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Post by bluepride on Mar 28, 2015 14:47:39 GMT -5
City seeks postponement of gay-cop trial The city is seeking the postponement of a trial in Officer N. Melville Jones’ antibias lawsuit while it appeals a lower-court ruling in the case.
The non-jury trial is set to begin April 28 but the city contends that Common Pleas Judge Linda A. Carpenter issued an erroneous pre-trial ruling that should be reversed in Commonwealth Court.
Jones, who is gay, filed suit against the city in 2013, alleging pervasive anti-LGBT workplace bias and harassment due to his sexual orientation.
Jones alleges that a former supervisor, C. Daniel Castro, outed him, triggering a chain of events that created a hostile work environment.
Alleged acts of bias against Jones include: being sent out on patrol without proper uniform and weaponry; being asked if he gets paid while having sex in the men’s locker room; and being transferred to the “graveyard” shift.
Jones’ lawsuit also implicates four other coworkers, in addition to Castro: Michael Houck, Robert Ortiz, Cynthia Rascoe and Laverne Vann.
But the city alleges that Jones failed to cite wrongdoing by Houck, Ortiz, Rascoe and Vann in antibias complaints that Jones filed with the city’s Human Relations Commission. Thus, a major portion of Jones’ antibias case involving those four coworkers should be dismissed, according to the city.
Last month, Carpenter rejected the city’s argument and left intact Jones’ lawsuit.
Last week, the city asked Carpenter for permission to appeal her ruling in Commonwealth Court, which could delay the trial for several months.
“It makes no sense to rush to trial on claims that have a substantial likelihood of being dismissed as a result of the appeal,” city attorneys stated in the March 20 motion.
Dismissing the extraneous claims would “return the case to its original parameters; it would also remove the risks and prejudices attendant to the intermingling of these claims, and would better define the city’s ultimate exposure and the reasonable expectations of the parties toward settlement,” according to the motion.
At presstime, Carpenter hadn’t ruled on the city’s request for an interim appeal in Commonwealth Court.
Neither side had a comment for this story.
Castro no longer works for the city. In 2011, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion in an unrelated matter and was sentenced to 60 months in prison.
He’s expected to testify during the trial via a remote hook-up from prison.
Jones, a 15-year veteran, continues to serve as a Philadelphia police officer. He’s seeking more than $50,000 in damages, according to court records. And so the case continues.......READ ARTICLE HERE: City seeks postponement of gay-cop trial
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Post by bluepride on Mar 28, 2015 14:54:37 GMT -5
Former Cape May officer files wrongful-termination suit A former Cape May County police officer has filed suit in New Jersey Superior Court against the city of Cape May and several police department employees, alleging wrongful termination because of his sexual orientation.
Steven Pascal alleges in his complaint that Capt. Robert Sheehan created false disciplinary charges on multiple occasions in an attempt to remove Pascal from the force. Pascal is suing to get his job back and for monetary damages.
Pascal also alleges fellow officers made antigay slurs and homophobic jokes about him, and that such behavior was known to and tolerated by police department commanding officers, including Sheehan.
“Steve worked with 20 or so officers in the police department and he was the only one who was openly gay,” Sebastian Ionno, Pascal’s attorney, told PGN. “It was commonplace for gay jokes and gay slurs to be made against him. Worse, it was known and tolerated by police leadership.”
Sheehan was recently demoted from chief to captain in an unrelated pending investigation.
Pascal says he was also subject to repeated antigay slurs and even death threats from members of the public. Yet, when he sought relief from commanding officers, he says, they refused to take remedial action.
“Once an employer is made aware by employees of complaints like these, they have a legal obligation to take action to remediate them,” Ionno said. “Instead, they saw Mr. Pascal as a problem because he made the complaints, and wanted to get rid of him.”
According to the suit, a member of the public, a male minor, called several of Pascal’s friends pretending to be Pascal, and told them he wanted to have sexual intercourse with them.
Pascal later encountered the minor in public and asked him why he had made the calls. The minor’s parents said Pascal harassed their son, and Pascal was suspended for two days and required to attend therapy for one month while no action was taken against the minor.
When Pascal approached former Chief of Police Diane Sorentino about the disciplinary charges, the complaint states she told him, “What do you want me to do, announce to the city that you are gay and to leave you alone?”
In the complaint, Pascal contends that, in 2009, other members of the public repeatedly made homophobic slurs and threatened to “snap his neck in a dark alley.” When Pascal approached Sheehan about the incident, Sheehan opened an Internal Affairs investigation because he and Sorentino had previously told Pascal “not to engage in confrontational behavior by addressing ‘gossip’ about his sexual orientation,” the suit alleges.
