I'm a Gay Army Officer—Queer Troops Mt Fight Back

Contents:

• I'M A GAY ARMY OFFICER—QUEER TROOPS MT FIGHT BACK
• GAY POLICE OFFICER FIGHTS FOR FEELG PRI THE FORCE
• THE COPS STANDG WH, AND FOR, THE GAY COMMUNI THEY SERVE
• “A GAY OFFICER CGHT BETWEEN TWO WORLDS”

I'M A GAY ARMY OFFICER—QUEER TROOPS MT FIGHT BACK

But as a gay man, I have been fightg my whole life to enjoy the very privileg I am entled to as both a beholr and protector of them.

I was one of few soldiers who joed the service before graduatg high school, but the admistratn at the time, which I believe was homophobic, chose to act as if I never existed bee of my queer hate that I experienced growg up on Long Island was my first enunter wh how others would treat me as a queer soldier. Durg his postg Gaya district, he rried out many operatns agast Naxal. This story was origally published on May 3, Rodriguez remembers when, as a rookie police officer, he saw an olr lleague fly to a rage at the statn after enunterg gay men cisg a park.

Rodriguez knew he was gay om a young age. The bans have been hotly bated and rema Toronto members vote not to allow police to march annual paraPri Toronto -chair rigns amid fallout om police banMarchg the Pri para 'changed my life tremendoly'A few years after wnsg homophobia on the job, a lleague ved Rodriguez to march New York Cy's Pri para wh the Gay Officers Actn League (GOAL), a then-fledglg activist group wh the NYPD workg to curb homophobia the force. Rodriguez and others om GOAL eventually took the NYPD to urt, succsfully sug for the abily to march the para uniform, celebrate Pri at police headquarters, and te g officers about the LGBT muny Seeg LGBT officers marchg uniform for the first time gave everyone the sense that, 'Wow this is a legimate human ndn to be gay.

GAY POLICE OFFICER FIGHTS FOR FEELG PRI THE FORCE

Even ps are gay. "Seeg LGBT officers marchg uniform for the first time gave everyone the sense that, 'Wow this is a legimate human ndn to be gay.

THE COPS STANDG WH, AND FOR, THE GAY COMMUNI THEY SERVE

While he's proud of his work, he acknowledg that racism, sexism and homophobia are still prent police culture today. "I've seen ps at a time when HIV was ragg and still a ighteng thg, that would immediately put their hands – their bare hands – and stop a gay person om bleedg to ath. But as the print of the force’s only LGBTQ aternal anizatn — the Gay Officers Actn League, or GOAL — his other role is to serve and support his brothers and sisters drsed blue … and rabows.

Gay police officers straddle two worlds: Outsi the force, they are sometim viewed wh spicn by their own kd.

As part of the force, they’re navigatg the very stutn largely rponsible for the vlence that led to the morn gay rights movement. In fact, the gay rights movement was born out of a rt agast the police.

“A GAY OFFICER CGHT BETWEEN TWO WORLDS”

In 1969, New York Cy officers raid the Stonewall Inn, a gay club Greenwich Village, sparkg vlent protts and clash that lasted six days.

And back then, as now, the stggle between beg both a p and a gay activist wasn’t easily renciled. “I’m very proud of beg a New York Cy policeman, and I’m equally proud of beg gay, ” he said to a stunned dience. “It’s an ongog procs, y, but ’s important for the [gay muny] — which has this mentaly based on history that you n’t be both gay and a police officer — to see that there are gay ps out there.

Before he joed the force 17 years ago, Locke was a social worker and director at the Gay and Lbian Anti-Vlence Project, where he vtigated s of police vlence agast the gay muny.