TL;DR
- Amtrak Police arrested over 200 men at Penn Station cruising site since June.
- At least 20 men were handed to ICE custody.
- LGBTQ elected leaders slam arrests as a return to “dark days” of queer entrapment.
- Officials demand Amtrak stop the sting operations and meet to address civil rights concerns.
- LGBTQ community warns this crackdown is an attack on queer rights and safety.
Penn Station Gay Sting Sparks Fury
It sounds like a storyline ripped from the McCarthy-era playbook, but it’s happening right now in the heart of New York City. Amtrak Police have turned Penn Station’s men’s bathroom into ground zero for a controversial sting operation that’s landed more than 200 men in handcuffs since June.
The bathroom, marked as a hookup “hotspot” on the queer app Sniffies, became the target of undercover surveillance. What followed was a wave of public lewdness charges that LGBTQ leaders say smacks of the same discriminatory tactics used to trap gay men in the 1950s. And with at least 20 detainees transferred to ICE, the situation has escalated from questionable policing to a full-blown civil rights scandal.
Lawmakers Fight Back
New York State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal didn’t mince words: “These arrests harken back to the dark days of trapping gay men and other members of the community in public spaces like restrooms. Add to that toxic mix, ICE, and it’s a frightening callback to a period we thought had long passed.”
Hoylman, alongside Representative Jerrold Nadler, Senator Liz Krueger, and Assembly Member Tony Simone, fired off a letter to Amtrak President Roger Harris demanding an immediate end to the sting. Harris, under mounting pressure, has agreed to meet with them.
Meanwhile, NYC council members Erik Bottcher and Tiffany Cabán accused Amtrak of “deeply alarming violations of civil rights, due process, and protections against discriminatory policing.” They’re calling for a written explanation of the arrests and safeguards to prevent further abuse.
From Cruising to Court
For men like David (not his real name), the sting has been humiliating and traumatic. He says he was merely using the restroom when an undercover officer slapped cuffs on him and two others. “Next thing you know, he pulls out his badge and says, ‘All three of you are under arrest,’” David recalled. His charge was eventually dropped after he completed a diversion program, but the damage was done.
What’s worse, David says the officers mocked him during the arrest. “I told them the cuffs were too tight, and instead of loosening them, they made them even tighter.”
A Queer Community on Edge
The LGBTQ community has long fought against the criminalization of queer spaces. Jared Trujillo, a lawyer and professor at CUNY, put it bluntly: “This is an attack on the entire LGBTQ+ community. We are living in a period of retrenchment, and it happens with every civil rights movement.”
The sting’s fallout goes beyond Penn Station. It revives old fears of surveillance, harassment, and the denial of safe spaces for queer people. Cruising, whether celebrated or stigmatized, has historically been a lifeline for many gay men. Turning those spaces into police traps is a chilling reminder that visibility does not always equal safety.
The Penn Station crackdown is more than a legal issue — it’s a cultural flashpoint. LGBTQ people fought tooth and nail to decriminalize their existence in public, only to now face federal officers lurking in bathroom stalls. The LGBTQ community sees this as a test of how far America has actually come — and how quickly hard-won rights can be rolled back when law enforcement chooses intimidation over understanding.
For queer New Yorkers, the message is clear: vigilance is essential, solidarity is non-negotiable, and the fight for dignity in public spaces isn’t over.