
“Amtrak remains committed to maintaining a safe and welcoming environment for all travelers and will continue to monitor conditions closely, making adjustments as needed to uphold the highest standards of security,” Abrams said.
The nation’s first shelter for transgender and gender-nonconforming people experiencing homelessness opened its doors this week in New York City.
The shelter, a joint venture between a local LGBTQ nonprofit and the city government, will provide transitional housing and specialized services for trans New Yorkers who are homeless, including mental health support and job training and placement. The city is fully funding the facility in Long Island City, which will cost $65 million to operate through 2030, the local news outlet Gothamist reported.
“It’s been just a labor of love to watch it manifest, to hear from community what it is that they want to see in a project, in a program, and to watch other community advocates become excited about it as well,” said Sean Ebony Coleman, founder and CEO of Destination Tomorrow, the organization that will manage the shelter.
The shelter’s name, Ace’s Place, honors Coleman’s late mother, who would have turned 72 this week.
“Ace was my mom’s nickname, and she dealt with her own challenges and struggles, but the one thing was that she always had a home because my grandmother made sure of it,” Coleman told The Hill in an interview on Wednesday. “Regardless of what my mom’s struggles were, she always had a safe place that she could come and reset and recenter. I thought that was the best way to honor her memory, while also doing the same thing for community members.”
With 150 beds — housed in 100 single bedrooms and 25 doubles — residents will each have access to their own restroom and two commercial kitchens. One of the kitchens will be used as a teaching space for the shelter’s culinary arts and hospitality program, Coleman said, part of its commitment to facilitating economic mobility.
Ace’s Place will also have a full-time, onsite psychiatric nurse practitioner who will work closely with social workers and other credentialed staff providing mental health support, according to a news release announcing the shelter’s opening. Added onsite clinical staff will provide health education through coaching and counseling sessions, and yoga and meditation classes are also available to residents.
Coleman and Destination Tomorrow plan to work closely with New York City officials in operating the shelter, Coleman said.
“We couldn’t be prouder to make this historic announcement that strongly affirms our values and commitment to strengthening the safety net for transgender New Yorkers at a time when their rights are roundly under attack,” New York City Department of Social Services Commissioner Molly Wasow Park said in a statement, referencing a string of recent Trump administration actions targeting transgender Americans.
Joslyn Carter, administrator for the city’s Department of Homeless Services, said Ace’s Place is the nation’s first city-funded shelter of its kind. “New York City has long been a leader in advancing LGBTQ+ rights,” she said.
In the U.S., LGBTQ people experience homelessness at disproportionately higher rates than heterosexual and cisgender people, studies on the subject have found. Roughly 17 percent of lesbian, gay and bisexual adults have experienced homelessness at some point in their lives, the Williams Institute reported in 2020, and more than 8 percent of transgender people said they were homeless in the past year.
A 2018 National Alliance to End Homelessness analysis of Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) data found that transgender people accounted for approximately 0.6 percent of the general population and 0.5 percent of the nation’s total homeless population. The U.S. Transgender Survey, the largest survey of transgender people in the U.S., reported in 2024 that 30 percent of respondents said they had experienced homelessness in their lifetime.
Reported rates of homelessness are even higher among transgender people of color; more than half of Black transgender women who took the U.S. Trans Survey in 2015 said they experienced homelessness in their lifetime. Nearly 60 percent of Native American transgender women also reported experiencing homelessness, as did 49 percent of trans women of Middle Eastern descent and 51 percent of multiracial trans women.
“For far too long, Transgender and non-binary people — especially Black and Brown Trans people — have been forced to navigate systems never built for us,” said Bryan Ellicott-Cook, a New York City-based transgender rights advocate, in a statement about the opening of Ace’s Place. “This shelter, created for Trans people by Trans people, represents safety, dignity, and a tangible investment in our community’s right not only to survive, but to thrive. It continues to show what we have always known — that Trans people are the ones taking care of each other, from elders to youth, from healthcare to housing and beyond.”
A patient at Syracuse VA Medical Center died by an apparent suicide outside the top of the hospital’s parking garage Monday.
Witnesses said the person was wrapped in a body-length transgender pride flag.
