Pro-Pride Sex Shop Window Shattered but Staff Sells On, Defying Defacement

Rainbow Station, a LGBTQ+ positive adult entertainment store in West Chelsea, has been the victim of vandalism—and a disturbing contrast to the joyful spirit of tolerance that defines Pride Month in Manhattan.

In the store’s front picture window, behind which stands a colorful, clever display so saucy, sexy Pride-themed summer wear, there’s an ominous hole with a spiderweb of glass radiating outward.

Tony, a longtime employee of Rainbow Station, said that a random man threw a rock at the window in December. Though the attacker was identified and subsequently arrested, it’s not the first time this Rainbow Station has suffered vandalism. Despite Chelsea’s well-earned reputation as a gay friendly neighborhood (older readers might still lament the excellent gay bookstore, A Different Light, that stood at 151 West 19th Street and closed in 2001) despite 8th Avenue in the 20s being festooned in rainbow flags, there are still people who seek to harm openly pro-gay establishments.

On the weekend of June 16, a large display of Pride Month flags set up around the Stonewall National Monument at Christopher Park were destroyed.

Openly gay New York City Council Member Erik Bottcher, whose Greenwich Village district includes the Stonewall Monument, said on X (formerly Twitter), “Anyone who thinks this will intimidate our community is badly mistaken.”

Mayor Adams, calling the vandalism of 160 flags a “heinous act,” elaborated his feelings on X: “We love the LGBTQ+ community and celebrate them during Pride and all year round. We’ll always have your back, and we will bring whoever defaced the Stonewall monument to justice.”

The police have yet to identify the person or persons responsible for this crime.

Back at Rainbow Station, Tony said the store has been trying to replace the damaged window since December but as time passed, and legal support was lacking, they let the urgency of the repair go.

The adult entertainment store has been in business for over 22 years between two different locations, run largely by Sri Lankan employees like Tony, who has worked there for over 10 years. The store has security cameras and other safety precautions, but for the most part, Tony says he’s not that worried about crimes targeted toward the business.

A sign on the building’s exterior reads “Pride accessories downstairs,” suggests that, by keeping the store’s more sexually explicit items out of sight, they might attract less attention from bigots and vandals.

In July 2022, however, Rainbow Station’s reputation did take a hit when two patrons were found dead of accidental drug overdoses in the store’s private basement viewing booths.

While this incident wasn’t directly related to the LGBTQ+ community—or to adult entertainment shops in general— it did contribute to the idea that places like Rainbow Station attract the wrong crowd: male prostitutes, drug users and dealers, etc.

In reality, the scourge of illegal drugs, addiction and overdoses effects everyone, in nearly all neighborhoods, whether you’re a rich, famous actor like Phillip Seymour Hoffman—who overdosed in his 35 Bethune Street apartment in 2014— they are innocent stores subjected to the inherent dangers of the neighborhood.

Covering the incident, Chelsea Community News reported that preservationist groups like Save Chelsea seek to shut Rainbow Station down even though the establishment itself is victimized by these disturbances. Sadly, the still somewhat taboo nature of the adult entertainment store makes it an easy target to direct gripes about neighborhood safety, homophobic or otherwise.

For its part in June 2024, Rainbow Station is hoping to clean up its facade before the end of Pride Month so they can put its best face forward to the celebrants who visit from around the world.