Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has learned many lessons in the almost 100 days that he has been in office. One is that he can’t speak as freely as he did on the campaign trail, including about issues like the September 2009 police raid on the Atlanta Eagle, a gay leather bar.
It seemed like business as usual that Thursday night last September, as patrons of the Atlanta Eagle tossed back beers and enjoyed the dancers on the gay leather bar’s popular Underwear Night. But whether what happened next can remain “business as usual” for the Atlanta Police Department is part of a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by several of the men in the bar that night.