Manary and Stickel crashing my December 2022 birthday party at Prism. They were banned afterwards.
After a seven-month campaign of harassment that included Stickel placing a sex ad directing horny straight men to enter our home, Judge Craig Higgins, who seemed bothered by having to deal with the case at all, declined to grant us permanent protective orders against Nate Stickel and Patrick Manary this morning.
Very little was disputed among the parties. Stickel admitted to repeatedly calling Animal Contol, and laughed often when other things the two did were discussed. Higgins threatened to eject the dreadful duo from the courtroom and called them “children.”
The judge expressed no interest in seeing the video of Manary violating the emergency order the night he drunkenly screamed at our house and ripped apart our garden, (arrest video here), nor did he care to listen to the audio of Nate confessing to sending a dozen men to the house. Then again, those issues didn’t seem to be disputed.
Higgins objected to Attorney Richard Reuben’s questions about the Grove bomb threats, but did allow Stickel to question my sex life. (For the record, I have no problem discussing my sex life. I was, however, troubled by the thought of others experiencing this treatment in the courtroom). The question was about whether my having had sex with Stickel harmed my marriage. “Why would it? He was there,” I replied.
Stickel and Manary were our friends until they caused a huge racial incident at Grey Fox Pub on Ocober 13, 2022, where they called Black patrons and employees the n-word and threw garbage at them. (Despite the incident being well documented, we still brought a notarized statement from the bartender on duty that evening.) The two were subsequently banned from nearly all local queer bars for everything from racism to antisocial behavior, and the pair blames us for becoming the social pariahs they are today.
I equate Higgins’ action to the scene in Ghostbusters when the power was shut off and all Hell broke loose. Stickel and Manary were given the message they can terrorize us all with near-impunity.
Whether that holds true is yet to be determined.