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LGBTQ Police Officers

The presence of LGBTQ officers in law enforcement has a history of controversy. As times have changed, police forces have adapted by adding LGBTQ divisions, officers and committees within their ranks to account for legislation established by governments to protect individuals who previously had little or no voice when it came to laws impacting their own communities.

Diversity in service and the elimination of discrimination across the planet is led by many individuals, staff, associations and others within the global police community. Inclusivity, evolution, acceptance, intersectionality, organizational values and career advancement lead to proud cops and growing acceptance. Nevertheless, many LGBTQ individuals still face significant discrimination in the police force.

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One of the most rewarding parts of working in a public safety profession is the camaraderie available among colleagues and co-workers. Law enforcement, the fire service, emergency medicine, and first responders are all professions that face life-and-death situations on a daily basis. There is a strong bond that develops quickly through experiencing these events together. If you are a professional in one of these vocations who also happens to be gay, it can be difficult to connect with colleagues especially if you are closeted or work in an atmosphere surrounded by homophobia.

A gay firefighter faces many challenges in the fire station work environment. Some of these challenges are singular to gays, but many are shared with other individuals who are labeled as different and excluded from the group. It may be even more difficult for a gay male firefighter than a gay female firefighter to gain acceptance in his workplace, but both face challenges with obtaining benefits for partners, getting hired, and social issues within the group.

The atmosphere of the workplace itself can be difficult for gays and their straight coworkers. Firefighters work 24 hours shifts and have communal showers and sleeping quarters. Tension in the workplace is one of the most common and emotionally disturbing challenges for the gay firefighter. Sometimes other firefighters are unwilling to accept a gay firefighter as a colleague and equal. In a job like firefighting, it is very important for all members of the team to act as a cohesive unit. If coworkers cannot work with a gay firefighter, the whole team suffers.

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Wisconsin Police Department Fully Embraces Transgender Officer

We all wear the same patch. We all wear the same badge.

As a member of Wisconsin’s 54-officer Wisconsin State Park Police Department, Dezjorn “DJ” Gauthier became the first out transgender officer in the state in December 2022. The park is located in the Milwaukee suburb of West Allis.

“You know, being a transgender officer, nothing is different,” Gauthier explained. “Walking these grounds is the same as any officer that is down here.” He spoke during the Wisconsin State Fair, which ends August 13. The grounds have their own police force that deploys multiple officers daily to deal with the events on the property instead of paying an outside security agency. While officers can work 12-14 hours during hectic times, such as the State Fair, Gauthier appreciates the challenges and opportunities of working with the public. “The folks that we encounter, right? We want to be the face of the same folks that are here on the ground,” he said.

Ken Pileggi, chief of the Wisconsin State Park Police, encouraged Gauthier to become a police officer after seeing his work as a public safety officer. “The rookie is doing outstanding. The rookie has natural leadership abilities,” Pileggi said. “I saw so much potential in him that we decided — in talking with him — we sponsored him for the Milwaukee Area Technical College recruit academy to have him become a police officer after the 720-hour basic academy (training).”

Gauthier says he’s proud to be on the force, and his colleagues feel the same about him. “He’s an integral part of that team, so we’re very lucky to have him,” State Park Police inspector John Flannery said.

Pleggi added, “We all wear the same patch. We all wear the same badge. He’s part of that while yet still advancing his transgender identity and bringing a better understanding not only just for our staff but for fairgoers as well.”

Aside from being a positive representation as a police officer, Gauthier hopes to show others that transgender people exist in all areas of life. It is vital for him for people to know that “We are here, that we do exist, and that there are employment areas that completely accept us with open arms,” he said.

[Source: Christopher Wiggins, Advocate, August 20223]

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It Still Matters to Be Openly LGBTQ

Just Witness Current Events...

“Why do you have to bring up the LGBTQ thing?” ... “Marriage equality is the law of the land; now what else do you want?” ... These kinds of comments, which I had heard often when I first entered the race for San Diego County Sheriff, come from non-LGBTQ and LGBTQ individuals.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s presidential run as an openly LGBTQ candidate and his sudden rise in some polls led to a Time magazine cover with his husband titled “First Family,” basically asking: Is America ready to elect an openly gay man as US president?

In light of the social and legal progress that transgender, lesbians, gays and bisexuals have achieved in recent years, many tend to think that a person’s sexual orientation no longer matters (our society is still grappling with the gender identity movement). I can see why some people question the necessity for public officials, professional athletes entertainers, etc., to say that they are LGBTQ. Aren’t we, after all, living in a post-LGBTQ world? Except for Qatar. Does it really matter? I think it still does.