The transgender veteran hanged themselves by jumping from the garage, according to a notification the VA gave government officials. The veteran had been discharged from the VA’s inpatient psychiatry unit on Jan. 21, according to the notification.
Passers-by spotted the body at the garage next to the hospital and across the street from Syracuse University’s JMA Wireless Dome at about 11:15 a.m. Monday. That day, syracuse.com reported that a body had been found.
Anne C. Bellows, a professor of food studies, said she was walking back to her office on the top floor of the Falk College building when she and other SU faculty saw the body.
She said the person was wrapped in a body-length flag that was light pink, light blue and white — which she confirmed to be the trans flag.
The Syracuse VA officials declined to answer questions from Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard about the death. A VA spokesperson issued a statement that only confirmed a veteran had died at the VA Monday. It said officials will not provide more details, citing respect to the veteran’s family and an ongoing investigation.
Several members of the SU community reported seeing the body Monday, according to a university community alert.
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Do you have information about the incident Monday? Did you know the veteran and would like to share their story? Please contact Rylee Kirk at 315-396-5961 or rkirk@syracuse.com or Greta Stuckey at 484-379-7395 or gstuckey@syracuse.com.
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Where to get help
If in crisis, help is available by calling, texting or chatting with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.
For a Veteran specific crisis line dial 988 and press 1 or text 838255.
For a transgender-specific crisis line, call the Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860.
For an LGBTQ+ specific crisis line call 866-488-7386 or text 678678.
Investigators probing what they described as the torturous killing of a 24-year-old transgender man in upstate New York, allegedly at the hands of five people, say they have found no evidence that the homicide was a hate crime.
The remains of the victim, identified as 24-year-old Sam Nordquist of Minnesota, were discovered on Wednesday in a field in Benton, New York, in Yates County, according to Capt. Kelly Swift, a New York State Police investigator.
Swift said investigators suspect that Nordquist was tortured and killed in neighboring Ontario County and moved “in an attempt to conceal a crime.”
“Based on evidence and witness statements, we have determined that Sam endured prolonged physical and psychological abuse at the hands of multiple individuals,” Swift said Friday during a news conference.
A criminal complaint obtained by Rochester, New York, ABC affiliate WHAM alleged that the suspects sexually assaulted Nordquist with a “table leg and broomstick.” The complaint further alleges that the suspects subjected Nordquist to “prolonged beatings by punching, kicking and striking [Nordquist] with numerous objects, including but not limited to sticks, dog toys, rope, bottles, belts, canes and wooden boards.”
According to the complaint, the torture allegedly took place in room 22 at Patty’s Lodge in Hopewell, New York, in Ontario County between Jan. 1 and Feb. 2.
Swift said investigators executed a search warrant at the hotel on Thursday, specifically searching room 22 for evidence.
“In my 20-year law enforcement career, this is one of the most horrific crimes I have ever investigated,” Swift added. “My thoughts are with Sam’s family during this time.”
Suspects charged with murder
The suspects arrested in the case were identified by Swift as Precious Arzuaga, 38, of Canandaigua, New York; Jennifer Quijano, 30, of Geneva, New York; Kyle Sage, 33, of Rochester, New York; Patrick Goodwin, 30, also of Canandaigua; and Emily Motyka, 19, of Lima, New York.
Ontario County District Attorney James Ritts said all five suspects have all been charged with second-degree murder under the state’s depraved indifference statute. He said the suspects have been arraigned and are being held without bail at the Ontario County Jail.
It was unclear if the suspects had hired or were appointed attorneys to represent them.
No indication of a hate crime
In a joint statement released on Sunday, the state police and Ritts addressed whether investigators are pursuing hate crime charges against the suspects.
“At this time we have no indication that Sam’s murder was a hate crime,” the joint statement reads. “To help alleviate the understandable concern his murder could be a hate crime, we are disclosing that Sam and his assailants were known to each other, identified as LGBTQ+, and at least one of the defendants lived with Sam in the time period leading up to the instant offense.”
Authorities said they released the information after getting “multiple inquiries from across our community, New York State and the entire nation.”
