A kink collective plans to move out of Bedford-Stuyvesant following weeks of outcry spearheaded by one of the businesses’ neighbors.
Charlotte Taillor moved her business into Bed-Stuy from a more expensive location in Crown Heights, and her neighbor Laurie Miller started to notice men coming and going from the house in January, according to the New York Times. Miller soon put up fliers asking to meet with the block association and urging locals to call the police and community board about what she called “a gentlemen’s sex club” with “no business” being in the neighborhood.
Taillor started her business in 2016 as a community center to help educate people, specifically women, about B.D.S.M. Although she has given into pressure from the neighborhood and plans to move the business, Taillor still defended her business and stressed in particular that it was not a sex club.
“Nobody is allowed to have sex on the premises,” she told the Times. “Even me.”
Taillor is raising money for moving costs and a new space, but will not be able to move until April. Miller, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1974, told the Times that she still felt unsafe with The Taillor Group next door.
“Not until she’s out,” Miller said. “That’s when I’ll breathe a sigh of relief.” [NYT] – Eddie Small