Though Jackson Heights’ LGBT community was predominantly white dating back to the 1920s, many gay Hispanics moved in as part of a large influx of Latino immigrants in the 1970s and 1980s. Valentin, who along with Villa also operates the nearby Club Evolution, has called this stretch of Roosevelt Avenue “the gay Village for Latinos,” in reference to the historically gay white enclave of Greenwich Village in Manhattan. Owned by Puerto Rican-born Eddie Valentin and Colombian-born Casimiro Villa, who are also personal partners, Friend’s, like other nearby bars on and around Roosevelt Avenue, caters primarily to the LGBT Latino community. The modest storefront itself pre-dates Friend’s, with the exception of the business sign and the awning, which, at one time, included the slogan, “There is always time for friends.” Jerich’s lawyer, Robert Pasch, has not replied to Hyperallergic’s request for comment.Friend’s Tavern (popularly referred to as Friend’s) has been in business at this location since 1989 and is considered the oldest operating gay bar in Queens. “It will be interesting to see what the ultimate punishment is.” “I went in there prepared to be disappointed and I came out impressed,” Hoch said in an interview with the New York Times about the hearing.
While these were not the outcomes that Hoch initially sought, he told reporters outside the courtroom that he was pleased to see the case being taken seriously and recognized the essay assignment as “a learning opportunity for the defendant.” Trump following the dedication ceremony for the mural that summer, at which other participants called for its destruction.Īpparently searching for restorative rather than punitive solutions, Judge Suskauer suggested Jerich may visit and clean the site weekly, accompanied by his father, as a reminder of his actions. In addition to defacing the artwork, Jerich was identified at a birthday rally for former President Donald J. Hoch was pressing for a one-year jail sentence for Jerich and said his actions were “clearly a hate crime,” telling the judge that LGBTQ+ groups “don’t want the defendant anywhere near our organization or our missions.” He also asked that Jerich be banned for life from the Pride Intersection. But if Judge Suskauer was expecting a hostile or remorseless defendant, he found himself surprised.
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Only three days later, after authorities traced Jerich’s license plate from cellphone footage, he turned himself in. Last year, Jerich admitted to vandalizing the “ Pride Intersection” mural, a giant Pride flag painted across an intersection in Delray Beach, by using his pickup truck to draw 15-food skid marks over the artwork.
The essay will be due by Jerich’s final sentencing date in June. During a hearing last week, Judge Suskauer ordered him to write a 25-page essay about the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, in which a homicidally homophobic gunman killed 49 people at a gay club in Orlando. In a glimmer of hope for restorative justice, Judge Scott Suskauer of the 15th Judicial Circuit of Florida issued an unconventional penalty in the case of 20-year-old Alexander Jerich, who pled guilty to defacing a beloved LGBTQ+ pride street mural in South Florida last year. The “Pride Intersection” mural in Delray Beach, Florida (all images courtesy Rand Hoch)