Cops gay
Police at Pride? Homosexual cops, LGBTQ activists struggle to watch eye-to-eye
Just before members of the Homosexual Officers Action League (GOAL) marched past the Stonewall Inn, the finish line of last year’s New York Town Pride March, a small group of activists slipped past the barriers and chained their hands together to avoid the officers from passing, a rally technique called a “lockdown.”
Dozens of cops working security at the march surrounded the protesters, and, over shouts of “f--k the police” and “racist, sexist, anti-gay, NYPD, KKK,” began to crack through what appeared to be chains and rubber tubes the protesters had used to secure themselves together. Twelve protesters affiliated with the group No Justice No Self-acceptance were arrested, and after a short delay, the pride continued.
The irony of the incident was not lost on many in the crowd — cops arresting gay people in front of the Stonewall Inn, the very place where homophobic police brutality sparked the modern LGBTQ rights movement nearly five decades years prior. In fact, Brand-new York City’s first gay pride rally, which was held on June 28, 1970, was organized to commemorate the one-year anniversary of what has grow known as the S
Gay Cops
Rude graffiti, sexually explicit drawings in their lockers, harassing handset calls - these are a few of the problems plaguing gay cops. Gay Cops is a ground-breaking study of the lives of gay and female homosexual police officers in America. Through revealing interviews, Leinen explores the dilemmas facing homosexual police officers as they balance the day-to-day realities of their work and sexual identities. Leinen helps the reader to hear their voices - sometimes emotional and poignant, often defiant or humorous, and always engaging. Though official police policy may be to recruit homosexuals, most police officers resent the presence of their male lover and lesbian colleagues and discriminate against them. Attitudes range from uneducated dislike to fear of contracting AIDS from a bleeding partner. The contempt for homosexuals traditionally expressed by police often intensifies a homosexual cop's perception of inferiority and social exclusion. For gay cops, the issue is whether or not to "come out" at work and to which people. Living a life of secrecy and lies at work; wearing a wedding ring as a "disidentifier"; and engaging in sexist talk to fool others can wreak havoc on a gay cop's
Gay Cops
Stephen Leinen. Rutgers University Press, $22.95 (245pp) ISBN 978-0-8135-2000-1
In the first book-length study of lgbtq+ police officers, Leinen, a sociologist, creator of Black Police, White Society and a former NYPD lieutenant, reports on the coping and surviving strategies of 41 homosexual Unused York City police officers, both male and female. The author, who is heterosexual and was on the violence when he began this study, attended Gay Officers Deed League meetings, dances and gay celebration parades. He describes the tense alley from being a law enforcement forwarder who potentially threatens the secrecy of gay officers still in the closet to being a researcher observing their lifestyle. Academic jargon (``deviantized minority groups'' and `` `inner-closeted' group'') mars an otherwise intriguing account. Leinen often allows these cops to speak for themselves about coming out to each other, to their heterosexual colleagues and to their families. (Oct.)
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Reviewed on: 10/04/1993
Genre: Nonfiction
Gay and Lesbian Cops:
Diversity and Effective Policing
Roddrick A. Colvin
Roddrick Colvin assesses the impact of lesbian and gay police officers on law enforcement in the US and the UK, as well as the policies that enable a diverse work environment.
Colvin tracks the evolution of police agencies toward entity more "gay friendly" both as employers and as service providers. He also provides insights into the day-to-day barriers and opportunities that lesbian and male lover officers experience working within organizations that traditionally hold been hostile to them. Integrating quantitative and qualitative research, he offers a compelling demonstration that police agencies can best fulfill their missions when they are representative of the communities they serve.
Roddrick A. Colvin is associate professor of public administration at San Diego State University.
"A comprehensive overview of female homosexual and gay issues in law enforcement in the United States and the United Kingdom."—Warren S. Weller, International Public Management Journal
"A 'must read' for any scholar or practitioner interested in community policing, whether it be for implementation or purely academic purpo