In the statement, officials noted that under the New York State penal code, a hate crime is defined as an offense committed “in whole or in substantial part because of a belief or perception regarding the race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity or expression, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation of a person regardless of whether the belief or perception is correct.”
“We are still in the early stages of this investigation,” the joint statement reads. “While significant evidence has been obtained, we are continuing to follow up on leads brought to State Police. We urge the community not to speculate into the motive behind the murder as we work to find justice for Sam.”
Governor described the killing as ‘sickening’
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement released Sunday that she had directed the State Police to provide any support and resources to Ritts’ office “as they continue their investigation, including into whether this was a hate crime.” The statement further said that Hochul had directed the New York State Division of Human Rights Hate and Bias Prevention Unit to offer assistance and support “to all community members affected by this terrible act of violence,” adding, “There must be justice for Sam Nordquist.”
Hochul also said that she had instructed the New York State Office of Victim Services to offer support to Nordquist’s family.
“The charges against these individuals are sickening and all New Yorkers should join together to condemn this horrific act,” Hochul said in the statement. “We are praying for Sam Nordquist’s family, community and loved ones who are experiencing unimaginable grief.”
‘Beyond depraved’
“The facts and the circumstances of this crime are beyond depraved,” Ritts said Friday during the press conference. “This is by far the worst homicide investigation that our office has ever been part of. No human being should have to endure what Sam endured.”
Nordquist’s family filed a missing person report with the Canandaigua Police Department on Feb. 9, after last hearing from Nordquist on Jan. 1, according to a missing-person flyer issued by the Missing People in America organization.
According to the flyer, Nordquist’s family said he left Minnesota on Sept. 28, 2024, with a round-trip plane ticket to New York. The family, according to the flyer, alleged that he met a woman online who convinced him to visit her.
The family, according to the flyer, claimed Nordquist was planning to fly back to Minnesota within two weeks, but never boarded his return flight.
“I don’t understand why someone would do that to another person,” Kayla Nordquist, Sam’s sister, told Saint Paul, Minnesota, ABC affiliate KSTP. “Sam was amazing and would give the shirt off his back to anyone.”
When asked Friday about the missing-person flyer, Swift declined to comment.
Swift would not disclose details of the abuse, saying the investigation is in its early stages. However, she said, Nordquist was “subjected to repeated acts of violence and torture in a manner that ultimately led to his death.”
Swift said more arrests were possible and asked anyone with information about the crime to contact state police investigators.
Ritts said he anticipates a grand jury will take action in the case “very quickly.”
Multiple vigils for Nordquist are being scheduled this week in several states, including one Monday evening at the Wood Library in Canandaigua, New York, according to Family Counseling Service of the Finger Lakes, which is hosting the event. Two other vigils are planned for Monday night in Nordquist’s home state of Minnesota, including one outside the Minnesota State Capitol building in Saint Paul.
On Tuesday evening, vigils are scheduled to take place at the Phelps Arts Center in Phelps, New York, and at The Presbyterian Church in Geneva, New York. On Thursday, a vigil is scheduled to take place on the Main Plaza in downtown New Braunfels, Texas, about 30 miles northeast of San Antonio.
Pride Month means it’s time to celebrate all things that encourage the dignity, equality, and increased recognition of the LGBTQ community. So go ahead and wave that big, beautiful rainbow flag—and, just maybe, zero in on a place to buy a great new home.
It’s also the perfect time to pause and recognize that while the United States has come a long way from the 1969 Stonewall riots, which sparked the modern gay rights movement, 2022 is on track to break the record for the number of anti-LGBTQ bills introduced in states across the country, with at least 320 highly restrictive bills pending in state legislatures, according to the rights group Freedom for All Americans.
So, as we do each year, Realtor.com® searched for the most LGBTQ-friendly and affordable cities for homebuyers. We looked well past the big coastal cities famous for their thriving gay scenes—and wildly exorbitant home prices—like New York and San Francisco. Instead, we set our sights on smaller cities that are gay-friendly and budget-friendly, where housing is still modestly priced and the overall community and laws are more welcoming and favorable to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals. All of these places have tons of fun things to do—and prices that are still (relatively) within reach.
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