The investigation required Pascal to be evaluated by a city doctor, Dr. Gary Glass, who found Pascal unfit for duty, despite two independent doctors’ evaluations that stated he was fit for duty, the suit states.
Consequently, in early 2010, Pascal was suspended without pay for an extended period.
An agreement was reached that summer to allow him to return to work, be declared fit for duty and have all charges dropped, provided Pascal waive any claims against the city up until that point, including for back pay.
Pascal retuned to work but was assigned by Sheehan to a squad whose commanding officer, Sgt. Connelly, expressed to Sheehan that he did not want to work with Pascal because he was gay, according to the complaint.
For the next two years, Pascal says, he was subject to a hostile work environment, including failure by Connelly to provide him backup or assistance with calls.
Connelly made a formal request to Sheehan to transfer Pascal to another department but Sheehan refused, the complaint states.
Sheehan opened another I.A. investigation against Pascal in September 2012, this time allegedly because of Pascal’s mishandling of a routine vehicle stop.
However, the complaint says, no formal complaint was ever made against Pascal by the citizen involved in the vehicle stop.
Pascal was charged with 14 separate disciplinary charges related to the incident.
“This is another instance when Sheehan abused the I.A. process,” Ionno said. “No complaint was ever filed. It was as if they were searching for a way to get rid of Mr. Pascal.”
Pascal had to again undergo evaluation by a doctor designated by Sheehan, and was found unfit for duty.
A department hearing was held from late 2012 through early 2013, during which, Ionno said, the hearing officer was presented with uninvestigated evidence that violated a 45-day statute of limitations. The officer recommended Pascal’s termination.
“The hearing officer was a retired judge who was picked and paid by the city,” said Ionno.
After 17 years on the force, Pascal was terminated in August 2013. He filed suit that September.
“The case has been moving very slowly,” said Ionno. “Capt. Sheehan is now under investigation for unrelated charges, which has pushed back our depositions even further.”
Pascal now lives in Philadelphia and works as a flight attendant.
READ ARTICLE HERE: Former Cape May officer files wrongful-termination suit
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Post by bluepride on Mar 29, 2015 9:23:08 GMT -5
Police chief headlines Tampa's first Gay Pride parade in 14 years Police Chief Jane Castor has always been open about her sexual orientation, but she will also tell you she’s “not a flag carrier.”
“Everyone understands that I’m gay, and I don’t keep that a secret,” she said. “What I do is I just try to live my life as an example for others and show that I’m no different from anybody else.”
But she understands she is seen as a role model and a bridge between communities.
So while she may not wave a flag, Castor says she’ll probably throw beads to the crowd when she marches today as grand marshal in Tampa’s Gay Pride parade in Ybor City.
It will be Castor’s last parade of any kind as chief; she is scheduled to retire May 8 after 31 years with the department. She’s invited the rest of the department to march along with her and have a good time after years of working to keep everyone safe at public events.
The road to grand marshal in the gay pride parade was straightforward, Castor says. The organizers called and asked, and she said yes. Nothing more than that. It sounded like it would be fun, she says.
Tampa hasn’t hosted a pride parade in 14 years, said Carrie West, president of Tampa Pride. The parade fell victim to financial pressures, political issues among potential organizers and apathy, West said.
West said organizers expect 15,000 to 18,000 people to attend the resurrected parade. Mayor Bob Buckhorn will deliver a proclamation, and other politicians, including U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor and state Rep. Janet Cruz, are expected to make appearances.
Along with Jane Castor, business owner Kurt King, of Hamburger Mary’s, also will be grand marshal of the parade, West said.
West said Castor has been an important role model. “She’s very strong and has good ethics,” he said. “She’s already showed that.”
Castor said Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida, is “always wanting me to be out there and fight for the cause.’’
That, she said, isn’t her style.
“For me, I feel like that as I said, I’m no different from anybody else. I just try to lead my life as an example.’’
She doesn’t plan to change that after she retires. “That’s just not my nature,” she said.
In choosing to be an example, Castor is mindful that if she makes a mistake, that would hurt other people as well.
“Not just with being gay, but being a woman,” she said. “When I was first announced as the chief, in my speech, I said I want to be remembered as a good chief, not as the first woman. But by saying that, it wasn’t lost on me the significance of being the first woman.
“It’s the Jane Castor theory of leadership, whether anybody wants to believe it or not. If a man in my position failed, they fail as an individual. If I fail, they’re going to say, ‘I told you a woman couldn’t do it.’ And the same thing with being gay. And so it’s very important. And that’s why I don’t screw up.”
