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

Contents:

• IRS 'WHISTLEBLOWER X,' A GAY DEMOCRAT, REVEALS INTY AND TELLS CONGRS HE WAS BLOCKED OM INVTIGATG HUNTER BIN
• HE WAS ONE OF THE NATN’S MOST REVERED GAY PS. HIS ARRT CHANGED EVERYTHG.
• IS RUDY GAY A GOOD F?
• WE WENT TO A CONVENTN FOR GAY POLICE OFFICERS BERL
• COMG OUT AT WORK: WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE A GAY P NEW JERSEY
• GAY COP
• THE HANDSOME UNRVER P S. IS HE ENTRAPPG GAY MEN OR CLEANG UP A PARK?
• NYC PRI PARA BANS POLICE; GAY OFFICERS 'DISHEARTENED'
• AFTER CRAIGSLIST AND MANHUNT, HERE IS WHERE GAYS WILL GET THEIR CLICKS
• WE WENT TO A CONVENTN FOR GAY POLICE OFFICERS BERL

IRS 'WHISTLEBLOWER X,' A GAY DEMOCRAT, REVEALS INTY AND TELLS CONGRS HE WAS BLOCKED OM INVTIGATG HUNTER BIN

Joe Ziegler, a special agent wh the tax agency for 13 years, scribed himself as a "gay Democrat married to a man" and said he cid to e forward spe his personal polics bee he believ "no one should be above the law regardls of your polil affiliatn.

"I equate this to the experience and feelgs I enuntered when g out [as gay], " said Ziegler. Miller/TWP) RIGHT: Parson, shown here 2005, was known natnally and ternatnally as a pneer of gay rights policg.

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

’ ”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. ”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.

IS RUDY GAY A GOOD F?

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.

WE WENT TO A CONVENTN FOR GAY POLICE OFFICERS BERL

” 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.

COMG OUT AT WORK: WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE A GAY P NEW JERSEY

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.

One such piece — and a highly-predictable one, at that — is veteran forward Rudy Gay, who was recently waived by the Oklahoma Cy Thunr, after beg ed as filler two different offseason tras: first when the Utah Jazz shipped him to the Atlanta Hawks the John Colls al, and then when the Hawks sent him to the Thunr the Patty Mills tra. Dpe beg a 17-year veteran — he was drafted one year after Chris Pl, and one pick ahead of Patrick O’Bryant — Gay has never shared an NBA locker room wh any Warrrs.

Not only have they played (and ached) agast him for years, but Gay was teammat wh Steph Curry and Klay Thompson on the Team USA squad that won gold at the 2014 FIBA World Cup, and also teammat wh Curry (and Andre Iguodala) on the gold medal-wng 2010 team. Perhaps most importantly, Gay spent four seasons — four recent seasons, crilly — playg for the San Anton Spurs and Steve Kerr’s mentor, Gregg Popovich. If the Warrrs are terted Gay, you n bet that Kerr and Pop have talked about , and about how he handled the swch om high-volume starter/srer to veteran bench piece.

GAY COP

That is, theory, the biggt benef of Gay: beg a tsty and smart vet that n fill the Iguodala role. Which is good, bee ’s unclear if Gay has anythg left the tank on the urt.

It’s easy to make the se for Gay, sce the Warrrs rotatn seems pretty set as is, wh an 11-player rotatn of Curry, Pl, Thompson, Wiggs, Green, Kumga, Moody, Kevon Looney, Gary Payton II, Dar Šarić, and Cory Joseph. If the Dubs want Gay, he’d probably be an easy target.

Here’s a staggerg stat: Gay is 68th NBA history regular season gam played, wh 1, 120. There’s also a cent chance that Gay go unsigned, and that the Dubs uld brg him to trag mp on a non-guaranteed al to get a better look at him. Should the Warrrs sign Rudy Gay?

THE HANDSOME UNRVER P S. IS HE ENTRAPPG GAY MEN OR CLEANG UP A PARK?

Jam Tracy me out as gay to his police joed the Englewood Cliffs police partment 2002, but 10 years passed before he revealed his secret.

“I was gettg lls om gay police officers all over the untry sayg thgs like ‘Hey, thanks for the publicy and gettg out there', ” he said.

NYC PRI PARA BANS POLICE; GAY OFFICERS 'DISHEARTENED'

”It's not always easy to be a p who is gay, but each step forward helps pave the way for a better future work environment, Tracy ntu below galleryWell before Tracy ever put on the police uniform, Wtwood police Officer Larry Schwartz helped pave the way for gay officers.

Schwartz remends other gay ps get volved and take the time to fd peers and seek help if there are road for officers who e out as gay to lleagu has not always been smooth.

AFTER CRAIGSLIST AND MANHUNT, HERE IS WHERE GAYS WILL GET THEIR CLICKS

“It’s part of the tnal program bee people might not nsir themselv homophobic or racist, but have unrlyg patterns that are, ” Tracy said. But the unrver operatn, which was sharply cricized recently by a judge, also exemplifi a ntroversial, age-old police tactic that many of California’s largt law enforcement agenci have quietly abandoned recent years amid mountg cricism and changg sexual the most-read stori this hour >>In Los Angel, Long Beach and other areas where unrver lewd nduct stgs endure, police fend them as an important tool for tchg people who are vlatg the law and for terrg others om tryg to have sex parks and other public areas ed by fai and activists do not ndone public sex but have long nmned the bts as a form of entrapment, sayg they unfairly sgle out gay men, wh sometim vastatg nsequenc.

WE WENT TO A CONVENTN FOR GAY POLICE OFFICERS BERL

But recent years, crics of the stgs have gaed tractn as public attus about homosexualy and gay rights have shifted.

“Nobody is gog to fend lewd nduct, but there is a qualative difference between sexual predators and people who engage boorish behavr, ” said Los Angel County Asssor Jefey Prang, who is gay and a former special assistant the Sheriff’s Department who worked wh s LGBT advisory uncil.

Last month, a Los Angel County judge threw out the charg one se stemmg om Long Beach’s 2014 operatn, sayg police were discrimatg agast gay law enforcement agenci have stopped rponse to lawsus or after polil backlash.