Police Abuse Widespread in LGBT Communities

CHICAGO (U.S. Newswire) -- In the most comprehensive report of its kind to date, Amnesty International (AI) reveals that police mistreatment and abuse of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are widespread in Chicago, New York, San Antonio and Los Angeles. The AI report, which has a nationwide focus, found that many of these cases go largely unchecked because the victims are afraid to report the abuses, and police departments' policies and procedures specific to the LGBT community are unclear, under-enforced or non-existent.

"We want to recognize the strides taken by the Chicago Police Department to improve its relations with the LGBT community," said Robert Schultz, Field Organizer for AIUSA's Mid-West Regional Office. "However, our report found that in Chicago, as in the rest of the country, fears of verbal, physical and sexual abuse by law enforcement officials remain pervasive among gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals. As a first step toward addressing the concerns raised in our report, the Chicago Police Department should sign a pledge affirming its commitment to combating discrimination and violence against LGBT people. By signing our pledge, adopting our recommendations and addressing problems within its police department, Chicago can demonstrate its ultimate commitment to international human rights standards."

Chicago is one of the four cities examined by AI in its 160- plus page report, Stonewalled: police abuse and misconduct against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the United States. The report also looks at police practices in Los Angeles, New York and San Antonio, and provides the data collected from surveys distributed to the 50 largest police departments in the United States and Washington, D.C., inquiring about their LGBT policies and practices.

AI's findings strongly indicate that there is a heightened pattern of police misconduct and abuse directed toward transgender individuals and LGBT people of color, youth, immigrants, the homeless and sex workers by police. Based on information collected from several hundred interviews and testimonies, AI reports that at times, the mere perception that someone is gay or lesbian provokes physical and/or verbal attacks from law enforcement.

In Chicago, some of the many documented cases of police abuse include:

-- AI heard from young gay men and advocates in Chicago that a particular officer had taken young men to a clock tower and that, in the words of one alleged victim, he will "remove his badge, gun and belt and then beat you unless you give him (oral sex), after which he'll just leave you there."

-- In July 2000, Frederick Mason, a 31-year-old African American nurse's assistant with no criminal record, was arrested following a verbal altercation with his landlord. Mason claims that at the police station, two unidentified officers took him to an interrogation room, where he was handcuffed by the elbows and pinned to a wall. The arresting officer is alleged to have pulled down Mason's pants and sprayed blue cleaning liquid on a billy club before ramming the baton into Mason's rectum. As he raped Mason, the officer is alleged to have made remarks such as "I'm tired of you, faggot ... you sick motherf---." A second unidentified officer is alleged to have witnessed Mason's pants being pulled down, but walked away during the assault. Witnesses have attested that Mason entered police custody in good health and when released had blood streaming from his rectum. Mason's family doctor confirmed that he had been injured in the anal area.

The report documents the discriminatory enforcement of so- called "quality of life" statutes and morals regulations against LGBT people and includes examples of profiling, particularly of transgender women as sex workers; verbal abuse; inappropriate pat-down and strip searches; failure to protect LGBT people in holding cells; inappropriate response or failure to respond to hate crimes or domestic abuse calls; sexual harassment and abuse, including rape; and physical abuse that at times amounts to torture and ill-treatment.

Seventy-two percent of police departments responding to AI's survey said they had no specific policy regarding interaction with transgender people demonstrating that law enforcement nationwide needs to do more to protect LGBT people. Of the 29 departments that responded to the survey, only 31 percent instruct their officers on how to strip search a transgender individual; two thirds (66 percent) of police departments reported providing training on hate crimes against LGBT individuals; and while most departments provide training regarding sexual assault (86 percent), more than half (52 percent) do not include LGBT-specific issues.

While it is impossible to obtain comprehensive statistics, the AI study showed that transgender people, particularly women and the young, suffer disproportionately. A large percentage of transgender people reportedly are unemployed or underemployed, leaving the population more vulnerable to homelessness or situations that leave them exposed to police scrutiny and abuse.

The report also highlights some of the positive initiatives being taken by several police departments to improve their relationships with the LGBT community. The West Hollywood Station of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department has a Gay and Lesbian Conference Committee that is open to the public and allows police to stay in touch with community concerns. The City of West Hollywood also established a Transgender Task Force that addresses policing issues. In Washington, D.C., the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit (GLLU) is staffed by four full-time officers and ten volunteers, and the head of the unit, Sgt. Brett Parson, reports directly to the police chief. GLLU is also involved with training efforts within the police department.

"Police officers are hired to protect and serve all of their communities, not only the ones they deem worthy," said Michael Heflin, Director of Amnesty International USA's OUTfront program, which focuses on LGBT human rights. "Every human being, without exception, has the right to live free from discrimination and abuse, yet LGBT people nationwide are afraid to report hate crimes or other abuses to the police, who at times prove themselves to be the criminals. If we can't count on law enforcement to set an example, hate crimes and discrimination will continue to flourish in a land that otherwise has made relative headway in the fight for LGBT rights."

Under international law, everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, is guaranteed the fullest enjoyment of his or her civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. The United States is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the principal international treaty that lays out fundamental rights such as freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention and torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, as well as the Convention Against Torture and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.