LEGAL
NYC Gay Couple Sues Ex-Landlord for Harassment
A high-end condo banned the couple from passing out candy on Halloween
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
A gay couple is suing
their former landlord in
Manhattan after they
said they were banned
from passing out candy on Halloween
in 2018 and faced ongoing anti
LGBTQ harassment — including
when building management allegedly
removed the couple’s Rainbow
Flag from their apartment.
Anthony Dolci and his husband
Ming Infante, who previously lived
at Dorchester Towers at 155 West
68th Street in Manhattan, claim
in their suit that they faced a barrage
of adversity from the building
during their time living there.
The $2.5 million lawsuit, fi led in
New York’s Supreme Court on August
20, accuses the building’s
former property manager, Kelly
Ann Whipple, and vice president of
Ogden CAP Properties, John Mc-
Dermott, of defamation, malicious
prosecution, discrimination, and
fi ling false police reports.
Dolci, a Latinx man, and his
husband, Infante, an Asian man,
believe they were targeted because
of their race and sexual orientation.
Now, they are calling for the
building to be held accountable for
the alleged actions.
“Halloween night is just a very
small glimpse of the injustices that
this building did to my family,” Dolci
said. “They allowed Dorchester
Towers employees to call the police
with impunity, over and over, simply
because they didn’t like us, and
they wanted us out of the building.”
Dorchester Towers allegedly
hired off-duty NYPD offi cers as security
guards to stand in the lobby
of the building due to accusations
that the couple made tenants feel
unsafe, the complaint states. On
Halloween night, the security offi -
cers went even further and barred
the couple from participating in
trick-or-treating activities in the
building.
In protest of the guard’s orders,
Dolci, who was wearing a witch’s
hat, no T-shirt, and a yellow cape,
headed outside with a bag of treats.
Anthony Dolci (pictured) and his husband, Ming Infante, have fi led a lawsuit against the luxury condo Dorchester Towers, citing alleged harassment and anti-
LGBTQ discrimination.
According to footage reviewed by
Gay City News, Dolci was holding
a glow-in-the-dark Halloween
globe and pleaded for help while
the guards attempted to snatch his
bag of candy from off of the street.
In the video, the guards allegedly
confi rmed that they were calling
the cops on Dolci because he “cannot
block the pedestrians.”
“For what? for standing on a
public street!” Infante chimed in
from their bedroom window. “For
standing on a public street!”
The 22-page complaint claims
the police were called at least 25
times on the couple, with at least
half of those times resulting in
Dolci being arrested or taken to local
hospitals for psychiatric evaluations,
he added.
“They were weaponizing the 911
call center against us,” Dolci said.
The following year, Whipple allegedly
told the couple they “did not
fi t in with the building” and did not
dress appropriately “for the building.”
Dolci claims the couple was
repeatedly reprimanded for trivial
reasons, such as when Whipple allegedly
criticized the couple for listening
to LGBTQ singer Boy George
and Madonna because it was not
“appropriate” for the building.
“I felt she’s talking about my
sexuality; I wear nail polish. I am
fl amboyant,” Dolci said. “I think I
didn’t fi t her idea of what a gay person
should be for this building.”
He added, “I’m not gonna tiptoe
around anyone with my sexuality,
and I think that when I stood up to
her about that, she retaliated.”
The couple is also accusing the
staff of removing the Rainbow Flag
that was placed on their door.
General Counsel for Ogden CAP
Properties Stephen Nahley denied
the allegations.
“The accusations contained in
the lawsuit concerning Dorchester
Towers, Ms. Whipple, and our
other employees are baseless, totally
without merit. We will defend
them vigorously and are confi dent
that we will prevail,” Nahley said
in a written statement to Gay City
News.
Whipple and McDermott did
not immediately reply to Gay City
News’ request for comment.
In March of 2019, the couple
moved out of the apartment, and
soon after, Dolci began standing
outside the high-end condos in
protest. During a couple of Dolci’s
one-person rallies, the building’s
staff allegedly began spraying and
FACEBOOK/ANTHONY DOLCI
assaulting him with water hoses
and damaging his signs. Dolci said
he submitted this footage along
with a complaint to the New York
City Human Rights Commission.
In a statement, the Commission
said they “cannot comment on the
status of open investigations” but
“once the matter is closed, it is then
publicly available information.”
In April, out gay State Senator
Brad Hoylman spoke out in support
of the couple at the Stop False
Police Reporting rally at One Police
Plaza. In a statement to Gay City
News, Hoylman called the allegations
of false police reports “troubling”
and said he hopes “we can
get to the bottom of it.”
Last year, as an outgrowth of the
alleged harassment, Dolci started
Gays Against Dorchester Tower,
a Facebook page chronicling the
couple’s movement to hold the
building responsible for their alleged
actions.
“We could have been the worst
tenants in the building, which
we weren’t,” Dolci said. “But that
doesn’t justify breaking the law,
and abusing people, and abusing
their position of power and using
the police as a weapon.”
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