Castor has signed a petition with other law enforcement officers supporting same-sex marriage rights. And Smith said she thinks Castor has been “phenomenal” as a role model and a fighter for the cause.
“I think she’s been a tremendous voice, both by example and the places she has stepped forward,” Smith said. “She’s one of the top law enforcement in the state speaking out for marriage equality. She’s one of the most sought-after public speakers, often the first and only voice from the gay community invited into places of influence.”
That Castor is going to be grand marshal of the pride parade, Smith said, is “huge. I remember a time in the ’90s when we were trying to pass a human rights ordinance when there were police officers wearing on their uniforms the buttons of our opposition in a very tense meeting at the performing arts center. ... Some police were visibly and openly taking a side in a way that made a hostile situation even more tense.”
Smith also recalled a series of suspected murders and disappearances of gay men around 2003. Gay people, she said, were “coming to us with tips. They were afraid to go to the police.”
Castor, who was not yet the police chief, served as liaison to the community and brought the police chief at the time to a town hall meeting with gay residents. “We set aside a room and anyone who wanted to share information could go there,” Smith said. “But it required a trust-building process like that for people to be willing to share information directly with the police. That is something that has definitely changed. There’s a great deal of respect.”
Castor said she has been open about her sexual orientation the entire three decades she has been at the department, and it has never been a problem.
“I’m not naive to think that comments haven’t been made, but nobody’s ever said anything to me,” she said. “That’s one of the beautiful things about the Tampa Police Department is that officers want you to be a good officer. That’s what they expect and that’s what they respect. So it really isn’t an issue.”
She said some people have incorrect ideas about police. “You know, people think that law enforcement consists of a lot of conservative and close-minded individuals,” she said, “and I’ve found it to be just the opposite because we are asked to respond to a myriad of different lifestyles. And really when you look at it, as long as two people are happy and productive in their lives, who cares? And that’s kind of the way most police officers are.”
Although she is open about her sexual orientation, she is guarded about her private life. She has been with her partner, Democratic political strategist Anna Cruz, for seven years. She has two adopted 15-year-old sons.
Although same-sex marriage just recently became possible in Florida, Castor won’t talk about whether she plans on marrying Cruz.
With its prohibition of gay marriage and past restrictions keeping gay people from adopting, Florida hasn’t always been the most accepting place for gay people.
“Clearly, the police department is tasked with enforcing the law,” Castor said. “But if you look at how many laws are on the books, what we enforce is what the community wants us to enforce. There are plenty of laws on the books that the community’s not concerned with those issues. As I said, we’re here to serve the community and we enforce what the community expectation is.’’
Tampa, she said, has always been accepting. “That’s one of the things I’ve always loved about this city — you know I was born and raised here — is that we embrace our diversity and celebrate it. It just makes our community so much stronger. That’s why I love this community and that’s why I’ll never move from here.”
Castor said she never had a concern about her sexuality with the department or fears that her family or friends would reject her.
She thinks lesbians had it easier in the department than gay men when she first started, though. The majority of gay men, she said, “kept their private life private because it was less accepting for them,” Castor said. She’s not sure why.
“There was a sergeant one time that I’ll never forget,” she said, “one of the crusty old sergeants on midnights. And he asked another sergeant — there were a couple of gay females on the squad and he’s like, ‘Where do I get the gay females? Where do I get a couple of them from?’ because they were some of the better police officers. It was kind of cute. ‘I want great police officers on my squad. Where do I get those guys?’ Now, in this day and age, the male officers as well are — everybody is just that’s their life and there’s really not much to do about it.”
She said the only time she remembers homosexuality being an issue in the department was when AIDS emerged in the 1980s. “There was a lot of fear surrounding that,” she said. But she says that centered more on worry about getting AIDS than on animus toward gay people.
Castor said she doesn’t want to minimize the very real pain of a lot of gay youths, the rejection they experience and the treatment that drives some to suicide.
She said she’s spoken to youth groups. She said she tells them “about how times are changing and they really are. You have a few people that are one or the other extreme and a majority of the citizens are in the kind of the live and let live category.”
Her advice to gay children is: “One, they’re not alone. If they need assistance, reach out to somebody. They need to celebrate their individuality. That’s what makes the world beautiful is all of the differences and the contributions that everybody makes. … I guess what I’d like to say to them is you’re no different than anybody else, but you’re unique, which is everybody.”
Her advice to gay police officers: “Do your job and treat people with dignity and respect. And always remember that it comes down to how you treat people.”
