Brett Parson, gay D.C. p arrted Florida, divis LGBTQ muny - Washgton Post

Contents:

• HE WAS ONE OF THE NATN’S MOST REVERED GAY PS. HIS ARRT CHANGED EVERYTHG.
• D.C. LAWSU CLAIMS AARP SERVIC ILLEGALLY FIRED GAY MAN
• HILLSBOROUGH’S SHERIFF PUBLICIZED A SEX STG. DID TARGET GAY MEN?
• PROSECUTORS DISMISS SEX CRIM CHARG AGAST GAY FORMER D.C. COP
• POLICE DRAG DON’T SAY GAY PROTTERS OUT OF RON DESANTIS’ OFFICE AS 14 ARRTS MA
• FLORIDA TEEN KILLED BY MAN WHO FEARED BEG OUTED AS GAY, POLICE SAY
• NEWLY ENGAGED GAY P IS FLORIDA POLICE'S FIRST RONAVIS FATALY
• ‘IT’S MY FLORIDA TOO’: PULSE SHOOTG SURVIVOR BRANDON WOLF ON BEG BLACK, GAY AND THE ANTI-RON DESANTIS
• FLORIDA CHIEF ON LEAVE FOR ALLEGED REMARKS ON GAY P'S RONAVIS ATH
• 3 FAY MEMBERS FACE HATE CRIM CHARG ATTACK THAT LEFT GAY MAN BLD POMPANO BEACH, FLORIDA

HE WAS ONE OF THE NATN’S MOST REVERED GAY PS. HIS ARRT CHANGED EVERYTHG.

Miller/TWP) RIGHT: Parson, shown here 2005, was known natnally and ternatnally as a pneer of gay rights policg.

’ ”The teenager began to tell the officers the story he would repeat at least three tim that night, cludg at the sexual asslt treatment center where he was taken after his parents were ’d met Parson on Growlr, a datg app for gay men that requir ers to be 18.

The man who had jt driven away was known natnally and ternatnally as a pneer of gay rights the natn’s pal, Parson built an award-wng liaison un that vtigated hate crim, beiend advot and marched Pri paras, slowly revolutnizg the relatnship between the police and the cy’s LGBTQ muny. ”Endg ‘fairy shakg’Parson’s reputatn as a gay hero began wh a sndal. Officer was statng himself outsi a gay club Southeast Washgton.

D.C. LAWSU CLAIMS AARP SERVIC ILLEGALLY FIRED GAY MAN

”The chief stalled after the sndal, Charl Ramsey, saw a solutn to that problem: bolsterg and broang a newly formed Gay and Lbian Liaison, then his early 30s, had been openly gay sce he joed the force. “I was really, really aaid that my reputatn was gog to change om beg a good p who happened to be gay, to beg a gay p that ed to be a good p. Rather than raid gay clubs, Parson and the five to 15 members of his un would announce themselv over the loudspeaker, then walk around, troduce themselv and pass out reigerator mags wh their phone number on .

The number was the workaround for those the muny who need help, but worried about the repercsns of llg 911: a gay man experiencg domtic abe om his partner or a transgenr woman wantg to report a hate crime. (Carol Guzy/The Washgton Post) Wh three years of Parson’s beg put charge, the un won a distguished service award om the cy’s Gay and Lbian Activists Alliance, an anizatn formed part to prott discrimatn by law enforcement.

Parson boasted that, on a police force wh few openly gay ps, his imposg figure earned him rpect.

HILLSBOROUGH’S SHERIFF PUBLICIZED A SEX STG. DID TARGET GAY MEN?

” The term is sometim ed by adults the gay muny who intify or prent as and the teenager unlocked the app’s “private media” feature, allowg them to see revealg pictur of each other. Advot who work wh gay youth say ’s mon for teenagers to explore on datg apps that allow them to meet strangers, pecially if they don’t feel safe exprsg themselv at home or vulnerable kids also e datg apps to seek out adults who will pay them, though mors nnot legally nsent to beg purchased for sex. “I don’t thk a life should be stroyed over one foolish event late one night, pecially when the ntact was ma on a se where everyone is supposed to be a mimum of 18, ” said Rick Rosendall, former print of the Gay and Lbian Activists Alliance.

Dubbed the “don’t say gay” law by opponents, s supporters bandied about terms like “groomg” to create false lks between homosexualy and child abe, which is mted by people of all sexual orientatns. “Somethg like this jt plays right to their narrative, ” said John Guggenmos, owner of several gay nightclubs D. ) Police Department, says the 16-year-old told police he and Parson met on the gay onle datg app lled Growlr and agreed to meet for a possible sexual enunter after exchangg “explic” photos of each other.

“RT advised the officers that he was g Growlr, a datg applitn for gay men, to munite wh a male who intified himself as Brett, ” the affidav ntu.