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That’s why when I am asked about my sexual orientation or comments are made regarding LGBTQ issues, I unhesitatingly say that I am gay. I think that it still matters because in addition to the questioning comments that I have received, I’ve gotten many more emails, phone calls and remarks from individuals, young and old, who said that my letting them know that I am an openly gay male gave them some inspiration for their own personal struggle with sexual or gender identity.

I’ve had conversations with individuals who say that my public acknowledgment of being gay in a very conservative profession has helped them on their journey of coming out. I’ve had several parents of gay and transgender kids ask me how to deal with their child’s situation. I’d like to think that my openness will influence LGBTQ teenagers, especially those contemplating suicide, to see that that our society is progressing toward greater acceptance and equality, even with today’s turbulent politics. I want to remind them that things will get better because we and our allies won’t forget the battles, the lives lost and the pain suffered that has resulted in a more inclusive society.

As for my own profession, I would have to say that law enforcement still has a way to go with its homophobia and transphobia. I know that there are closeted law enforcement officials today uncomfortable with coming out at work because they believe that doing so would be detrimental to their career. There is hope, however. During my public service, I encountered several LGBTQ youths who’ve told me that they’ve never considered a career in law enforcement because they didn’t think that they could be gay or transgender and be a police officer. They now think differently. I hope that they will join the ranks of law enforcement so they can help change the culture from within.

Electing qualified, principled members of our community to public office is important because homophobia and transphobia continue to exist in the United States. Right here in San Diego County, we have a congressman, Darrell Issa, who has consistently gotten an “F” rating from the Human Rights Campaign for opposing both marriage equality and laws that protect the LGBTQ community from discrimination in employment and housing. Issa has even supported constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage and defining marriage as between one man and one woman. On the national front, we had a president who had banned transgender people from serving in the military, essentially saying that they are divisive and a financial drain on the country.

In the 35 years that I served in law enforcement, being gay has informed both the way in which I’ve treated my co-workers and the way in which I have approached the general public. Being gay has made me more resilient, more accepting, more compassionate, more cognizant of the worth that can be found in everyone I come across.

So yes, while being gay is not a qualification for public office, it matters because it is a part of my character. It matters because I want LGBTQ people to be seen for more than just a caricature of who we are, that we are seen as real people: mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, students, military veterans, athletes, workers in all fields and professions.

[Source: Dave Myers, 33-year veteran of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, Times of San Diego, Nov 2022]

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NJ Transgender Detective Makes State Law Enforcement History

A 36-year-old trans man in New Jersey is making history as the state’s first out transgender law enforcement officer.

Detective Connor Johnson, an investigator with the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, didn’t always want to work in criminal justice. Since finding his calling, he has spoken out to share his story, the Asbury Park Pressreports. “I wasn’t the guy that grew up wanting to be a cop,” he said. “My family didn’t have cops in the family. I’m the first law enforcement officer in my family.”

A former Prosecutor’s Office’s Trial Support Fugitive Unit member, Johnson now works in the Prosecutor’s Office’s High Tech Bureau, part of the Internet Crimes Unit and Crime Against Children Task Force. His previous positions included working for the Morristown Bureau of Police, the Morris County Sheriff’s Office, and the Morris County public safety dispatch.

He is also a designated LGBTQ Law Enforcement Liaison, working with peers across the county and throughout New Jersey to educate them on a requirement in the state for law enforcement officials to treat transgender people with dignity and respect, according to the Asbury Park Press. “Without the education, we can’t create understanding. Without understanding, there’s no acceptance,” Johnson said. “I had to educate myself on who I was. How am I going to expect somebody who isn’t trans to understand if they’re not educated on it as well?”

The paper reports that Johnson has an appeal to others in law enforcement around the country. “Just treat transgender people with respect,” he said. “If(someone asks you to use their name, and it’s not what is on their license, just use their name. It’s no different than if my name was Christopher and I asked you to call me Chris.” He added, “And educate yourself a little bit about how people feel about pronouns, about why it’s important.”

[Source: Christopher Wiggins, Advocate, February 2023]

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LGBTQ Pioneer: Charlie Cochran

I'm proud to be a New York City police officer. I'm equally proud to be gay.