READ ARTICLE HERE: Police chief headlines Tampa's first Gay Pride parade in 14 years
Congratulations to the Chief! She's done her time and from what I understand, she has a good reputation among the troops! And, I'm assuming, the public. I wonder if any of the gay Tampa PD folks were in the parade as well..... hmmm..... Just asking....
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Post by hcsodale on Mar 29, 2015 20:37:36 GMT -5
I wasn't there, and didn't even know about the parade, which was held only a mile from my house, until after the fact. I did hear that the Tampa Police Department was well represented in the parade, wearing their uniform, and not just by Chief Castor. I was also informed that there were NO Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputies or command staff involved or attending at least as representing the HCSO. I do not personally know this to be fact, but it does not surprise me. I feel the HCSO takes care of its own deputies fairly, but I have never seen them express any interest in supporting any specialized attention to GLBT causes. (I do know that they acknowledge other professional specialized groups relating to Hispanic Officers and Black Officers). The work environment is very similar to what Chief Castor described in the article, as just be a good officer and person, and the being gay or lesbian aspect just becomes a non-issue.
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Post by bluepride on Mar 31, 2015 20:03:36 GMT -5
Dale, I wasn't specifically referring to you here. I was referring to my friend in that department that you met while working one day a year or two ago!
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Post by hcsodale on Apr 1, 2015 19:59:52 GMT -5
Sorry, didn't mean to imply that you were talking about me, since you said Tampa Police Officers. I was commenting more on the fact that my agency had NO involvement and our headquarters is only a few blocks from the Parade route!! I don't feel that they needed to, but I think it leaves a little to question when the next biggest agency has a very prominent role in the parade and the biggest agency, HCSO, had none (at least that I have heard or read of).
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Post by bluepride on Aug 13, 2015 15:00:46 GMT -5
Police look ‘to bridge the gap’ with LGBT community Detroit — With two attacks on transgender women this week serving as a backdrop, law enforcement officials Wednesday stressed the importance of building trust between police and the LGBT community.
Detroit Police Chief James Craig, U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade and other officials spoke Wednesday night at a “LGBT community chat” to offer support and information to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people who believe they’ve been targeted or victimized.
Craig said there have been 15 reported crimes against LGBT citizens so far this year — a sharp increase from 2014, when there were seven.
“I know there are more than that,” Craig said. “But people in the LGBT community often don’t report crimes because there traditionally has not been a strong relationship with police. We want to change that.
“We need information, and we know that the streets talk,” Craig told the crowd of about 100. “The only way we’re going to get information is if we have a strong relationship.”
The event at Palmer Park, which drew a standing room-only crowd, was scheduled before the recent attacks.
But the fatal shooting Saturday of a 20-year-old transgender woman the advocacy group Equality Michigan identified as Amber Monroe, and Tuesday’s nonfatal shooting of a 30-year-old transgender woman police say was a prostitute, gave the meeting a sense of urgency, according to those in attendance.
“Trans lives matter,” said Lilianna Reyes. “(The recent victims) could have been you. It could have been me.”
Reyes spoke of “the fear that trans people have of going to the police. We have to do better, and we have to make the police do better. Like a lot of you, I’m nervous around a lot of police.”
Rebecca O’Hara, whose 25-year-old transgender son Ashton O’Hara was killed July 14, said the relationship with Detroit police and the LGBT community is improving.
“I’ve never felt more respected by the police,” O’Hara said. “They asked me if I wanted to refer to my son as male or female. And they caught my son’s killer,” she added, drawing applause.
McQuade promised to use the U.S. Attorney’s Office to seek justice for anyone committing crimes against gays or transgender people.
“We are committed to using the tools of our office to make a better life for everyone,” she said. “That means everybody.
“What motivates me to be passionate about equality for everyone ... as a girl, I was called a tomboy. I saw how cruel small-minded people can be when you don’t fit their stereotypes.”
Craig said he plans to establish an LGBT advisory board that would meet monthly to discuss issues. Shortly after arriving in Detroit in July 2013, Craig appointed Officer Danielle Woods as LGBT liaison officer.
“We’ve begun to bridge the gap between police and the LGBT community,” Woods said. “We need to build a mutual trust, understanding and respect in order to keep our community safe.”
Yvonne Siferd, director of victim services for Equality Michigan, an LGBT advocacy group, added: “We have a long history of mistrust and misunderstanding with law enforcement. So it’s not going to be easy.”
Siferd said less than half of the crimes against LGBT residents are reported. And, she said, those who do report crimes are often subjected to ridicule and abuse by police officers.
“We need to come together with the police and let them know the things we’re going through at the hands of police,” she said. “It’s my hope that today we can start that conversation.”READ ARTICLE HERE: Police look ‘to bridge the gap’ with LGBT community
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