Allegedly anti-gay "cult" leaders may have pulled a fast one on Brooklyn-based Assemblyman Felix Ortiz.

Aesthetic Realism applied for $4,000 of state-funding to help their work at Raices, a largely Latino senior center in Brooklyn.

It seemed like an honorable cause, we're sure, because the group had never before received monetary assistance during its 13-years of service. Unfortunately Ortiz didn't do his homework. Former AR members claim the group's nothing more than a cult that preys on the elderly - and the gays.

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Seriously?

A bill that would license exotic dancers has been bumping and grinding its way ever so slowly through the legislative hopper in Albany - but the "sin-tax" in the measure may leave legislators poles apart.

The bill, sponsored by Brooklyn Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, would require strippers to register with the state and get special permits to perform in clubs.

And real names - not Candy, Lolita or Miss Lollipop - would be required.

Dancers who can't whip out a permit - it's unclear if they would have to carry them, somewhere, at all times - would face fines of up to $20 for a first-time violation and $50 for further violations.

Clubs that employ them would face even stiffer fines.

Whoever wrote this - Bob Kappstatter - deserves a Pulitzer for their ingenious use of the word "stiffer".