As a gay officer I saw how homophobic the police are | Kev Maxwell | The Guardian

Contents:

• PRI SAID GAY COPS AREN’T WELE. THEN CAME THE BACKLASH.
• GAY AND LBIAN COPS: DIVERSY AND EFFECTIVE POLICG
• THE HANDSOME UNRVER P S. IS HE ENTRAPPG GAY MEN OR CLEANG UP A PARK?
• AS A GAY OFFICER I SAW HOW HOMOPHOBIC THE POLICE ARE
• MANY GAY POLICE OFFICERS STILL ENUNTER
• TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY

PRI SAID GAY COPS AREN’T WELE. THEN CAME THE BACKLASH.

” On a rooftop at the end of the day, after some drks, he lled home and told his father that he was gay. ” The monstrators left angry but clash between protters and police fillg social media, prsure rose on Herage of Pri to rce police volvement, cludg banng the Gay Officers Actn League, which routely receiv effive cheers durg the Pri march. ” The board did not tell members about the cisn or ask for a the Gay Officers Actn League learned about the g policy, pre-empted Herage of Pri wh s own statement llg the ban “shameful.

GAY AND LBIAN COPS: DIVERSY AND EFFECTIVE POLICG

“My God, what a bate over this, ” said Andy Humm, a longtime -host of “Gay USA, ” a TV news program. In the past week, he told them, he had received onle msag of hate nsistently om whe gay men, to the extent that his fay feared for his safety.

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

Fisher, who had lled for the vote of no Downey, print of the gay officers group, said he felt “betrayed” by the ban, pecially bee the officers “put so much of themselv on the choppg block” by workg to change practic and attus wh their partments.

AS A GAY OFFICER I SAW HOW HOMOPHOBIC THE POLICE ARE

Reports n be found across the Uned Stat of police allegedly g excsive force agast lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer people. The multiday prott — wily nsired a pivotal turng pot the morn gay rights movement — was triggered by a police raid on the popular Stonewall Inn gay bar.

History, police officers were bound to enforce explicly anti-gay laws — om lol measur outlawg men om “impersonatg a female” to the wispread crimalizatn of same-sex sexual activy. She poted to a study published by the Williams Instute May that found lbian, gay, bisexual and queer people are six tim more likely than the general public to be stopped by police (data about transgenr dividuals were not available the datasets analyzed). The bans have been divisive, even wh the LGBTQ muny — and particularly among openly gay police officers.

MANY GAY POLICE OFFICERS STILL ENUNTER

Prr to the start of this trag, negative attus about the LGBTQ muny were reportedly pervasive wh the partment: In 1996, durg a retrag of veteran officers, a word associatn exercise asked for rpons to the word “gays. Gtavo Alvarez, a gay rint of Palo Alto, California, settled his lawsu agast s police partment after accg of vlatg his civil rights, rultg a settlement that clud a $572, 500 payout and a one-off two hours of mandatory LGBTQ-awarens trag for all police officers the partment. “There was no secret that he was gay, and the officers fely ed that as a way to mean him their prr ntacts wh him and also durg this ntact.

In New York Cy — where LGBTQ trag is provid by the Gay Officers Actn League (GOAL) for both new recs and veteran officers — Cummgs wants the police missner to be a civilian and lgs om the Civilian Complat Review Board, the NYPD’s oversight agency, be bdg. “Across the board systemic racism and homophobia is play wh policg, so go beyond trag and budget.

An troductory chapter clus a se study of how two lbian police officers assisted the vtigatn of the murr of a gay, hearg-impaired llege stunt. Chapter 2 provis an overview of the relevant lerature, cludg background rmatn on discrimatn agast gay and lbian dividuals public employment, the ways which sexual mori manage disclosure the workplace, the recent history of lbian and gay people policg, and the velopment of shared perceptns by gay and lbian officers about their work environment. This chapter also discs how anizatnal effectivens n be promised when police agenci rist diversifitn that clus the hirg of gay and lbian officers.

TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY

This policg philosophy has led law enforcement agenci to face diversy the muni they serve, which has led to regnn of the importance of recg gay and lbian people to police service. Chapter 4 nsirs the experienc and shared perceptns of lbian and gay officers the Uned Stat and the Uned Kgdom, followed by a chapter that discs the ways which lbian and gay officers have brought a unique dimensn to law enforcement. Chapter 6 highlights two se studi - one the Uned Stat and one the Uned Kgdom - which show the distctive and specialized ntributns of gay and lbian officers to policg.

The two remag chapters foc on improvements recg and retag lbian and gay officers; and bt practic are remend based on rearch nducted for this book.