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.
• GAY FORMER POLICE OFFICER NNG FOR WARD 1 COUNCIL
• GAY ARAB-AMERIN FORMER P IS A STRONG NTENR DC CY COUNCIL BRAWL
• D.C. POLICE ARRT 26 MEN FOR GAY SEX FERAL PARK, LAWYER SAYS IT'S ENTRAPMENT
• D.C. LAWSU CLAIMS AARP SERVIC ILLEGALLY FIRED GAY MAN
• WASHGTON BLA: LGBTQ NEWS, POLICS, LGBTQ RIGHTS, GAY NEWS
• LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR LIAISON UN (LGBTLU)
• FORMER TEACHER ACCED OF POSG AS POLICE OFFICER AND ATTACKG GAY MEN CHARGED WH HATE CRIM
• MAN POSG AS OFFICER ATTACKED GAY MEN A WASHGTON PARK, PROSECUTORS SAY
• GAY MEN TARGETED MERIDIAN HILL PARK BY FAKE P, PROSECUTORS SAY
• GAY COPS
• HOMOPHOBE POSED AS POLICE OFFICER TO ATTACK GAY MEN POPULAR ‘CISG SPOT’, PROSECUTORS SAY

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.

GAY FORMER POLICE OFFICER NNG FOR WARD 1 COUNCIL

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.

GAY ARAB-AMERIN FORMER P IS A STRONG NTENR DC CY COUNCIL BRAWL

”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.

D.C. POLICE ARRT 26 MEN FOR GAY SEX FERAL PARK, LAWYER SAYS IT'S ENTRAPMENT

“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. ” 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.

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

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.

WASHGTON BLA: LGBTQ NEWS, POLICS, LGBTQ RIGHTS, GAY NEWS

Police litenant who head the cy’s former Gay and Lbian Liaison Un, garnerg a natnal reputatn for buildg tst between law enforcement and unr-served muni.

LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR LIAISON UN (LGBTLU)

In explag the ratnale for droppg the se, assistant state attorney Danielle Lennox said the two had met on Growlr, a gay datg applitn. A gay former manager for the D.

-based AARP Servic, Inc., an arm of the AARP that teracts wh bs supportive of the natn’s senrs, filed a ltle-noticed lawsu May 2018 chargg AARP Servic wh firg him bee he’s gay and married to a man. The lawsu says AARP allegedly fired at least one other gay employee, who also filed su and an out-of-urt settlement was reached. “As a gay man who has lived D.

For 22 years and was discrimatorily fired by an anizatn that stat they are gay iendly, Rick believ that his story should be heard, ” Chambers said.

FORMER TEACHER ACCED OF POSG AS POLICE OFFICER AND ATTACKG GAY MEN CHARGED WH HATE CRIM

In one of the most petive rac recent DC Council history, a gay former Metropolan Police Department officer and son of a Paltian refugee is poised to unseat the progrsive cumbent Ward 1.

Related: GOP ndidate Herschel Walker’s very flamboyantly not-gay son attacks Pri Month.

MAN POSG AS OFFICER ATTACKED GAY MEN A WASHGTON PARK, PROSECUTORS SAY

Sure polics is a tough bs but as the son of a refugee and immigrant, a gay man, and someone who was part of MPD’s rponse to the Jan 6th surrectn, havg that vile p photoshopped on my cloth is ceptive and unte. “I mean, I’m an Arab Amerin gay man.

Should he be elected, Czapany will fill the seat of longtime, openly gay Ward 1 uncil rep Jim Graham, who died 2017. Jim, and those of his generatn, broke barriers that have ma possible for me, a gay Arab-Amerin man, the son of refuge, to participate fully ernment and public service and to ntue the fight towards full equaly for all.

Czapany’s foc on LGBTQ issu would clu “makg sure DC remas open and welg to people fleeg persecutn, ” cludg transgenr and gay youth, and addrsg a hog and LGBTQ-affirmg re crisis those groups. I was 19 years old the first time I acknowledged, to myself, that I was gay. “I was more worried g out to my parents as a Democrat, ” says Czapany, “than tellg them I was gay.

GAY MEN TARGETED MERIDIAN HILL PARK BY FAKE P, PROSECUTORS SAY

""[It's] remiscent of the Stonewall days when gay men were often the target of police discrimatn. "Sargeant Delgado was unable to nfirm whether the arrts were at the hands of uniformed or placloth Washgton Post scrib Meridian Hill Park as a "gatherg place for all of the District's disparate trib: black and whe, rich and poor, young and old, immigrant and lol, gay and straight, borg and bizarre. " It's also long been nsired cisg spot for gay men of lor.

GAY COPS

"Defense attorneys argued the Pleasure Emporium is such a bs, "well-known and advertised as a gay cisg 'hookup' area. The teenager told officers he had been g the gay datg app Growlr and had agreed to meet up wh Parson.

"Gay former D. The Lbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgenr Liaison Un (LGBTLU) is a team of dited officers that foc on the public safety needs of the gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr and their allied muni. Contactg the Lbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgenr Liaison Un (LGBTLU).

HOMOPHOBE POSED AS POLICE OFFICER TO ATTACK GAY MEN POPULAR ‘CISG SPOT’, PROSECUTORS SAY

But the other driver, a 16-year-old boy, told police he and Parson had jt engaged sexual boy reported that he first nnected wh Parson on Growlr, a datg app for gay men. This is part of an ongog seri of articl highlightg the voic of var members of the Natnal Gay Flag Football League. I wanted to be succsful bee I didn’t want people to say, “He’s a Black gay failure.