Charles Henry “Charlie” Cochrane Jr., a sergeant of the New York Police Department and the first out gay person on the force, founded the Gay Officers Action League

Charles Henry "Charlie" Cochrane, Jr. (1943-2008) was an American law enforcement officer and sergeant with the New York City Police Department. Following his delivery of public testimony on anti-discrimination legislation pending before the New York City Council, Cochrane became the first openly gay officer of the NYPD. He later helped to form the Gay Officers Action League (GOAL).

Cochrane joined the New York City Police Department in 1967. For the first 10 years of his time on the force, Cochrane kept his homosexuality a secret, known only to a limited circle of friends. He first came out to his patrol partner in 1977, gradually becoming less fearful over time, until by the early 1980s he believed that "hundreds of guys and women in the department" were aware of his sexual orientation. Cochrane became a member of the NYPD's Manhattan South Task Force, rising to the rank of sergeant.

In 1981, the New York City Council announced plans to conduct hearings leading towards a ban on discrimination against gay citizens in the city. Cochrane believed it important for gay residents from a wide range of occupations to participate in the process and in the first week of November met with a group of nine friends and acquaintances who knew of his sexuality to discuss possible repercussions that he might suffer in the event that he himself gave public testimony on the matter. Deciding to move forward with the process, Cochrane met with his parents and came out as gay for the first time.

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Cochrane wrote a letter to NYPD Police Commissioner Robert J. McGuire in November 1981, informing him of his intent to testify before the City Council on the matter, which he did at the witness table in front of the council five days later. In reading his prepared statement before the council, Cochrane thereby became the first New York City Police Department member to publicly announce his homosexuality.

Cochrane followed Pat Burns, first vice president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association to the witness stand, having heard Burns declare that he knew of no gay New York City police officers, and that he was opposed to the NYPD hiring homosexuals to the force.

Cochrane dramatically contradicted Burns' assertion, stating that he was "very proud of being a New York City policeman" and "equally proud of being gay." Cochrane further testified that gays were not cruel, wicked, cursed, sick, or possessed by demons. "I've always been gay", Cochrane declared to a slightly stunned council chamber, which erupted after a short pause into a raucous standing cheer from Cochrane's assembled supporters.

A news story that quoted journalist Andy Humm reported: "He gets up and says, I'm proud to be a New York City police officer. And then he says, I'm equally proud to be gay. And the City Hall Chamber almost fell out."

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Despite Cochrane's testimony, the New York City Council defeated this 1981 anti-discrimination proposal, leaving Cochrane largely unprotected by law to deal with any discriminatory consequences of his action. He found the reaction surprisingly positive, noting in an interview by The New York Times that he had received about 15 letters from other NYPD officers in the two weeks after his testimony, almost all of which were positive, and had a positive discussion with a fellow officer who was black about stereotypes and prejudice.

Cochrane remarked at the time: "Everyone I talked to within the department felt I probably would meet a lot of negative response, but I could not believe the support."

The most hurtful reaction to Cochrane was a severing of personal relations by the officer who had originally persuaded Cochrane to join the police force following the public revelation of his sexuality. The dire warnings of other officers who had offered Cochrane advice before his testimony that by doing so he would be committing career suicide did not come to fruition.

Cochrane died of cancer in 2008 in Pompano Beach, Florida. He was 64 years old at the time of his death.

In June 2016, Cochrane's courageous 1981 testimony was honored with New York City street signs marking "Charles H. Cochrane Way", with the new signs unveiled at Washington Place and Sixth Avenue. At the unveiling ceremony NYPD Chief of Department James O'Neill paid tribute to Cochrane's fortitude, noting "Charlie had come out as a gay cop during a time when gay cops were afraid of losing their jobs and of being physically harmed." He added that "through the efforts of Charlie, this is now a very different New York City than it was 35 years ago and it's a very different NYPD."

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Hero of Sept 11: Father Mychal Judge

Mychal Fallon Judge (1933-2001), was a gay American Franciscan friar and Catholic priest who served as a chaplain to the New York City Fire Department. While serving in that capacity he was killed, becoming one of 2977 fatalities of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

On September 11, 2001, upon learning that the World Trade Center had been hit by the first of two jetliners, Judge rushed to the site. He was met by Rudolph Giuliani, the Mayor of New York City, who asked him to pray for the city and its victims. Judge prayed over bodies lying on the streets, then entered the lobby of the World Trade Center North Tower, where an emergency command post had been organized. There he continued offering aid and prayers for the rescuers, the injured, and the dead. Judge died when debris from the South Tower was ejected into the lobby of the North Tower during the collapse of the World Trade Center.

