Bob Uplinger's Arrest

Near this location on August 7, 1981, Bob Uplinger was arrested by an undercover police officer posing as a gay man and was charged and convicted with loitering for the purpose of engaging in deviate sexual activity. After consensual sex between same-sex partners became legal in New York State in 1980, police began using loitering and solicitation laws to persecute LGBTQ people. In 1983, represented by Buffalo attorney William H. Gardner, Uplinger won dismissal of his conviction when the NYS Court of Appeals declared this application of the loitering law unconstitutional. In 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by the Erie County District Attorney, upholding the decision. This effectively struck down the last New York State law used to arrest gay people for consensual sex between adults, laying the groundwork for national legislation and securing future freedoms.

Buffalo, New York · United States