Providence LGBTQ+ club accuses police of harassment in new lawsuit. What it alleges.
PROVIDENCE – An LGBTQ+ club on Allens Avenue is accusing the Providence Police Department of unlawfully targeting its patrons based on their sexual orientation.
Steven Medeiros, owner of The Mega-Plex at 257 Allens Ave., is suing the City of Providence through its Finance Director Sara Silveria, alleging that Providence police officers repeatedly violated patrons’ civil rights by subjecting them to unwarranted stops and searches over the past year.
“The Fourteenth Amendment forbids defendants from depriving plaintiffs of the equal protection of the law and provides plaintiffs with a clear established constitutional right to be free from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in law enforcement by police officers,” lawyer Joseph Carnevale wrote.
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The Mega-Plex caters to members of the LGBTQ+ community, and the establishment says police officers were motivated by the clientele's sexual orientation to trespass on the club’s grounds and “to detain, interrogate, harass, arrest and/or search” customers in violation of their constitutional rights.
The Providence Police Department declined comment through spokeswoman Lindsay M. Lague.
"While the city has not yet been formally served, we do not comment on ongoing litigation," Lague said in an email.
Lawsuit: Police peered into car windows, stopped drivers
According to the complaint, The Mega-Plex serves as a sauna, and offers sexual health and wellness clinics and counseling on site.
The club accuses Providence police officers of peering through patrons’ car windows and stopping cars leaving the property to conduct searches based on the premise that they were "coming from a high-drug area.”
On Oct. 3, the clubs says, it contacted Mayor Brett Smiley to request that police officers cease and desist their “targeted enforcement activities” at The Mega-Plex.
In response, the complaint says, police activity at the club has “increased with greater frequency and aggression."
The city declined to comment through spokesman Josh Estrella because the case is pending.
Lola's Rendezvous lawsuit alleges racial bias
Medeiros also owns Silhouettes Gentlemen's Club, in the former Cheater's building, also on Allens Avenue.
In 2022, Lola’s Rendezvous, which operates Silhouettes Gentlemen’s Club, accused Providence police of targeting the establishment with selective and discriminatory enforcement based on the race of its management and clientele.
That federal lawsuit alleged that the club, which caters to Black patrons, was unlawfully discriminated against by the Providence Police Department, the city and the Board of Licenses, ultimately leading to the closing of the business at 245 Allens Ave.
The club accused the police of conducting multiple illegal and unconstitutional searches of patrons' cars that netted no arrests but served to scare away customers and irreparably damage the business.
The city has denied the claims and argues that any injury or damage was caused solely by the club's wrongful acts and conduct.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: The Mega-Plex in Providence sues police over unlawful targeting of its patrons