PROSECUTORS DISMISS SEX CRIM CHARG AGAST GAY FORMER D.C. COP

The affidav do not say — and uld not immediately be termed — whether RT self intifi as gay, whether he was out to his parents as a gay person before the cint wh Parson surfaced, or whether his parents are supportive of his sexual orientatn. Gay former D. Gay activist Rick Rosendall said Parson’s arrt rais the issue of teenage sexualy that the prevailg polil and social climate do not appear ready to addrs.

Was the Sheriff’s Office crimalizg gay sex?

Crics ask if the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is crimalizg gay sex.

POLICE DRAG DON’T SAY GAY PROTTERS OUT OF RON DESANTIS’ OFFICE AS 14 ARRTS MA

[ Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office]Sheriff’s spokwoman Crystal Clark fend the operatn as way of protectg children and said accatns that the stg was prejudiced agast gay men “are absurd, and que ankly, offensive.

Defense attorney Jam Amarosa, who has reprented several men acced such s, put bluntly: “I believe they’re targetg homosexual men.

FLORIDA TEEN KILLED BY MAN WHO FEARED BEG OUTED AS GAY, POLICE SAY

To her, appears that the Sheriff’s Office is targetg certa lotns, regardls of who’s havg sex there, rather than gay ncerns her that the operatns were nducted whout any plats om the public.

NEWLY ENGAGED GAY P IS FLORIDA POLICE'S FIRST RONAVIS FATALY

”• • •It has been more than six s sce Florida’s famo Johns Commtee targeted Black people, munists and gay men a McCarthye asslt on the civil rights movement om 1956-65. Havg officers go unrver to target cisg — which men pick each other up for sex public — was a major aspect of those anti-gay efforts, cludg those by the Johns and raids targetg the LGBTQ muny cled the late 20th century, Stewart-Wter said — particular, police stopped raidg gay bars the face of public cricism. ”Durg the mid-century heyday of anti-gay policg, Stewart-Wter said, teachers and profsors arrted the stgs were often sgled out for particularly harsh public shamg, due to the myth that gay men pose a particular threat to said Chronister’s foc on the safety of children furthers that false and pernic stereotype.

Neher of the parks targeted “Operatn Park Cleanup” has said she saw the sheriff’s language as fuelg prejudice agast gay men. The teenager told officers he had been g the gay datg app Growlr and had agreed to meet up wh Parson.

‘IT’S MY FLORIDA TOO’: PULSE SHOOTG SURVIVOR BRANDON WOLF ON BEG BLACK, GAY AND THE ANTI-RON DESANTIS

"Gay former D. A nvictn of an “unnatural and lasciv act” is nsired a send-gree mismeanor and is punishable by up to 60 days jail and a $500 discsg the circumstanc surroundg the Operatn Park Hopper arrts laid out the statement, Lambda Legal Director of Constutnal Ligatn San Sommer told NBC Out “entrapment is fely a law enforcement tool ed agast gay men.

“They round up gay men and then do this really horrendo public shamg where they prt their mug shots and their nam and their ag and the towns where they live, ” Sommer said.

FLORIDA CHIEF ON LEAVE FOR ALLEGED REMARKS ON GAY P'S RONAVIS ATH

”“The ernment n certaly outlaw public sex, but mt take re to enforce such bans wh nstutnal lims, ” said Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern, a gay journalist who has wrten on gay sex stgs the past.

“When law enforcement officers target gay men for no apparent reason other than their sexual orientatn, they n the risk of nng afoul of basic equal protectn prcipl.

3 FAY MEMBERS FACE HATE CRIM CHARG ATTACK THAT LEFT GAY MAN BLD POMPANO BEACH, FLORIDA

”Stern poted to a prev se Long Beach, Calif., where a urt threw out the nvictn of a gay man who had been arrted for cisg, bee was led that the police partment had acted on unnstutnal “anim toward homosexuals. ”“Put simply, is not at all clear that the Volia County Sheriff remaed wh nstutnal boundari his zeal to arrt, imprison and huiate the men, ” Stern of the men arrted Operatn Park Hopper were middle-aged or olr, which Sommer speculated uld be ditive of generatnal differenc between olr and younger gay men. Prosecutors Florida have dropped felony charg volvg sex wh a mor agast a gay, retired, proment former Washgton, D.

”Assistant State Attorney Danielle Lennox explaed her reason for not prosecutg a March 9 memorandum that The Advote wr that Parson, then 53, and a 16-year-old boy met on a gay datg app, Growlr, where the teenager had dited he was 19.

Over a dozen activists arrted for prottg Florida’s Don’t Say Gay law Ron DeSantis’ office (Pl Hennsy/SOPA Imag/LightRocket via Getty Imag). A group of 14 activists have been arrted Florida after occupyg ernor Ron DeSantis’ office prott of the expansn of the state’s cel Don’t Say Gay law.