General Discussion

who feel they have to be in the closet.

http://www.memphisflyer.com/MemphisGaydar/archives/2016/05/20/gay-memphis-police-officer-sues-the-city-for-discrimination

MPD's LGBTQ liaison role was re-started in 2014 after a lull in participation, and Clemons was the first MPD officer named to the role after its re-launch. In that role, he's responsible for helping to build trust between the LGBTQ community and the police department. But Clemons alleges that role has backfired, causing some superior officers to discriminate against him because he is gay.

After being appointed as liaison in August 2014, Clemons claims he was harassed, reprimanded, and humiliated by other officers.

Much of the discrimination came from an officer named as Lt. Hulsey in the lawsuit. One incident says Hulsey approached Clemons on Beale on July 4th, 2014, and "yelled and degraded Officer Clemons in front of thousands of citizens at a Fourth of July event. ... Officer Clemons believes that Lt. Hulsey engaged in this behavior due to sexual stereotypes and, in particular, a belief that Officer Clemons was not sufficiently masculine, was too feminine, or due to a belief that men should only date women, not other men."

http://www.washingtonblade.com/2016/04/20/gay-d-c-cop-alleges-harassment-in-lawsuit/

Former MPD Officer Christopher Lilly charges in his lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that he was subjected to repeated anti-gay name-calling and other forms of harassment, including the placement of AIDS stickers on his locker.

The lawsuit names the city and the MPD as defendants. It accuses the MPD, among other things, of discriminating against him on the basis of his sexual orientation and gender.

It says the harassment and discrimination against Lilly began in December 2010 when “without Plaintiff Lilly’s knowledge or consent, his sexual orientation, homosexual, was publicized, maliciously and intentionally” at the Fourth District.

“Following Plaintiff Lilly’s ‘outing,’ any officer to come into contact with Plaintiff Lilly subjected him to scrutiny, retaliation and ridicule by means of vulgar language, slandering his name and abilities to function as a police officer and questioning his abilities to serve due to his sexual orientation,” the lawsuit says.

It says the alleged harassment escalated in January 2011 when after returning from duty Lilly “found his locker plastered with Blair Underwood posters, forty (40) District of Columbia HIV magnets stuck to his locker and a large ‘spurt’ looking puddle of unknown white liquid meant to simulate ejaculation.”