Cops Raid Pittsburgh Gay Bar, Then Ask For Selfies With Amanda Lepore

Last Friday, Pittsburgh gay bar P Town was raided by law enforcement during a regular party, featuring a performance from trans icon Amanda Lepore.

According to local LGBTQ+ publication QBurgh, approximately 20 Pennsylvania State Police officers and undercover agents attended the bar at 11:30pm, arriving in the midst of a theatrical rendition of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Police were forced to wait until the conclusion of the act before asking patrons and performers to stand outside the bar while they conducted a “compliance check”.

A crowd of more than 100 people waited over half an hour for the police to finish their inspection, during which time drag queen and host of the evening, Indica, led the group in an a cappella performance of Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club, while dancing on the street and accepting tips.

“Queer people banded together and showed we are so much stronger than an attempt to make us scared or comply with their rules,” Indica told the local publication.

According to Indica, one of the officers recognised Lepore and asked the star for a selfie while the raid was still ongoing.

Lepore allegedly remarked that even she hadn’t actually witnessed a raid mid-event, and called the incident “iconic”.

“None of the officers would explain what was happening”

In a statement on May 5, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said that the raid was performed by members of Pittsburgh’s Nuisance Bar Task Force (NBTF), which is comprised of bodies including the Pittsburgh Police, the District Attorney’s office, and the State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement. The raid was allegedly triggered by a complaint to the city’s Bureau of Fire regarding overcrowding.

According to the State Police, P Town was over capacity with 130 people in attendance despite an occupancy limit of 70 people, however management said the bar had undergone renovations during the COVID lockdown and was waiting for an updated permit from the city.

 

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Gainey said he had asked the acting chief of the Pittsburgh police and the city’s Public Safety Director to review the incident and the task force “to ensure that we do our work with the greatest sensitivity to historical trauma and that we put any additional safeguards in place so that the process cannot be manipulated to harass any of our residents.”

“I want first to acknowledge the way in which bar raids were used historically to harass and commit violence against the LGBTQIA+ community,” Gainey said.

“It was not so long ago that police raids on gay bars were routine, and it was one such raid, at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, that sparked the modern movement to establish safe places for people to be open about their gender and sexuality without fear of arrest. It is my intent that our actions as a city build upon, rather than undermine, that legitimate desire for safety.”

An anonymous witness told QBurgh that the evening was “jarring” to experience in 2025.

“Dozens of state police, geared up with bulletproof vests, flooded the bar and told us to get out. None of the officers would explain what was happening.

“Fortunately the situation was calm and orderly, but they really just overtook this queer space with an entire fleet of police to ‘count heads’ or whatever their excuse was.”