Shortly after his death, Judge's body was found and carried out of the North Tower by four firefighters and a policeman shortly before it collapsed at 10:28 a.m. This act was photographed by Reuters photographer Shannon Stapleton, and became one of the most famous photographs taken during the attacks.

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Following his death, a few of Judge's friends and associates revealed that Judge was gay. According to Fire Department Commissioner Thomas Von Essen: "I actually knew about his homosexuality when I was in the Uniformed Firefighters Association. I kept the secret, but then he told me when I became commissioner five years ago. He and I often laughed about it, because we knew how difficult it would have been for the other firemen to accept it as easily as I had. I just thought he was a phenomenal, warm, sincere man, and the fact that he was gay just had nothing to do with anything."

Judge was a long-term member of Dignity, a Catholic LGBTQ activist organization that advocates for change in the Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality. In 1986, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued an encyclical, On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, which declared homosexuality to be a "strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil." In response, many bishops, including John Cardinal O'Connor, banned Dignity from diocesan churches under their control. Judge then welcomed Dignity's AIDS ministry to the Church of St. Francis of Assisi, which is under the control of the Franciscan friars, thereby partially circumventing the cardinal's ban of Dignity. Judge disagreed with official Catholic teaching regarding homosexuality. Judge often asked, "Is there so much love in the world that we can afford to discriminate against any kind of love?"

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Firehouse Forum: LGBTQ Issues

Are there any openly gay firefighters in your department?

--I'm sure this post will have some uneducated ignorant responses to it, but that's okay. I've become use to that over the years. I'm just curious if your department has any openly gay ff's and, if so, is there or has there been any issues come from that? I would like to think, or at least hope, that in this day and age, with the military (which I proudly served in) finally realizing there is and always will be gay service members and that they can do their jobs well, that the fire service has evolved as well.

Yes, I am an openly gay firefighter and have been in this business for going on 23 years. I'm a career firefighter in a department with approx 140 personnel. I am fortunate in that I work at a progressive department with amazing people that have accepted me for who I am. Yes, there are a few people in my department that may not be totally comfortable with it, but they still treat me with respect and I respect them. I do my job and do it well and they know they can depend on me at any time both at work and off work. I am happily partnered and, contrary to popular belief, just because I am a gay male doesn't mean I want you or that I will stare at you in the showers. The ff's on my shift in particular know they have nothing to worry about and never act weird in front of me changing or anything like that. I'm guessing that's some people's fear. My guys are a part of my life just as I am a part of theirs. They have all met my partner just as I have met their wives and they all treat him with respect and have welcomed my partner as part of their family. I'm fortunate to have good group of intelligent, respectful, understanding, and accepting people to work with.

So, I'm really curious as to how other openly gay firefighters are perceived in their departments and if there are any issues that have arisen from being open to your coworkers. Before anyone responds that your department doesn't have any gay ff's, I can pretty much guarantee you that's not the case, which is why I'm asking about "openly" gay ff's. I know I'm not the only one in my department but I'm the only open one. I actually feel bad for my other gay/bi coworkers that feel they need to hide who they are, but that's not my business. You have to handle that in your own way.

It's the 21st century and the days of discriminating, demoralizing, or disrespecting people because of their gender, race, sex, orientation, age, and religion is just plain ignorant. Be safe out there and come home alive. Much respect to all my fellow brothers and sisters for doing what we do day in and day out!

Responses...

--Look seriously, who cares. The fears that some have are built on misconceptions and are frankly stupid. I couldn't begin to care less if you are gay, bi, transsexual, lesbian, black, white, Hispanic, or any other ethnicity, male, female, something in between, or even from another planet, as long as you treat me with respect, let me live as I choose, and when the job calls us to duty, you are able to perform. To me it is that simple. As long as what people do doesn't harm others, I am a live-and-let-live type of guy.

--As long as when it comes time to get the job done, they're right there to do what needs to be done, then I'm fine. This just doesn't count for gays. That can go for anyone; females, minorities, even other males for that matter. As long as they can get the job done, I'm fine with working with them.

--Who cares. I come from a Very Catholic and Very Irish family. Everybody thought it was a sin when my cousin married a black guy. It only took a few weeks for everybody to come around and now he is just one of the family and nobody really sees the color of his skin anymore.

And that's the way I feel. I don't care who it is that I'm working with, just so long as they can do the job and act in an honorable manner.

[Source: Firehouse Forum, Blog]

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