Cruising Under Surveillance: Penn Station Sting Ops Target Queer Men

Amtrak Police are running sting operations in Penn Station bathrooms, reportedly even using Sniffies to bait people. Since June, dozens have been arrested for so-called “public lewdness” — with 23 arrests in Pride Month alone and 20 more in a single day this September. [via The City]

The stories are chilling. David, a gay healthcare worker, said he was just trying to use a urinal while wearing a rainbow bracelet when officers cuffed him, mocked him with slurs, and held him inside the station. His charge was dropped, but he described the experience as traumatic. Another man, an asylum seeker from Mexico, was arrested in July and immediately handed to ICE. He wasn’t even charged, but still spent over a month in detention before being released by a judge. [via Them]

Legal experts say these operations are part of a long-standing pattern of police harassment against queer men in public spaces. Officers have been reported to expose or touch themselves, or simply stare at people in the bathroom until they react — then use that reaction to justify an arrest. These tactics mirror what Port Authority police were sued over in 2022, when they agreed to stop plainclothes bathroom patrols.

CUNY law professor Jared Trujillo and others warn this isn’t about “public safety” but about padding arrest numbers, wasting resources, and traumatizing people. The consequences can ripple far beyond the arrest itself — threatening jobs, immigration status, housing, and mental health. What might seem like a “minor charge” can have life-altering effects, especially for immigrants, people of color, and those already living under heightened surveillance.

Cruising is a queer tradition, a survival tool, and a form of intimacy that has always existed outside sanctioned spaces. From the piers to the parks to subway bathrooms, cruising has been both a risk and a refuge. What’s happening at Penn Station shows how police still criminalize queer bodies under the guise of “lewdness.” The danger is not the act of looking for connection — it’s the way the state weaponizes shame and punishment against us.

We have to protect each other, share warnings, and remember: our pleasure isn’t the problem — policing is. Visibility doesn’t mean safety, and as queer people we continue to live in a world where public space is contested territory.

Know your rights: if arrested, stay silent, ask for a lawyer, and do not consent to a phone search.

Our Take: we believe that being sexually free and unapologetically gay is an act of resistance. Our desire, our cruising, our hookups — they’re not criminal. They’re proof that queer joy and connection exist even in a system that tries to police it. Protect each other. Fuck shame. Stay hot, stay safe, stay free.

Sources: The City, Them