To Protect and to Serve, Unless You're Gay

[RyanPsych]

*I lifted this from my Open-Salon blog. (http://open.salon.com/blog/ryanpsych) *

Now that I am not longer a teenager, and my Fraternity days are behind me, I no longer go out of my way to avoid the police. I no longer view them as "The Man", out to spoil my good time.

However, perhaps my trust has been misplaced, at least for a few of those who wear a badge. Now, I am slightly too young to remember the Rodney King violence, and I grew up in a pretty sheltered upper-middle class neighborhood of Dallas/Ft. Worth, so I never really gave much thought to the concept of police brutality. Unfortunately, it seems to be a very real phenomenon, and the LGBT community seems to too often be at the brunt of it.

For example, let's look at the 2009 beating of a gay man by two police officers. There was a police video that captured the scene- As he watched while his partner was being arrested, Micheal DeHerrera was talking on his cell phone when the video shows one officer lash out him and start to repeatedly beat him. At this point, the surveillance video conspicuously zooms out and away- but the officer's partner did nothing to stop the beatings. Thankfully the officers were disciplined and fired, however DeHerrera woke up in the hospital.

Then there are raids on gay bars and clubs that frequently turn out to be unwarranted and violent. On the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, police in Ft.Worth, Texas raided the Rainbow Lounge on what they claimed was a routine alcohol inspection. (I've been to a lot of bars in a lot of cities, and I've NEVER seen a routine police inspection.) Well, they came in, through around a bunch of anti-gay slurs (I bet you can name a few), and started arresting people for public intoxication. Public intoxication...in a bar...I thought that was the whole point? Anyways, the roughed up a particular customer so bad that he had to be taken to the hospital with a head injury. After public outcry, there was an "investigation" and it was concluded that no excessive force was used. Looks like they either set the bar for excessive force way to high, or they are total homophobic assholes- you decide. A similar incident happend in Atlanta at the Atlanta Eagle- where the officers shouted slurs, and falsely imprisoned 60+ customers.

There have also been many incidents of the police just not doing anything to help LGBT citizens in need. In 2009 in NYC, a few gay men were roughed up- and when the police were called- they literally did nothing. They didn't run the assailants plates, they didn't even take down his information. Nothing.

The LGBT community has enough to fear on a daily basis. Discrimination, even violence, occurs to many every day in this country. They are kicked out of their homes, churches, and lives for being LGBT. Laws prohibit them from marrying the one that they love- and in many states they can be fired simply for being LGBT. It is tragic, that the one institution created to protect citizens, is often the persecutor. Now- I'm not saying that every cop is an anti-gay bigot, far from it,...but it seems to happen too often. Hate Crimes have been on the rise, and we need the police more than ever. However, with so much prejudice by the police- it likely makes many LGBT (I certainly would) too afraid to call on them. Makes you kind of wonder just how underreported anti-gay hate crimes are...

[nosmokes]

1. Anyone who finds the cops a "comforting presence" ain't paying attention.

[RyanPsych]

2. Forgot

to edit that out :P

[mitchtv]

3. the "do nothing" syndrome is insidious,

as old as the police departments.this is something that historically has not been tracked, but it is an old story.

[RKP5637]

4. This has long been a country wherein beating up on minorities is entertainment. I never

trust cops anymore.

[Scottybeamer70]

5. After being on a jury

and listening to the two arresting officers, it was obvious they were lying.
Wound up with a hung jury (no pun intended ). The officers were not allowed
in the courtroom at the same time to testify. I guess they forgot what their
talking points were supposed to be.......each told a different story about
the same incident! Not much trust on my part.